Checkmk vs Cisco UCS Manager comparison

Checkmk and Cisco are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. Checkmk is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.4, while Cisco is ranked #24 with an average rating of 7.7. Checkmk holds a 2.9% mindshare in IM, compared to Cisco’s 1.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 7 Checkmk reviews

3,383 Views
3,088 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco UCS Manager

Read 23 Cisco UCS Manager reviews

1,952 Views
1,691 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Checkmk

Cisco UCS Manager

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Cisco UCS Manager and Checkmk compete in IT infrastructure management and monitoring. Cisco tends to lead in infrastructure management with robust capabilities, while Checkmk is preferable for efficient resource tracking and cost-effectiveness.

Features: Cisco UCS Manager provides extensive management in storage, networking, and compute integration, and ease of administration with comprehensive dashboards. Checkmk is notable for automatic monitoring, integration capabilities, and resource monitoring in environments with frequent power outages.

Room for Improvement: Cisco UCS Manager could simplify its firmware upgrade process and management interface, with better performance dashboards and integration with hyper-converged systems. Checkmk needs increased accessibility, a more intuitive user interface, and less manual intervention for alerts.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco UCS Manager is primarily on-premises, with responsive technical support. Checkmk offers on-premises and private cloud deployments with reliable customer service, though both face regional support challenges. Cisco is known for wider global support availability.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco UCS Manager has high initial and ongoing costs, yet offers good ROI in stable environments. Checkmk is affordable, suitable for robust monitoring with a low-cost model, attracting cost-conscious users with its pricing advantage.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. Cisco UCS Manager Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Cisco UCS Manager

October 2024

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Helped 814,649 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

Checkmk

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

13th

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (14th), Server Monitoring (6th), Cloud Monitoring Software (11th)

Cisco UCS Manager

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

24th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 2.9%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco UCS Manager is 1.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Paolo Sala

Application performance and System monitoring at Agos

Aug 24, 2023

A reasonably priced tool for system and application monitoring

The main room for improvement is in the solution's presentation and the integration area. In our company, we use the integration capabilities from ServiceNow. We also have another big monitoring solution in place in our company, which is Dynatrace. At the moment, there doesn't exist an out-of-the-box integration for Dynatrace. I think that the integration and the exporting of the data collected are areas where Checkmk lacks but should try to improve the most. The only implementation of Checkmk that allows high availability is the virtual appliance that has the option for the availability of a different box. Otherwise, you have to find a way to implement it manually with some custom solution, which could be an improvement.

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Joshua Kurian

Sr. Technical Architect at StarOne IT Solutions

Apr 8, 2024

Used to manage servers, monitor or manage firmware upgrades, and push policies

The solution's SDK and API can be integrated with ServiceNow for ticketing for any purpose. The solution's unified management interface is a central point of management that allows us to manage switches, blades, and storage connectors. One person is enough to maintain the solution. The speed of the network interface has been 100 G since day one. The network is scalable, and GPU nodes can be added seamlessly. Cisco is claiming to support water cooling in the near future. The solution can be easily integrated with other tools and platforms. Compared to Dell, Cisco UCS Manager provides straightforward configuration, reusable policies, and flexibility. Dell lacks a proper GUI for configuring everything. Cisco has only one GUI, which allows us to configure everything, including the network server and server profile. Before releasing each model, Cisco should conduct proper testing or engineering validation to ensure that the customer doesn't face any issues initially. Overall, I rate Cisco UCS Manager a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it has a lot of different pieces, and they all work together...It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The most valuable features of Checkmk are its resource monitoring, infra monitoring, and log factor configuration."

"The alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

"The initial setup of Checkmk was easy...It is a very stable solution."

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

"It's versatile, scalable, and easier to use compared to other solutions like Nagios and OMD."

"From a usability and functionality perspective, Cisco UCS Manager is very good."

"The flexibility and the ease in which the features can be expanded are the solution's most valuable aspects."

"It is more robust than other solutions. So, the stability is good."

"Ease of management is certainly the most valuable feature in this product."

"Creating UCS service profiles for quickly deploying servers and replicating that configuration to another server makes it easier for deployment."

"Technical support has been good so far. We haven't had any issues with them. We're satisfied with the level of service they provide our company."

"I can deploy something in my 50-odd servers all in one go, in parallel, whereas if I was to do that individually, it could be a nightmare."

"Cisco Infrastructure is one of the top vendors and no one can beat them in terms of switching and routing."

More Cisco UCS Manager pros

Cons

"I think that the integration and the exporting of the data collected are areas where Checkmk lacks but should try to improve the most."

"The main challenge for us is that we're moving from Nagios to Checkmk, and we're still getting used to the new way of working."

"It is easy for tech-savvy people, but newcomers might find it intimidating."

"In Checkmk, the documentation can probably be improved a bit more."

"Sometimes we receive alerts, and it can become annoying when you acknowledge an alert. It is very clunky when you acknowledge the alert. The process is not very intuitive, and there are instances where it feels a bit cumbersome to acknowledge an alert."

"If an alert is generated for a specific pattern in the log, and if Checkmk catches that log, it will stay there even after the alert is resolved."

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

"The pricing can be better."

"The interface and the way it is constructed is very complex. They should work to simplify it. It's quite difficult for somebody who doesn't know the product very well. Users should be able to get proficient with it faster. There's definitely room for improvement there."

"I found it a bit of a challenge to get training on UCSM. I've been trying to get that for some time now. I feel like I have to figure it out a lot of things myself. For years I've to log calls with support whenever I've got challenges that I cannot resolve. If I had some training or more manuals, I'd be better able to handle more things on my own."

"Its user interface can be improved. It can be more user-friendly."

"I want to be able to schedule multiple sequential updates in one go."

"Upgrading the firmware is a difficult procedure."

"I would like to see improved visibility into the operating system, enabling us to identify issues directly from the operating system itself."

"Cisco UCS Manager should have a simplified deployment in the sense of not having multiple machines, demilitarized zones, and on-premise options."

More Cisco UCS Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Checkmk is a fairly reasonably priced solution."

"The price of Checkmk is cheaper compared to other enterprise products."

"The product is affordable."

"You buy the hardware and then you get Cisco UCS Manager for free."

"Cisco UCS is more expensive than Dell and HP, but it is more reliable. I see less issues and it's quite stable."

"We need to take a license for each port, which amounts to a big sum."

"Cisco UCS Manager’s annual licensing fee is expensive."

"With product discounts which can be negotiated, the product is a great value."

"The pricing for Cisco UCS Manager is okay for its market, so it's a four out of five for me."

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814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

32%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Checkmk?

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it has a lot of different pieces, and they all work together...It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Checkmk?

The main challenge for us is that we're moving from Nagios to Checkmk, and we're still getting used to the new way of working. But basically, we're okay with it. The difficult part was adapting fro...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Checkmk?

We use it to monitor mainly Linux servers, including operating system metrics, processes, services, and so on. We also use scripting and monitoring logs.

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco UCS Manager?

When one server fails, we can attach the service profile to a new server, which saves a lot of time.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco UCS Manager?

Cisco is the most expensive compared to other vendors like Dell and HP when it comes to data center solutions.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco UCS Manager?

There are options that could make configuration and administration easier. Improving functionalities similar to InterSite within UCS Manager would be beneficial.

See all answers

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Compared 4% of the time

Centreon vs Checkmk

Compared 4% of the time

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Cisco Intersight vs Cisco UCS Manager

Compared 80% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

HPE OneView vs Cisco UCS Manager

Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

November 2024

Download Checkmk product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco UCS Manager

November 2024

Download Cisco UCS Manager product report

Learn More

Checkmk

Cisco

Overview

Checkmk is a powerful tool for monitoring IT infrastructure, providing vital insights on servers, databases, network devices, and custom applications.

Primarily used for supervising IT infrastructure, Checkmk helps organizations ensure service availability by monitoring hosts, processes, load, storage, and network appliances. With support for both Linux and Windows environments across multiple data centers, Checkmk performs compliance checks and preserves historical data for core network devices.

What are the key features of Checkmk?

Auto-discovery: Automatically identifies new hosts and applies monitoring rules.
Custom monitoring: Enhances MySQL performance tracking.
Slack integration: Provides immediate downtime alerts.
Graphical trend analysis: Offers 400 days of trend data.
Multiple site monitoring: Ensures seamless data synchronization through task automation.
Resource and infrastructure monitoring: Configures log factors to fit budget constraints.
System metric imports: Includes servers, SQL, file systems, and application monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Time-saving: Auto-discovery and task automation streamline processes.
Proactive alerts: Immediate downtime notifications optimize response times.
Historical insights: Long-term graphical trend analysis aids strategic planning.
Cost efficiency: Resource monitoring aligned with budget constraints.

Checkmk is deployed extensively in large enterprise environments for monitoring critical infrastructure. It proves particularly useful under conditions of frequent power outages or network issues, helping maintain smooth operations. While the alert acknowledgment process and interface require improvements, and the lack of an agent-less platform complicates server management, the strengths in auto-discovery, integration, and comprehensive monitoring make Checkmk a strong contender for IT infrastructure monitoring.

Cisco UCS Manager helps significantly reduce management and administration expenses by automating routine tasks to increase operational agility. Customers can extend the benefits of Cisco UCS Manager globally across an enterprise to thousands of servers in multiple domains with Cisco UCS Central Software.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Management Science Associates, Peak 10, Virtual Consulting Professionals

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Cisco UCS Manager

October 2024

Free Report: Checkmk vs. Cisco UCS Manager

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