In this hotly contested category, our readers gave Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) the edge over HP OpenView for Active Directory (AD) for Best Active Directory Management Tool. Readers praised MOM for its wealth of useful features, ease of implementation, and high-quality upgrades.
MOM helps administrators monitor and manage Windows-based servers and applications. MOM's Active Directory Management Pack (ADMP) Service Pack 1 (SP1) provides a complete out-of-the-box solution for monitoring and managing the AD directory service. ADMP monitors AD and its underlying services to help administrators establish and maintain consistent directory data and a high service level throughout their AD forest. ADMP monitors significant AD performance counters, establishing performance thresholds and associated alert definitions to target performance concerns—such as high CPU usage on domain controllers (DCs) and slow Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) query response times—that can signal service problems.