SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset vs. SysKit SPDocKit

[SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset is] a great tool for monitoring database servers, highly recommended. The very good thing is that it keeps the history for two weeks, and you can see the time slice for all the server activities. Helps a lot to identify the memory and CPU bottlenecks, research blocking issues and kill the sessions, if necessary.

Incentivized

The product is second to none in providing an accurate and detailed view of a SharePoint farm, its composition, and its configuration. It is an essential tool for discovery purposes, and it should be used anytime business continuity and disaster recover plans/documentations are being prepared. Since SharePoint doesn't include a "farm clone" method, SPDocKit provides the next best thing in attempts to replicate configuration. It can also be used as a Q&A checkpoint through the use of farm snapshots to highlight differences that exist between two or more environments.

Incentivized

• Debugging Tools
• Saves Time for basic checks
• Ping, Telnet, SSH right from the console and hence easy user management from console itself

Incentivized

• Discovery. When trying to learn the ins and outs of an unfamiliar SharePoint farm configuration, SPDocKit creates a complete and accurate picture.
• Documentation. Documenting farm configurations manually is a very time and labor intensive process, so I turn to SPDocKit to automate the process for me.
• Change Tracking. SPDocKit can take a series of farm snapshots over time, and it can highlight and track differences in configuration and settings from snapshot to snapshot.

Incentivized

• The unifying component that is intended to be the initial interface to the tools seems clunky. I prefer to start the tools individually rather than using it.
• The port scanner could use some improvements to make it easier to use.

Incentivized

• Cloud Readiness. Unfortunately, SPDocKit cannot run against SharePoint Online (SPO) environments due to its reliance on server APIs that aren't exposed in the cloud.
• Variations. SPDocKit exists in a number of forms for licensing purposes, and not all versions are equivalent. It's sometimes difficult to know what version of the product houses the feature that I want to use, as well as whether or not I'm licensed for it.

Incentivized

Very easy to use and intuitive. Just be careful with the WAN Killer...it does what it says.

Incentivized

Our organization uses it regularly. It is reliable, and we keep finding new uses for it

Incentivized

SysKit support is second to none. On occasions where I've had questions about any aspect of SPDocKit, I've reached out to SysKit through available channels and usually gotten back a detailed and helpful answer within 24 hours of my request submission. They're also very friendly and supply more information that may be related to my inquiry or problem. I never feel like customer support is an afterthought with SysKit.

Incentivized

These tools complement the Engineer's Toolset. They are excellent at detecting most issues and at keeping the network monitored and protected. However, when it comes time to dig into an issue, especially a hard to fix intermittent issue, these products lack the granularity of monitoring needed for these types of issues. Having said that the toolset is not made to do full time enterprise level monitoring. With these tools and the toolset I am able to have a more complete view of the network and deliver higher levels of service and quicker responses to issues.

Incentivized

I am unaware of any other product on the market that does what SysKit SPDocKit does. SPDocKit has certainly been doing it the longest, and it offers a unique value proposition and set of capabilities.

Incentivized

• Spend less time downloading free buggy tools
• All the tools in one spot, so you don't have to look around for tools
• Get to the solution sooner

Incentivized

• The product cost may appear large, but when you compare the cost and reuse of the product to what it would cost in time and effort to carry out its functions manually, the cost is truly a drop in the bucket.
• Since I operate as a consultant, I consider the SysKit SPDocKit tool essential to the work I do. It allows me to go into new environments, generate a farm report, and use that report as something I provide to the client - as well as for my own purposes.

Incentivized