Instructions

Overall
Use this spreadsheet to record what your monitoring tools (or prospective tools) can and can't do, which ones
fulfill certain roles, 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. You
can get really crazy detailed if you want using columns to mark who was interviewed on which day; what they
told you; etc. But really this is just a 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
existing values.

The first section is a set of questions that are subjective in nature how hard is the application to install? To
maintain? To take out dancing without embarrassing you in front of your friends? It's set on a scale of 1 (One
more word and I'm calling the cops.) To 10 (Marry me NOW!).

The next several sections list out various categories and specific functional items (monitoring, event correlation,
ticket integration, 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 position
with a goat.

COLORS
The left-hand column will turn a pleasing shade of salmon if NONE of the tools is marked as being able to
perform that function. 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 yellow
(3) so you can see 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 you

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 developed
since then. I'm releasing it to the public under the GNU OpenSource copyright for use, redistribution and to
generally make the world a better 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
 41 7 49 25 18 0 0 0 0

Sample Tool
The Monitoring Feature-Function Matrix is a product of Leon Adato and AdatoSystems.com. It is provided as free product

Tool etc...
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.

Tool 1
Tool 2
Tool 3
Tool 4
Subjective Ease of Use (1-10, 10 easiest) 6 8 7 6 7 6
Installation, Configuration and setup 5 7 8 1 6 4
Administration 5 9 6 7 7 5
Device/Node/Element Management (MACs) 5 9 10 3 7 5
User Management 2 5 7 10 7
Agent Health Management (if applicable) 2 8 8
Vendor Support 6 6 6 6 6 6
Community Support 8 8 9 8 8 8
Scaleability 7 5 7 4 7 7
Patching and Upgrades 8 8 7 ? 8 ?
Managing security exceptions (firewall, accounts, strings, etc) 7 8 8 8 8 8
Database Management (db stability, storage needs, etc)

Monitoring
ping x
Port Testing (ssh, smtp, ftp)
SNMP poll (locked list of OIDS) x
SNMP trap receive x x
SNMP Custom OID poll x
syslog receive x x
synthetic server-based transaction (web)
synthetic remote-based transaction (web)
synthetic transaction (fat client)
Perfmon counters x ?
Windows Eventlog monitor x x
Logfile monitor x
SNMP process monitor x
WMI monitor x x x
SNMP Trap forwarding x x
Syslog forwarding x x
SMTP receive x
SMTP parse x
SMTP send x
SMTP roundtrip email monitor x
http/https URL monitor x
SOAP connection x ? x
sniffer/protocol analysis
NetFlow receiver
NetFlow analyzer/data display
IPSLA configuration
IPSLA receiver
Remote DB Query execution x x
Script, batch/shell script local execution x
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Script, Powershell, local execution x
Script, Perl, local execution x x
Script, Vbscript, local execution x x
Agentless capabilities x x
Agent-based capabilities x x
Hardware Agent integration (SIM, Openmanage, etc) x
VMWare API integration x ?
Logfile aggregation & analysis

Event/Error Handling & Alarms

auto service/process restart x x x
single scripted action on event x x x
multiple scripted actions on event x
Auto-acknowledge reversed events (up after down) x x x x
notify via email x
notify via pager
notify by SMS
notify via voice call
notify via CLI command x
notify based on calendar (oncall) 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 x x x
events sent from outside x
events residing in an eXternal source x
suppress duplicate in window x x x
X event look for y x x
X event look for y in window x x
duplicate count and trigger x x x
Suppress downstream alerts x

Display & Reporting

web based display/Dashboard x x x x
Mobile-friendly display
console (RDP, ssh, etc) based display x x x
static graphs x x
customizable graphs x x
time correlated data graphs x x
select graph data x x
event display x x
historical reports of all statistics x x
historical reports of errors only x x
static reports only
custom reports by admin x x
ad hoc custom reports by user x x
reports can include data & graphs x x
reports include data only
automated report creation & delivery
displays secure to groups of users x x
displays secure to individual users x x
Modeling, capacity planning
RSS Feed

Data handling
local closed db x x
local open db x x x
external closed db
external open db
local logfile x x

Ticket tracking
Opens ticket in our systems x
associates ticket to event x
updates ticket on event change x
Ticket system updates event status on ticket chng x
time-based escalation x
multiple escalation levels x
Internal acknowledgement
Discovery and Setup
Auto discover new devices x ? x
Auto discover device elements x x
Auto discover device elements and auto monitor x x
Batch input new devices x x
Batch update monitors to devices x x
Compare device to current std monitor profile x
Device report on monitors x x
Auto discover services on server x ?

Security/User Accounts
Local in-system user/group accounts x x
TACACS
RADIUS
Network Device authentication
Server device authentication
Notify on access
Notify on specific command sets
ActiveDirectory - Users x x
ActiveDirectory - Groups x
LDAP x

From the Opportunities List

AIX CEC monitoring x
AIX HMC monitoring x
AIX Premium monitoring x
AIX VIOS monitoring x
Asterisk specific monitors x
Avaya specific monitors x
Cisco UC specific monitors x
Citrix-specific monitors x x
Complex monitoring of five servers to be sure only two procs running ? ?
Customer Facing Scorecard Development
DB2-specific monitors x
EMC Monitoring ? x
File Age monitoring x
Java-specific monitoring x
Netbotz Monitoring ? x
Oracle-specific monitors x
SQL-specific monitors x
UPS Monitoring - APC x
UPS Monitoring - Liebert x
Sample Tool Smith, Jones, Brown
Tool 1 Smith, Brown
Tool 2 Jones
Tool 3 Brown
Tool etc... Brown