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August 23, 2005 12:00 AM

Systems Management

Managing Your Systems
Windows IT Pro
InstantDoc ID #47345
Rating: (0)

Without software to help manage your systems, how would you be spending your days? If you didn't have a Help desk application, you'd certainly be doing a lot of running around, going to one workstation to solve one problem, to another workstation to solve the next, and so on, interminably. Remote users' problems would require lengthy telephone calls and a trial-and-error approach to solutions. No disk imaging, software-deployment, or Change and Configuration Management (CCM) package? OS and application deployments would be a nightmare. Without asset management and capacity planning software, those business functions would be pie in the sky. And patch management? Fuhgeddaboudit! It's no wonder that systems management is the largest product category in our Readers' Choice awards. Read on and see what products your peers are using.


SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

Active Directory Management Tool
1st—Microsoft Group Policy Management Console
http://www.microsoft.com
2nd—SystemTools Software Hyena
http://www.systemtools.com
3rd—DesktopStandard PolicyMaker
http://www.desktopstandard.com

Performance Tuning Tool
1st—Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
http://www.microsoft.com
2nd (tie)—HP OpenView Performance Manager/Monitor/Agent
http://www.openview.hp.com
Quest Software Quest Spotlight (on Active Directory, Exchange, Windows)
http://www.quest.com

Patch Management Tool
1st—Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (Release Candidate)
http://www.microsoft.com
2nd—Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com
3rd—DesktopStandard PolicyMaker Software Update
http://www.desktopstandard.com

Disk Imaging Software
1st—Symantec Norton Ghost
http://www.symantec.com
2nd—Symantec Ghost Solution Suite
http://www.symantec.com
3rd—Microsoft Automated Deployment Services
http://www.microsoft.com

Help Desk Software
1st—Help Desk Technology International HelpSTAR
http://www.helpstar.com
2nd—Intuit Track-It!
http://www.intuit.com
3rd—ScriptLogic Desktop Authority
http://www.scriptlogic.com

Monitoring and Alerting Software
1st—Sunbelt Software ServerVision
http://www.sunbelt-software.com
2nd—Microsoft Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005
http://www.microsoft.com
3rd—GFI Software GFI Network Server Monitor
http://www.gfi.com
3rd—HP OpenView Operations for Windows
http://www.hp.com

Registry Management Tool
1st—DesktopStandard PolicyMaker Registry Extension
http://www.desktopstandard.com
2nd—ScriptLogic ScriptLogic Enterprise
http://www.scriptlogic.com
3rd—Lieberman Software User Manager Pro
http://www.liebsoft.com

Remote Client Management Tool
1st—LANDesk Software LANDesk
http://www.landesk.com
2nd—Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003
http://www.microsoft.com
3rd—Citrix Systems MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0
http://www.citrix.com

Virtualization Software
1st—Microsoft Virtual Server 2005
http://www.microsoft.com
2nd—VMware VMware Workstation
http://www.vmware.com
3rd—VMware VMware ESX Server
http://www.vmware.com

/Files/Applications and Operations Management Tool
1st—Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005
http://www.microsoft.com
2nd—HP OpenView Operations for Windows
http://www.hp.com
3rd—Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices
http://www.microsoft.com

Asset Management Software
1st—Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003
http://www.microsoft.com
2nd—LANdesk Asset Manager
http://www.landesk.com
3rd—Intuit Track-It!
http://www.intuit.com

Capacity Planning and Trend Analysis Software
1st—HP OpenView Performance Insight
http://www.hp.com
2nd—Quest MessageStats
http://www.quest.com
3rd—Altiris Server Management Suite
http://www.altiris.com

Change and Configuration Management Tool
1st—Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003
http://www.microsoft.com
2nd—-DesktopStandard PolicyMaker
http://www.desktopstandard.com
3rd—HP OpenView Change and Configuration Management
http://www.hp.com

OS Migration Tool
1st—Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003
http://www.microsoft.com
2nd—Quest Domain Migration Wizard
http://www.quest.com
3rd—HP OpenView Change and Configuration Management
http://www.hp.com

Software Deployment Tool
1st—Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003
http://www.microsoft.com
2nd—Altiris Client Management Suite
http://www.altiris.com
3rd—ScriptLogic Desktop Authority
http://www.scriptlogic.com


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