We performed a comparison between AWS CloudFormation and AWS Systems Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Configuration Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Internet-based access with security is what I have found to be most valuable. It is also a stable and scalable solution."
"The biggest thing for us is enforcing logins only from devices that are managed by Intune."
"It is a very helpful solution."
"It has helped with compliance. It has helped to ensure that devices comply with the organization's policy. If they are not compliant and secure, they cannot access the resources."
"I like how Microsoft Intune lets me lock down the email profile and make it accessible only on certain devices."
"Maturity makes it a stable product."
"It has improve our organization through the remote management of non-domain joined devices."
"It's easy to manage and easy to configure."
"Scripting does what we need to reinstall something from scratch."
"The solution has helped with automation. I don't have to worry about provisioning machines and ensuring everything is set up. AWS CloudFormation takes care of the entire infrastructure for me."
"Its ability to treat infrastructure's code is valuable. It makes things automatable and reproducible."
"It is easy to work from the console and deploy new database services."
"The most valuable features of AWS CloudFormation are all the resources documentation is located in one location, simple resource reverting, and ease of use of the full package for new users."
"The nested stacks would be one of the more valuable features."
"With CloudFormation, there is no need to use complicated coding."
"What I found most valuable in AWS CloudFormation is its configurability. The solution is easy to configure. I also like its change management configuration because that's also good."
"The solution is user-friendly"
"The solution's ability to scale is good."
"Has a variety of automation options."
"When we do the automation in the cloud, we use the SSM agent. This helps us to test our automation and documents, and monitor the cloud."
"AWS provides Auto Scaling groups."
"With AWS Systems Manager, our company can patch our systems directly from it, so we don't need to patch our systems manually."
"Systems Manager has a feature where it analyzes the logs and gives us a performance overview in the form of a graph. We know when it's taking up more resources and when there are spikes, so we can predict the usability."
"No option to do end-to-en macOS management. Slow implementation of policies."
"An issue we have run into with Microsoft Endpoint Manager is that we cannot patch third-party products like Adobe and Chrome with it."
"The mobile and tablet-based versions need improvement because they are not completely user-friendly, compared to the web version. Also, data synchronization with our existing asset manager, the synchronization between multiple assets and multiple devices, takes a lot of time due to the security scanning. It should be reduced."
"Reporting in Microsoft solutions is pathetic. With Intune, I'm getting a free inventory tool, but I don't get a reporting tool. When I go to Intune, I can see one machine's entire data in terms of the hardware and the software running on it, but I cannot generate a report for all the machines in the organization. The reporting is the only feature holding back the functionality that is already there."
"There's quite a lot of development that they can do within their Intune dashboard. I think there are too many lines hyperlinked to move you around. Others, in contrast, give you a simple dashboard and an intuitive administrative walkthrough."
"Onboarding of endpoint devices is not straightforward. The onboarding process was a little heavier than I thought it would be. That's the key improvement area. Obviously, the more control you have over the devices, the better it is."
"Microsoft Intune could improve by being more user-friendly and having it geared toward device management. The graphic interface is not very good."
"It needs incorporation of Knox, ZeroTouch, etc."
"The speed of the replication process could improve. It can take some time to replicate that could use a speed increase."
"Provisioning a large environment or a large number of services takes a bit more time than with Terraform."
"GUI could be improved by adding graphical components."
"There could be better error handling. It would be a good way to improve the solution."
"For a beginner, it's kind of difficult to set up. So, the user does need some knowledge in order to do it."
"The conditions that can be added in AWS CloudFormation are not as powerful as any programming language."
"Including certain examples of templates would be advantageous."
"Creating the inline policies is not great."
"Additional features can be added as per customer requirements."
"The current challenge is that we can't pull any incidents from other accounts."
"The AWS UIs are not the most intuitive. Also, the usability needs room for improvement."
"AWS does not have EKS cluster backup."
"The fact that AWS Systems Manager takes time to complete the patching process, makes it an area where improvements are required."
"Lacks sufficient integrations."
"We formerly used third-party products to analyze the log, give us information, and find bottlenecks. Systems Manager could provide more tools that conduct this analysis, so we don't have to do it ourselves."
AWS CloudFormation is ranked 8th in Configuration Management with 28 reviews while AWS Systems Manager is ranked 6th in Configuration Management with 7 reviews. AWS CloudFormation is rated 8.4, while AWS Systems Manager is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of AWS CloudFormation writes "Pretty easy setup with great automations for provisioning that save time and money". On the other hand, the top reviewer of AWS Systems Manager writes "Offers a variety of automation options; simplifies governance and administration ". AWS CloudFormation is most compared with Spring Cloud, Red Hat Satellite, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Microsoft Configuration Manager and Chef, whereas AWS Systems Manager is most compared with Microsoft Configuration Manager, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Red Hat Satellite, BigFix and Chef. See our AWS CloudFormation vs. AWS Systems Manager report.
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We monitor all Configuration Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
