Microsoft System Center vs. Nlyte Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)

We used a product before that was designed to prevent users making changes and saving files to the desktop computer. This required a renewal of the license. By using SCCM in our environment we were able to discontinue using that product because SCCM allows us to completely restore a machine back to the original configuration. We have taught our users to save their individual work on either a network drive or a cloud drive. By doing this, if we do a re-image of their machine they have lost no data, and it makes for a faster resolution. In some instances having a computer in our SCCM environment it can become cumbersome when creating new users for very specific purposes. It can be done by creating new organizational units and applying new policies but when in a pinch it can be frustrating. For the most part we have tried to make "new" purpose images and groups to at least accommodate a quick install.

Incentivized

Nlyte is well suited for keeping a detailed inventory of the assets in the hosting center. With the ability to import hosting center floor plans, knowing exactly where each asset is located is a snap. When alarms occur in monitored devices, this also provides faster resolution because the exact point of alarm can be displayed on the floor plan. Nlyte is also well suited for organizations with data center assets housed in multiple locations. In some cases, as with my organization, some of the locations are Telco rooms or closets. Again, when properly set up, a device causing an alarm can be pinpointed to its exact location.

Incentivized

• Provides our users the ability to deploy and manage our own datacenter based on defined software with understandable solutions for storage, compute, networking and security.
• We are able to update at once all the computers from all departments without having to install the OS on every computer.
• It allows us to have everything in one place for database management and datacenter inspection as well.

Incentivized

• Nlyte Asset Optimizer (NAO) tracks every asset in our hosting centers and when integrated with Nlyte Energy Optimizer (NEO), which monitors the hosting center environment, we can see, at a glance, the asset causing the alarm and its exact location in the hosting center. This is a strength, as it provides for faster resolution of problems if/when they occur.
• Nlyte Asset Optimizer (NAO) has a lot of built-in reports that are great for looking at. For example, servers of a specific brand, or how many Us are taken up by servers. I see this as a strength and use this capability for capacity planning.

Incentivized

• Needs web based storefront for requesting new software
• Needs ability to manage the packaging work flow better
• Sometimes is slow to download and there is no indication the entire catalog is being loaded, resulting in confused users not being able to find common software in the available list.

Incentivized

• Nlyte Asset Optimizer (NAO) is currently all manual entry of assets. It would be great if NAO could provide for automated discovery of hosting center assets. This automation would be limited to ICMP and SNMP communication so not every asset can provide automated discovery, but it would be great for all IP addressable devices.

Incentivized

It is not user-friendly for the most part. With IT infrastructure, sometimes it cannot handle excess requests. Every few months, you will need an upgrade in terms of server resources to keep up with incoming alerts and requests. This does not happen all of the time, but it does happen when there are too many requests.

Incentivized

If I had to dislike something about the system it would be how much it changes once you upgrade. This could be more of a problem of mine since I get used to one way and don't like it when it changes so much. I am enjoying the newest update, but it is a mess when you are actually going through the upgrades.

Incentivized

We previously used a mix of FOG and Clonezilla to image machines. The biggest issues with these products is that changing one piece of the image required you to rebuild the entire image itself. These pieces of software also did not allow you to manage applications and Windows Updates, causing IT to have to constantly touch machines after they were imaged and update or manage them with a much more hands on approach.

Incentivized

I am still using the other three products as they have features that Nlyte does not have, and that are really out of scope for Nlyte. I can give one example because this product is an in-house application. It is our CMDB application, and it interfaces with several other in-house systems to provide data that Nlyte is not designed for. Example: If we get an alarm from a server, and if there is currently a planned outage with a Request For Change (RFC), we ignore the alarm unless it exceeds the RFC window.

Incentivized

• We have been able to automate our patch management, firmware and other security concerns.
• We have a standardized "image" ensuring our setup is consistent across the enterprise. This alone has saved us in time to support and time to understand how to use our desktops.

Incentivized

• Nlyte has had a positive return on investment (ROI) for my organization. A big factor in the ROI is having faster resolution times when alarms occur.

Incentivized