Instructions

Overall
Use this spreadsheet to record what your monitoring tools (or prospective tools) can and can't do, which on
etc.
It will also help you identify where you have overlap and where you have gaps in functionality.

Interviewees
This tab is easy record the tools you are evaluating and/or tracking, and who provided the information. Yo
detailed if you want using columns to mark who was interviewed on which day; what they told you; etc. B
housekeeping page.
Tool Scoresheet
This is where the magic happens.
The first column is where you list out the categories and specific functions that a monitoring tool might do.
The first row is an overall score for that tool
The second row is where you list individual packages.

In order to retain formatting and formulae, you are best to copy an existing row/column and then write over

The first section is a set of questions that are subjective in nature how hard is the application to install? To
dancing without embarrassing you in front of your friends? It's set on a scale of 1 (One more word and I'm c
(Marry me NOW!).

The next several sections list out various categories and specific functional items (monitoring, event correla
scheduling, etc).

In those rows, you have several options for notation:

X indicates the tool can do the function
1 indicates you use/plan to use the tool as the primary source for this function/data
2 you use/plan to use this tool as a secondary or sanity-check source for this function
3 second runner up in the pageant. Call this guy if the first two tools are found in a compromising posit

COLORS
The left-hand column will turn a pleasing shade of salmon if NONE of the tools is marked as being able to pe
Thus, you have a quick way to see if you have a gap in functionality

If you enter numbers for the features (1-3 as described above, those cells will fill in green (1), blue (2) or ye
at a glance if you have significant overlap.

The first section (subjective ease of use) colors from green to red across the spectrum for each category, so
is the easiest (green) and hardest (red) for that topic.

The top row, which adds all the features that tool can do (ie: it counts all the x's) will also color across the s
identify an overall best application (assuming all the tools are in the same class.
Permission, Rights, and Authorship

Page 1

Instructions
This document and the formulae contained in it are the property of Leon Adato and AdatoSystems.com.

This Feature-Function Matrix was initially conceived by me way back in 2006 and has been used and develo
releasing it to the public under the GNU OpenSource copyright for use, redistribution and to generally make
place.
BUT it's not released for you to use to claim personal credit or resell as your own product.
The upshot: don't be a jerk.

Page 2

Subjective Ease of Use (1-10, 10 easiest)

Installation, Configuration and setup
Administration
Device/Node/Element Management (MACs)
User Management
Agent Health Management (if applicable)
Vendor Support
Community Support
Scaleability
Patching and Upgrades
Managing security exceptions (firewall, accounts, strings, etc)
Database Management (db stability, storage needs, etc)

5.5
5
5
5
2
2
6
8
7
8
7

8 7.4 5.5
7 8 1
9 6 7
9 10 3
5 7
8 8
6 6 6
8 9 8
5 7 4
8 7
?
8 8 8

Monitoring
ping

SNMP poll (locked list of OIDS)

SNMP trap receive
SNMP Custom OID poll
syslog receive

x
x
x
x

Port Testing (ssh, smtp, ftp)

synthetic server-based transaction (web)

synthetic remote-based transaction (web)
synthetic transaction (fat client)
Perfmon counters
Windows Eventlog monitor
Logfile monitor
SNMP process monitor
WMI monitor
SNMP Trap forwarding
Syslog forwarding
SMTP receive
SMTP parse
SMTP send
SMTP roundtrip email monitor
http/https URL monitor
SOAP connection

x
x
x

?
x

Remote DB Query execution

Script, batch/shell script local execution
Script, Powershell, local execution
Script, Perl, local execution

x
x
x
x

sniffer/protocol analysis
NetFlow receiver
NetFlow analyzer/data display
IPSLA configuration
IPSLA receiver

x
x

Tool 3

49 25

Tool 2

Tool 1

The Monitoring Feature-Function Matrix is a product of Leon Adato and AdatoSystems.com. It is provided as free product
under the GNU open source license. You are free to use, copy, and share this document. You are not free to be a jerk about it
by selling it, making a metric buttload of money from it, or claiming it's your idea.

Sample Tool

41

x
x
x
x

x
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x

Tool etc...

Tool 4

18

7
6
7
7
10

6
4
5
5
7

6
8
7
8
8

6
8
7
?
8

Script, Vbscript, local execution

Agentless capabilities
Agent-based capabilities
Hardware Agent integration (SIM, Openmanage, etc)
VMWare API integration

Logfile aggregation & analysis

Event/Error Handling & Alarms

auto service/process restart
single scripted action on event
multiple scripted actions on event
Auto-acknowledge reversed events (up after down)
notify via email

x
x
x
x

x
x
x
x
?

x
x

notify via pager

notify by SMS
notify via voice call

notify via CLI command

notify based on calendar (oncall)

x
x
x
x
x

x
x

Schedule and Job Management

Runs jobs on Windows

Runs on AIX
Runs on Solaris
Runs on Linux
Runs on VMWare
Manage long-running jobs
View job details without going into edit mode
View job precedents/dependants
View Job status
Manage job schedules by date
Cancel job without affecting downstream jobs
Retrieve and view job log from remote device
Verify whether a job is active from the OS level of the device
Retrieve job logs from SAP3 and BI Process Chains
Ability to stop and hold jobs to a remote agent
Ability to restrict number of active jobs on remote agent
Determine current job status after agent crash
Abilty to set recurring jobs
Ability to cancel specific instances of a recurring job
Schedule jobs based on predecessor status
Configuration Management and Backup

backup network device config

compare network config (recent, old, baseline)
Performs configuration/provisioning
Audit/scan configs and alert on deviation from std.
Correlation
events within tool only
events sent from outside
events residing in an eXternal source
suppress duplicate in window

x
x
x
x

x
x

X event look for y

X event look for y in window
duplicate count and trigger
Suppress downstream alerts
Display & Reporting
web based display/Dashboard

Mobile-friendly display

console (RDP, ssh, etc) based display

static graphs
customizable graphs
time correlated data graphs
select graph data
event display
historical reports of all statistics
historical reports of errors only

x
x
x

x
x

x
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x

static reports only

custom reports by admin

ad hoc custom reports by user
reports can include data & graphs

x
x
x

displays secure to groups of users

displays secure to individual users

x
x

reports include data only

automated report creation & delivery
Modeling, capacity planning
RSS Feed
Data handling
local closed db
local open db

local logfile

x
x

external closed db
external open db

Ticket tracking
Opens ticket in our systems
associates ticket to event
updates ticket on event change
Ticket system updates event status on ticket chng
time-based escalation
multiple escalation levels

x
x
x
x
x
x

Internal acknowledgement

Discovery and Setup

Auto discover new devices
Auto discover device elements
Auto discover device elements and auto monitor
Batch input new devices
Batch update monitors to devices
Compare device to current std monitor profile
Device report on monitors
Auto discover services on server

x
x
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

x
x

Security/User Accounts
Local in-system user/group accounts

TACACS
RADIUS
Network Device authentication
Server device authentication
Notify on access
Notify on specific command sets
ActiveDirectory - Users
ActiveDirectory - Groups
LDAP
From the Opportunities List
AIX CEC monitoring
AIX HMC monitoring
AIX Premium monitoring
AIX VIOS monitoring
Asterisk specific monitors
Avaya specific monitors
Cisco UC specific monitors
Citrix-specific monitors

x
x

x
x
x
x

Complex monitoring of five servers to be sure only two procs running ?

Customer Facing Scorecard Development
DB2-specific monitors
EMC Monitoring
File Age monitoring
Java-specific monitoring
Netbotz Monitoring
Oracle-specific monitors
SQL-specific monitors
UPS Monitoring - APC
UPS Monitoring - Liebert

x
?
x
x
?
x
x

x
x
x
x
?

x
x

Sample Tool
Tool 1
Tool 2
Tool 3
Tool etc...

Smith, Jones, Brown

Smith, Brown
Jones
Brown
Brown