SCOM Reviews

The investment in SCOM did not yield any positive outcomes for some users. There have been latency issues due to network coverage between different sites, despite having multiple data centers and a centralized database.

Customers have different experiences with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for SCOM. Some customers purchase the enterprise agreement with Microsoft and pay for Software Assurance, while others simply buy and deploy it without Software Assurance. 

There is an annual license fee to use this solution. Microsoft is considered to be on the higher side in terms of cost. However, SCOM is included in the license for the System Center suite, making it relatively cheap. 

Support is initially free but incurs an additional fee once a certain level is exceeded. 

• "The platform is cost-effective due to our existing Microsoft support."
• "It is the cheapest product available in the market."
• "SCOM's pricing is average."

The primary use case of SCOM is to monitor and manage the health and performance of Windows servers in an organization's infrastructure. It is used for monitoring hardware inventory, patching laptops, conducting an inventory, gathering information about systems, and managing Windows-based IT infrastructures. 

SCOM is also used for logging purposes, mounting configurations, and sending alerts and notifications for down systems or problematic issues. It is utilized in various sectors and can be deployed on-premises or on different virtual machine environments like VMware and Hyper-V. 

Customers in Pakistan often face problems with SCOM, as they do not regularly monitor or upgrade their systems. When they encounter issues, they rely on support to find quick solutions. However, the process can be time-consuming, involving step-by-step procedures, bug fixes, and upgrades. Some customers have a specific link with Microsoft for support, while others rate their experience with customer service as excellent. 

Support is not exceptional, with occasional difficulties in finding specific engineers or a knowledge-based environment. Microsoft's technical support includes remote workers, some of whom are knowledgeable but may procrastinate or refer customers elsewhere. Contacting technical support requires going through a reseller first. 

The initial setup for SCOM can vary in complexity depending on factors such as the current infrastructure and Active Directory. There may be misconfigurations and configuration issues that need to be addressed. The deployment process involves different phases, including planning, installation of management servers and agents, system monitoring, configuring agents and defining monitoring objectives, setting up alerts and notifications, and configuring reporting. 

Testing and validation are also important before routine maintenance can begin. In some cases, multiple staff members are involved in the deployment. The ease of setup is rated differently by different users, with some finding it straightforward and others finding it complex. 

The setup process can be time-consuming and may require Microsoft's support in certain cases. 

SCOM is highly scalable. The solution has the capacity to monitor a significant number of servers, depending on the provisioning of SCOM servers. It is important to carefully plan and calculate the resources needed for the solution, such as storage, memory, and CPUs, to ensure optimal performance and avoid any negative impact on the environment. 

While scalability may require some effort and understanding of the product, it is generally considered good and suitable for larger enterprises. SCOM has demonstrated its ability to scale well and accommodate increasing usage without any issues. 

SCOM has varying levels of stability. Some users find the solution stable and rate it highly, while others mention the need for improvement. The stability of the solution is generally described as good. However, a few users have experienced issues such as alerts in the event viewer that are difficult to understand and long response times from Microsoft engineers.