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SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor

Overview

What is SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor?

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers application and server monitoring capabilities. SAM allows for self-service for easy setup, 1200+ monitoring templates, and customization options, as well as integrate with other SolarWinds products.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is a versatile tool that has been widely used across various industries and departments for …
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True Insight

10 out of 10
January 27, 2022
Incentivized
I use SolarWinds Server Application Monitor to monitor my infrastructure as well as applications within that environment. It provides a …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 12 features
  • Server availability and performance monitoring (269)
    9.8
    98%
  • Application monitoring (266)
    9.0
    90%
  • Threshold alerts (271)
    8.9
    89%
  • Out-of-the box templates to monitor applications (256)
    7.9
    79%
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Pricing

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What is SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor?

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers application and server monitoring capabilities. SAM allows for self-service for easy setup, 1200+ monitoring templates, and customization options, as well as integrate with other SolarWinds products.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttp://www.solarwinds.com/products/pric…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Microsoft's Azure Monitor is designed to analyze and optimize the performance of web applications and infrastructure, including virtual machines (VMs), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Storage, and databases. Monitor Linux and Windows VMs and their health and dependencies—all on a single map.

What is SolarWinds Pingdom?

SolarWinds Pingdom is a website uptime monitoring and alert tool, with additional reporting and Real User Monitoring capabilities. Pingdom is part of SolarWinds’s DevOps package, enabling full-stack monitoring as a service.

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Features

Application Performance Management

Application performance management software monitors software to ensure performance and availability

8.7
Avg 7.6
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Product Details

What is SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor?

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers application and server monitoring capabilities for IT pros enabling them to diagnose and troubleshoot issues faster. The vendor’s value proposition is that this solution prevents slow applications and downtime from impacting end-users and business services. Users can use this tool to pinpoint the root cause of application issues across various layers of the IT stack.

The vendor says SolarWinds SAM is affordable, easy to deploy, use and customize. Users can automatically discover their systems environment and start monitoring in about an hour. No professional services or consultation needed.

SAM is built on SolarWinds Orion® platform enabling native integration with Network Performance Monitor and other IT management software from SolarWinds.

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Features

  • Supported: Single Web interface to monitor multi-vendor applications and server infrastructure.
  • Supported: Out-of-the-box monitoring templates for 200+ enterprise applications.
  • Supported: Easily extend monitoring to virtually any custom or home-grown applications.
  • Supported: Gain contextual visibility of relationships and dependencies between applications and physical and virtual servers.
  • Supported: Monitor server hardware health, perform capacity forecasting, and manage asset inventory. Remediate server issues remotely with built-in management actions.
  • Supported: Monitor VMware and Hyper-V environments to identify problems impacting application performance.
  • Supported: Centrally manage IT asset inventory and keep track of server hardware and software information.
  • Supported: Leverage the wealth of built-in alerts and reports, and easily customize them as needed.
  • Supported: SAM is an agentless monitoring software. Optional agent installation extends monitoring to the cloud.

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Screenshots

Screenshot of Multi-vendor application performance monitoringScreenshot of Multi-vendor server monitoringScreenshot of Application dependency mapping with AppStackâ„¢ dashboardScreenshot of Microsoft Exchange performance monitoring with AppInsightâ„¢ templateScreenshot of Microsoft IIS performance monitoring with AppInsightâ„¢ templateScreenshot of Server hardware health monitoringScreenshot of Built-in virtualization monitoring for VMware and Hyper-V environmentsScreenshot of Easily extend monitoring to any custom or home-grown application

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Videos

An introduction to and a brief overview of SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
In this video, the TrustRadius team is going to take a look at Solarwinds Server and Application Monitor, a powerful tool that can help you monitor your systems and identify issues early. We'll explore the overview, user sentiment, pricing, top features, and use-case, and help...
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Watch SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Training Videos

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Competitors

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported LanguagesEnglish

Frequently Asked Questions

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers application and server monitoring capabilities. SAM allows for self-service for easy setup, 1200+ monitoring templates, and customization options, as well as integrate with other SolarWinds products.

Progress WhatsUp Gold, Nagios Core, and Tivoli Monitoring (legacy) are common alternatives for SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor.

Reviewers rate Server availability and performance monitoring highest, with a score of 9.8.

The most common users of SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(648)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is a versatile tool that has been widely used across various industries and departments for monitoring and managing servers, applications, and network infrastructure. Users rely on the software to ensure that critical systems are up and running smoothly. With its ability to monitor servers, applications, and network nodes, customers appreciate the comprehensive insights it provides into their IT environments.

One of the key use cases of SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is its role in proactive monitoring and alerting. Users have praised the software's capability to detect issues such as CPU utilization, memory usage, response time, and low disk space. By setting up corresponding alerts, users can address potential problems before they impact end-users. This proactive approach helps prevent system failures and ensures optimal performance.

Another important use case of SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is its ability to provide detailed insights into server metrics and application performance. Users can monitor various elements such as CPU, memory, and disk usage on servers, as well as track the health of applications like Exchange, SQL, IIS, and SharePoint. The software's integration with other products in the SolarWinds Orion family enhances network management capabilities, allowing for a unified view of segmented networks.

Additionally, SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is valued for its flexibility in monitoring different types of systems and services. It supports Windows, Linux, Unix, and AIX servers both on-premises and in the cloud. Users have leveraged the software to monitor services, processes, URLs, IP addresses, MAC addresses, SMTP devices like networked cameras, and even Linux services such as IPTables. This broad range of monitoring capabilities makes it a valuable tool for organizations with diverse IT infrastructures.

Overall, SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor has proven to be instrumental in maintaining system stability by providing real-time alerts for potential issues and facilitating efficient troubleshooting. Its ease of use and customization options allow different departments and administrators to tailor monitoring and alerts to their specific needs. The software's comprehensive insights, proactive monitoring, and wide range of supported systems make it a valuable asset for organizations looking to ensure optimal performance and availability of their IT infrastructure.

Customizable Dashboard: Users appreciate the fully customizable dashboard in SolarWinds SAM, which allows them to tailor it to their specific requirements. This feature has been mentioned by several reviewers and enables users to easily access the information they need for effective monitoring.

Proactive Alerting: Reviewers have praised SAM's proactive alerting capabilities, with alerts being triggered for offline servers, low disk space, rebooted servers, and critical network device outages. This feature has been highly valued by users as it helps them stay on top of potential issues and address them promptly.

Reporting Capabilities: SAM's reporting capabilities have received positive feedback from users who find the detailed reports provided by the software helpful for meeting regulatory requirements and ensuring system stability and performance. The granularity in alerts and reporting has been mentioned by multiple reviewers as a valuable feature of SAM.

Confusing User Interface: Users have expressed frustration with the user interface of SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor, stating that it is confusing and difficult to navigate. Some users feel that there is a steep learning curve and find it overwhelming, especially for first-time users.

Lack of Comprehensive Documentation: Several users have criticized the documentation provided for SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor, stating that it is spotty and lacking in examples. They believe that more comprehensive and detailed documentation would greatly aid in understanding and troubleshooting the software.

Poor Customer Support: There have been complaints about the customer support provided by SolarWinds. Multiple users have reported that customer support has worsened over time, causing frustration due to delays in reaching the correct support team and resolving issues in a timely manner.

Users have recommended several key actions for users considering SolarWinds based on their experiences. These include:

  • Recommending utilizing the software for internal use, specifically for monitoring servers and applications.
  • Suggesting taking advantage of the free trial to test the software before making a purchase decision.
  • Advising researching and planning before implementation to ensure the software is suitable for one's needs.
  • Encouraging careful design of the environment, especially when using the software in different locations.
  • Recommending purchasing a license that matches the number of components needed for monitoring.
  • Urging cautiousness when it comes to support and potential glitches with the software.
  • Suggesting working with a detail-oriented engineer for proper setup and configuration.
  • Promoting interaction with the user community site to learn from others' experiences and share knowledge.
  • Emphasizing the need to understand the licensing model before signing up and selecting appropriate licensing based on the number of nodes to be monitored.
  • Suggesting exploring other SolarWinds offerings and using them in conjunction with this software.

While users find SolarWinds to be a valuable tool, they also mention that it may not be suitable for beginners due to its learning curve. Overall, it is recommended to carefully consider setup, pricing, and requirements before implementing SolarWinds.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(226-250 of 278)
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Stephen Swan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our IT department was looking for a monitoring tool to proactively address issues before they were encountered by the customer. Issues easily cropped up as a result of regular maintenance and would quickly be noticed by customers because checks were not done afterwards. We have been able to use SAM to check key services and applications for availability. This has also allowed us to track system uptime and keep better inventory of the monitored software and systems.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is being used to actively monitor and appropriately alert on servers and applications in our organization. The robust feature set allowed for granular level detail of the servers and applications. This allowed us to create reports on server status as well as better plan for future requirements in capacity. There is also a good level of alerting available on CPU, Memory and disk space as well as application variables.
Joshua Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Several departments at my employer use SAM for our application monitoring needs. The best thing about SAM, much like other SW tools, is it's integrated with other SW products. SAM works flawlessly with NPM for server maintenance and monitoring. We are able to quickly address software failures via alerts and reports.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SolarWinds to monitor our servers and network infrastructure. It is only used by our IT department. We are able to have a tool to monitor servers every hour of every day without needing to have a dedicated resource to babysit these devices.
Dan Lepinski | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We primarily use Solarwinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) to monitor our Windows Internet Information Services servers across our entire infrastructure. It allows us to alert on down applications, specifically IIS for us, so that our on-call team can ensure the least amount of downtime for our web servers. The down alert will specifically show which servers are having issues, and for how long.
Alex Gouskos | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor to monitor our servers and application for issues. SolarWinds is used to monitor general server availability as well as response times. We have created monitors that also monitor free space as well as application availability and CPU load.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We implemented SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor as part of our monitoring suite. We are using it to verify the availability of our hosted services and generate alerts feeding to our on call analyst. This allows us to see issues before the users tell us.
It also provides valuable insight into resource constraints and potential hardware issues within our highly virtual server environment.
March 23, 2016

LunarTides review

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor to monitor our server uptime and to keep track of our network closets. Whenever one of our servers goes down SolarWinds alerts us so that we can address the issue. The Network tab allows us to keep track of the status and health of our Cisco network blades and the configuration of each port. The Application tab allows us to keep track of our different virtual servers and alerts us when a critical component goes bad. The IP Addresses tab allows us to see who is logged in under what IP address and which ones are being used and what is available.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it to monitor our internal infrastructure's overall health. We have set up notifications with it so it can give us up to date information on resource usage on all our server and networking equipment.
Steve Curtis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Being a small IT group for our department within the university, we utilize SAM to monitor our departmental servers and applications. This allows our team to focus on projects and tasks for our staff, and insure that we will be alerted to performance issues or outages before our end users are impacted and/or to insure that their issues are resolved quickly.
We are alerted on a range of items, from complete server outages to a single SQL database's excessive fragmentation. We also use the statistics from the collected data to determine how we can improve application performance and the end user's experience.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is used globally to monitor servers in more than 5 data centers. It is very flexible and provides tons of templates. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) is very flexible and uses great logic. Its implementation and deployment are very straightforward and easy to complete.
Edmund Tienzo | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have 540+ stores around United States. Across the whole organization, we use SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor to monitor the network status of each location including every server that we use for IT operations. It has been a helpful tool for us to support every end-user as we have a full visibility of the network and server status in our company network.
March 11, 2016

Solid Monitoring Tool

Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it in the IT department to monitor application status. We use it to provide proactive alerting and monitoring for our critical applications. In the future we plan to use it to justify new hardware purchases based off of the trending and modeling that SAM allows us to do very easily.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our company utilizes SolarWinds SAM software to visualize what end users are experiencing; from time to complete tasks, to server process monitoring the SolarWinds SAM software manages our entire server infrastructure. We have tried other products in the past but the SolarWinds SAM pays for itself in configuration/installation time alone. The preconfigured options covered all the servers we have on our network.
David Asher | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
If you have used this product, SAM, you would know that it is a value add for a business and a great time saver for all. Setting up alerting for a down node, failed hardware, environmental fluctuation and many more options makes for peace of mind.

Our deployment is being used by many departments across most of our business.

SAM addresses the need to know. Knowing that your infrastructure is up and running and can be addressed at a moments' notice is peace of mind. The product pays for itself buy catching problems before they become a problem.
Brent Lyle | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am using it to monitor exchange, SQL, and basic information on windows servers. It lets me know of high-level problems sooner than the users report them. At a previous employer, we had the CA APM product. We were never able to get it configured correctly for monitoring. However, the spectrum and eHealth products were configured and working.
Michael Aguirre | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used SAM specifically for our SQL Server 2012 and Exchange 2010 and IIS 7. Our IT department monitors a proprietary CRM and web portals that we needed to keep an eye on for 24/7 monitoring and 100% uptime. The Exchange monitoring was just a plus.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We utilize SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor to monitor various thresholds of our infrastructure and to send the appropriate alert(s) when those defined thresholds have been exceeded. It has given us a "preemptive" ability to avoid disastrous results.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use SolarWinds SAM to monitor company-wide mission critical systems from both an up/down perspective as well as performance and response time. I have created many flexible, custom monitoring template to detect potential issues with systems such as Microsoft SQL server, MS Exchange, SAP, and our manufacturing and EDI systems.
It has become a critical tool for improving our responsiveness company-wide to existing issues as well as helping us to predict if there are potential issues that may arise, and allows us to react to problems very quickly with minimal to no perceived impacts to our end users.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is primarily used by the IT department to monitor performance and availability of servers and applications. We often use it to monitor external web site performance form venders providing us hosted services. It assists us in planning for future resources.
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