ControlUp Reviews

ControlUp is used by us specifically to monitor user sessions, drilling down to that user-specific level to look at metrics on that level.

There are numerous useful features.

We were missing that component. We have another tool for infrastructure monitoring at the physical hardware level.

The most valuable feature is the granularity of visibility into the resources that are in use by our applications. 

What we were looking for was something that could drill down into that granular view to look at things like what applications a specific user is running, what kind of resources those applications are using, and login times. Really, you name it, anything you'd want to see at the user level.

The most common complaint that I have heard, at least within our organization, is about reporting. 

They have their own reporting. It's just that it doesn't yet include everything that you can look at within the application. You can only report on specific metrics or collections.

I would like to see more on setting up alerts. As an example, as previously stated, there is reporting, but there are also alerts, such as if this specific user is using this much CPU or RAM, send an email to this person informing them. Something along those lines, that alerting portion, I believe they need to improve on, but we would like to see at the very least.

I have been using ControlUp for two years.

We didn't have any major issues in terms of stability.

I would say that, as expected, getting everything configured and working properly took some time when we first got it set up. But, aside from that, I wouldn't say we have had any major outages or problems.

Overall, the product is quite stable.

It is used in five different data centers where we have deployments. In each data center, we have what is known as a monitor server. In that sense, it's flexible and scalable in that you can continue to add monitor servers in different locations to add more load and data. ControlUp is considered to be scalable.

You do it in such a way that the licensing is based on the number of machines that you're monitoring, rather than per monitor server.

The cost is determined by the number of machines being monitored. When you add more machines to monitor, the pricing increases.

I would say it wasn't as responsive as we had hoped at first.

We did have that consultant come out and help us with the initial setup, as I mentioned, but it did take a little time to get responses from the support team when we first started. 

I think a lot of that was just because it was a new product at the time, and they seemed to be scaling the company to help with that growth.

In terms of turnaround time, it's recently improved significantly.

I would rate the technical support a four out of five.

When it comes to monitoring Windows systems, it is definitely more user-friendly.

I understand that Nagios XI was initially designed to focus on Linux systems, with Windows appearing to be an afterthought. It appears that the primary focus of this product is Windows systems rather than Linux. It can still monitor Linux systems, but that is not its primary focus.

The initial setup was complex. However, they did send someone out as a point of contact to walk us through everything. They even collaborated with us to create a diagram and an overall plan. They had a lot of assistance in that regard.

It was done in-house, with ControlUp supervision. There were there to guide us through any difficulties, or any obstacles that we may have found during the process

Personally, I would say that the only thing I could compare it to is another monitoring tool that we use, Nagios. And, in comparison, it is more expensive, but it has a much newer user interface. It has more contemporary features.

I would definitely recommend it. As I previously stated, a lot of it, in my opinion, comes down to what your use case is, or what you hope to gain from the product. 

I can't speak on the subject of physical monitoring because, as I previously stated, we don't use it for that. I am not sure how well it performs in that regard, but if you're looking for something that gets really granular and goes beyond the physical layer into the virtual, into the user sessions, we weren't able to find anything that gave us that same view.

It is suitable for both an SMB and also enterprise because it's based on the number of machines you're licensing. If you are a small business with only 30, 50 machines to monitor, your costs will be much lower than if you're monitoring 5,000. It appears to be able to accommodate both sides of that.

I would rate ControlUp an eight out of ten.

We are using ControlUp as a monitoring solution.

ControlUp has improved our organization by giving us full visibility into our systems. We know what's running, where it's running, what it's doing, and the load on the system.

The most valuable features in ControlUp are endpoint monitoring and the many features that are available.

ControlUp could improve the integration. Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop monitoring has better integration.

I have been using ControlUp for approximately two years.

ControlUp is a stable solution.

The scalability of ControlUp is good.

My operation team of approximately 10 people is monitoring using ControlUp.

ControlUp is being used for monitoring, we are not abandoning the solution. It does well and we are using it often, but for the future, I'm not sure. For now, everything is up to date, we like it, and it does what we want.

I have used other solutions previously.

The initial setup of ControlUp was not complex. If you know what you are doing it is easy. 

We did the implementation of ControlUp in steps. We had a smaller deployment to see what it was doing, and then we had a proper deployment, but it was not complex.

We do not need a lot of people to maintain and update ControlUp. My team is doing this during their regular duties.

We have seen a return on investment with ControlUp because we were able to monitor our workloads in the Cloud and size them accordingly. We could downsize, and turn off VMs that we don't need, and that allowed us to save money.

I rate the price of ControlUp a five out of five.

We are satisfied with the price compared to other solutions.

We evaluated other solutions before choosing ControlUp.

My advice to others is if you are deploying a brand new system or doing a migration, you better install ControlUp as soon as possible at the earliest stage possible because it will give you visibility into your old system. You will know how it's doing, and what you need to migrate. You might not need to migrate everything because maybe not everything is being used to the full extent. 

As you deploy a new system, you start monitoring and you know what exactly it's doing, how exactly it's doing, and you can adjust on the go.

I rate ControlUp ten out of ten.

We have nearly 10000 Citrix VDIs on our estate and native tooling cannot provide the high and low level monitoring that we require. We wanted a tool that could not only provide a granular view of our infrastructure but also assist with its administration. We looked at other competitors, however, the power, usability and value of ControlUp made it the obvious choice. 

Having a central console with granular security makes administration simple and yet powerful. We are able to delegate control to the teams that need access to specific areas and can also create read-only views for non-admins.

With ControUp, we got the monitoring we needed and more. For one thing, we love the automatic remediation which enables us to free up resources that aren't used. This saves us from having to constantly get involved and make manual changes. 

When VDI hasn't been used for x number of days we can simply shut them down - something that an on-prem deployment would normally require manual intervention for.

We can also see issues often before our users complain. Log-on times, for example, are a great barometer of customer satisfaction. When these go up we know there are issues, and, using ControlUp, we are only ever a couple of clicks away from determining the root cause.

We also like the scores that it gives our estate (which can be tailored) so we can instantly see where we have issues. 

The high-level view of the estate coupled with powerful administration tools has been great. We can see real-time performance and trends and can create triggers for common issues with associated scripts that can automate a lot of the previous manual remediation steps. 

Integration with Netscaler and Scoutbees can provide a proper end-to-end analysis of the user's experience and give us a real ROI.

Historical reporting is also really useful. Being able to go back in time to see exactly what was happening at the time of an outage or even just to analyse which applications are being used or to get capacity suggestions straight from the Insights console it very useful.

The support from ControlUp is also very responsive and professional. 

We'd like to see the mobile app working again so that we can get alerts 24/7. This is especially useful for the person on call.

I particularly like the monthly Advisory Teams meeting that have been arranged recently. They offer valuable insights into the direction of the company and give us users a chance to express our thoughts and provide real direction to the company. 

One area that I do think would be of benefit would be a monthly email from Insights offering a summary of trends and potentially where we can afford to cut back on CPU and RAM.

I've used the solution for four years.

I find it to be very stable. If there are issues with the retention or collection of emails I am often alerted by ControlUp before noticing it myself.

Scaling up is as simple as adding an additional monitor server. 

We have used their support and professional services. Both have been responsive and very knowledgeable. 

Positive

We only had SCOM and Director previously.

The initial setup requires nothing more than a single EXE and a spare workstation with sufficient RAM/CPU for the trial.  

Automation of common tasks has seen a measurable drop in manual actions and has saved enough time to release perhaps 1 FTE. They can now focus on more engineering work.

I'd advise running a trial. This is quick and simple to get running. 

If you opt to buy then it's essential to ensure you include the Automated Actions license - this is where the real power is.

We evaluated Lakeside and Nexthink

As mentioned, opt for the Trial. You'll have 30 days to really see how beneficial ControlUp is.