Microsoft 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
Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI)
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Splunk supports IT operations analytics with the Splunk IT Service Intelligence premium offering, a software application available to subscribers to Splunk Cloud or Splunk Enterprise log analytics and SIEM platforms.
We used a product before that was designed to prevent users making changes and saving files to the desktop computer. This required a renewal of the license. By using SCCM in our environment we were able to discontinue using that product because SCCM allows us to completely restore a machine back to the original configuration. We have taught our users to save their individual work on either a network drive or a cloud drive. By doing this, if we do a re-image of their machine they have lost no data, and it makes for a faster resolution. In some instances having a computer in our SCCM environment it can become cumbersome when creating new users for very specific purposes. It can be done by creating new organizational units and applying new policies but when in a pinch it can be frustrating. For the most part we have tried to make "new" purpose images and groups to at least accommodate a quick install.
[Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI)] is well suited when you have a system that you want to visualize, and then layer in information from many different sources. This will allows ITSI to intelligently create alerts based on the system as a whole vs the individual components. In some cases, a simple splunk dashboard would really suffice over using ITSI. Teams deploying ITSI should really understand the use cases and consider using simple dashboards where they make sense, and use ITSI for topological views.
Provides our users the ability to deploy and manage our own datacenter based on defined software with understandable solutions for storage, compute, networking and security.
We are able to update at once all the computers from all departments without having to install the OS on every computer.
It allows us to have everything in one place for database management and datacenter inspection as well.
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.
The terminology takes some getting used to: Aggregation policies, notable events, correlation searches, glass tables. If you're not familiar with ITSI, these terms can be a bit overwhelming and steepens the learning curve.
We have had some technical issues with the underlying support when used in a multisite cluster. We've had to build in several points of redundancy to make sure it works as expected.
I'd like to see additional types of notable events, like informational events that come in for when an incident is created or when an alert is acknowledged so all of those action steps can be viewed on the episode timeline without affecting the count of events.
We have replaced our monitoring platform with Splunk & ITSI, and with the success, it's seen at our organization thus far we would be hard-pressed to pivot to another tool. Frankly, our business partners and application teams love Splunk & ITSI.
No matter our issues with the software, its ability to centrally manage systems, patch, image, and remote help users has far exceeded our timeliness to help staff. Its ability to keep current, enable us to keep the network secure, and standardize our end-user experience has saved us many hours, dollars, and time every day.
Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) is a platform with extended functionality and provides various functionalities which can be utilized to improve the efficiency and accuracy in analyzing the data and detecting the attacks.
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.
During POC, pre-planning, and implementation, we have had interactions with numerous folks at Splunk. Everyone from sales & engineering to markets analysts to specific IT component SMEs, and a small professional services engagement to get started. They have all been exceptionally helpful and go above and beyond the call of duty. They actively reach out to ensure success is being realized and find ways to help proactively, instead of having to simply open support cases with the vendor.
None. We are a Microsoft business, and this is THE tool for imaging, packaging, remote support, and antivirus management. Microsoft's tool is the best for managing its software, systems, and antivirus clients. I will say that Microsoft Intune, the cloud platform, can be used for those with heavy 365 usage, but for us, that does not meet our current company needs.
Splunk has raised itself as a platform not just as a tool unlike other products in the market. If I talk about Moogsoft it also has similar capabilities but Splunk ITSI has more visibility and its GUI is making a different impact on the users. ServiceNow and Splunk are equally capable products however Splunk seems to have more tech-savvy people tools than ServiceNow.
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.
