SolarWinds SAM is a helpful tool to that provides a single place for staff to monitor applications.
Updated November 02, 2018

SolarWinds SAM is a helpful tool to that provides a single place for staff to monitor applications.

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor

SolarWinds server and application monitor has allowed us to get a better look at our environment and quickly see if an application is performing up to expectations. It is used across the organization, depending on the department and their requirements. It is flexible enough to use in multiple situations across multiple departments and provides quick insight into status.
  • Setup and configuration is well documented and I don't remember any issues with install.
  • SAM allows us to catch an app in "normal" state and compare to current performance.
  • Flexible enough to be used in multiple situations with multiple applications.
  • More template like functionality to increase use cases for the product.
  • The ability to bring additional apps into the product that are supported out of the box.
  • Support calls can take a while to get routed to the correct team for the right support.
  • Quick problem notification and spread of outage.
  • Decreased manual staff by SAM helping monitor always up applications
  • Keeping licenses for all of the different components in the suite can be challenging
We used op manager in the past for application up down state notification in the past. We went with SolarWinds server and application monitoring suite because they offer a complete suite of applications that provide a lot of information about our environment in one place with one place to get information and spread the information to other members of the department.
SolarWinds Server and App monitor provides a simple, single pane of glass, a destination to get information about critical applications. SAM is well suited for both custom application monitoring and out of the box software packages. We have used it in both scenarios and it has been helpful for the team in getting to the root cause of issues.

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Feature Ratings

Application monitoring
10
Database monitoring
8
Threshold alerts
9
Predictive capabilities
7
Application performance management console
7
Collaboration tools
5
Out-of-the box templates to monitor applications
7
Application dependency mapping and thresholding
7
Virtualization monitoring
9
Server availability and performance monitoring
9
Server usage monitoring and capacity forecasting
10
IT Asset Discovery
10

Feature Questions

Once you learn about how SAM is configured and setup it becomes relatively easy to spin up multiple custom monitoring portals. Many different people from different departments in ITD have learned how to use it and have become familiar with its capabilities. It is also updated often with new patches with new functionality and stability.
  • As more applications are being written to run in a web browser its important to be able to monitor custom web apps with a product like SAM.
  • Can be setup configured and pointed at a URL for 24 by 7 monitoring and notifications.
  • Allowing individual groups create their own dashboards that consist of info that they care about.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Analyst Reports
There were a number of factors that led to the decision to go with Solarwinds and the SAM module. One of the most important was cost, the solarwinds suite is priced reasonably and support costs are not too bad. Usability and ability to configure with custom monitoring was also an important factor that led to the decision.