Nlyte Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) vs. PATCH MANAGER

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

• 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

• Patching cluster of servers.
• Sorting what is already installed vs. what is needed.
• Easy OU management.

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

• The actual patching process.
• The GUI can be a little clunky.
• When selecting a server or cluster you select the patches you want to install. After highlighting you have to left click the server or cluster in question to make sure there is a transparent yellow dotted line surrounding it (which can be difficult to see).

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

• 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

• It is a good tool. It allows us to schedule out our patches and verify any issues we may have had.
• It gets the job done but there are several improvements that be made to the interface.

Incentivized