N-able N-central vs. Redgate SQL Monitor

In my opinion, N-able N-central is a good "learn your lesson and move onto something better" tool. I've used many RMM tools over the years and I feel that this one is slow, does a terrible job with reporting, alerting, monitoring, software deployments, etc. The ability to turn on services like AV, backup, etc easily is cute, but you're not going to be able to use your own tools with this easily. In my experience, if you do turn those tools on for testing during the trial, you'll be charged later (despite it being a trial). They also turn off your ability to monitor these increased costs or to turn them off yourself. As a company, I found that they were impossible to work with. The sales team is right there if you want to buy something - but if you need anything other than to buy something, in my experience, they take days or weeks to navigate. I found that they are not a terribly ethical company and are more concerned with making a few dollars than creating a partnerships with MSPs. I can see value is in the advertised price of $99 for a hundred endpoints. However, you need to remember to not trial any other tools (like AV, backup, etc).

Redgate SQL Monitor is well suited for database administrators or companies who implement software that relies on SQL servers. It will help them test new changes and ensure this will not impact the performance of their software. It is a last resort for MSPs to use to get to the bottom of an ongoing performance issue with their SQL server.

Incentivized

• Remote tasks - entry-level techs can run basic tasks without physically touching a piece of equipment.
• Remote support - remote controlling user devices is easy and saves a lot of time with having to initiate a remote session.
• Management of devices, particularly patch management and anti-virus management - you can automatically approve and deploy patches and schedule automatic AV scans.

• It will tell you if your server is under attack.
• You can quickly see how your server is performing and which queries are taking the longest
• I gives you the feeling that you are in control of your database, that you know what is going on for when they users ring up and tell you that the server is slow

Incentivized

• Expensive software
• The support team are terrible
• Sales team will promise the world to get you over the line
• Subscription management is tedious
• Old software with very little development and the support team will not provide any further information on this - no roadmap
• Integrations galore - but none of them are effective

• Incremental releases can be buggy
• Isn't the best for pinpointing performance issues
• Web interface can be sluggish

Incentivized

Overall we have liked our solar winds experience, however, as our company has grown to support larger enterprises, this product does not have the functionality that our teams need in order to fully support them. The lack of granularity with backups and lack of ability to support nutanix environments is slowly drawing us into the use of other tools.

Incentivized

The user interface is fairly straight forward, with logic groupings for objects. I did not deploy this software, but am one of the daily administrators. Once you get the correct agent package (Which can be a challenge) the integration into AD is not bad. The UI could be more customized, but that may have been a design choice.

Incentivized

Access to metrics is simple but I like easy access to top SQL

Every time we have reached out to SolarWinds they are quick to respond, even offering support chat 24/7. Their support team is great and works with you to find solutions to issues. They have taken items we had issues with before and used those to create updates so that the issue is handled better in the future.

Incentivized

Fast support responses from Redgate

Incentivized

Make sure if you your using a vm you follow the instructions for provisioning to the letter or it will be starting from square one

Incentivized

Our version of SolarWinds was old and running on old hardware, but it was way easier to setup and do things with. It did not do everything N-able does such as patch management, or at least we didn't have a module to do so if one existed. However it definitely seemed easier to use and possibly more stable.

Redgate SQL Monitor is a lot cheaper than SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer. I prefer the SolarWinds' design and that it offers integration with other SolarWinds products we already use. SolarWinds supports more than SQL servers (Oracle, MySQL, Maria DB, IBM DB2) and the analysis seems to be much better. The Spiceworks SQL Server monitoring is a free tool and is ideal for monitoring small business SQL instances.

Incentivized

• Reduced time to manage and support servers and endpoints.
• Provides support dept with more accurate information to assess and resolve issues quicker and more efficiently.
• The subscription cost associated with N-central, to our clients has a good profit margin for us.

Incentivized

• The quality of the product and give a negative investment impression, on the plus side when it does work it is a god send.
• Day to day tasks as made simpler, and a feeling of security of realised. Just don't change anything.

Incentivized