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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft System Center

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft System Center Suite is a family of IT management software for network monitoring, updating and patching, endpoint protection with anti-malware, data protection and backup, ITIL- structured IT service management, remote administration and more. It is available in two editions: standard and datacenter. Datacenter provides unlimited virtualization for high density private clouds, while standard is for lightly or non-virtualized private cloud workloads.

    $1,323

    per month

    Perforce Puppet

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/APuppet Enteprise is an IT automation and configuration management solution that enables users to manage and automate infrastructure and complex workflows. The vendor states Puppet Enterprise combines both model‑based and task-based capabilities in a way that enables organizations to scale their multi-cloud infrastructure as their automation footprint grows, with more flexibility from both agent-based and agentless capabilities.N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft System CenterPerforce Puppet
    Editions & Modules
    Standard Edition
    $1323
    Datacenter Edition
    $3607
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft System CenterPerforce Puppet
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft System CenterPerforce Puppet
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Perforce Software
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft System CenterPerforce Puppet
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    Score6.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
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    HashiCorp Vagrant
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    AWS Config
    Score7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft System CenterPerforce Puppet
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (21 ratings)
    7.0
    (12 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft System CenterPerforce Puppet
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    For companies with more than 10 Windows devices and needing to standardize the OS, AV, access, share resources, and install software. SCCM is the way to go. This software is unnecessary if the business is all remote users and not in an office-type setting. There are cloud offerings or none to accomplish what a business needs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Perforce Software
    Puppet is good enough to get the job done, you can use it to automate deployments and maintain files and configurations, if this is all you're looking for it's great. If you're looking for more control over your systems as a whole without having to write your own scripts or install multiple configuration management systems then Puppet is not what you're looking for.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Microsoft
    • Allows the grouping of devices by user.
    • Allows controlling updates being deployed to user devices.
    • Allows for the repurposing of machines by being able to load new or updated software on machines that already are in the system.
    • Allows us the ability to wipe a machine clean and restore it back to the configuration that was assigned the machine.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Perforce Software
    • Provides a clear map of how a system is configured
    • Eases the creation of a system in a specific cluster as it is scripted in code
    • Simplifies configuration changes to a cluster or to every system such as rolling out vhost configurations, updating ldap roles, NFS mounts, etc
    • The syntax is very easy to read and carries a lot of fluidity once the language is learned.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Microsoft
    • 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
    Read full review
    Perforce Software
    • The setup of Puppet is a nightmare compared to ansible. Anyone watching a youtube video can easily set up ansible with minimal IT knowledge. All one needs is the source IP addresses and we are good to go. Setting up Puppet is a more hands-on task and pushing the puppet agents to all the boxes is another issue. If the installation and setup were simplified like ansible that would attract a lot of people to this platform
    • The syntax of the code for Puppet is not as easy as ansible. Ansible simply follows a YAML format and it's like typing in normal English. Even complicated tasks can be written by just understanding YAML syntax. Perhaps Puppet needs to revisit the lanugage used and try to come up with a much simpler lanugage for writing code. This will make day-to-day usage easier.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Microsoft
    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
    Read full review
    Perforce Software
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    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
    Read full review
    Perforce Software
    Puppet has top class support. You can simply mail them with their query and they will respond to your query in a timely manner. We do have enterprise license for puppet. Also there is a vibrant community for puppet out there. So even if you dont purchase a premium support option you can simply google your queries and get answers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    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
    Read full review
    Perforce Software
    HPSA is a licensed product and incurs significant upfront investment costs due to COTS licensing. Puppet Data Center Automation has a significantly lower upfront investment and product documentation is more readily available. Chef is a very similar offering, however, at the time our decision was considered, the adoption of Chef vs. Puppet was significantly less in the community.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • 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
    Read full review
    Perforce Software
    • Cut deployment times down to around 1 hour from 4-5 hours.
    • Allows us to get a fully running system up from scratch in around 30 minutes.
    • Allows for a more clear view of what is required to get a host running.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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