What is our primary use case?
My team uses AlertSite for multiple types of monitoring requirements. The main purpose of the tool is synthetic monitoring where you navigate to the website login, find some patterns, then save the searches.
AlertSite also has a feature called Deja-Click where you can create a recording and configure it to the website, and based on the timeframe, it executes each recording every time, so in case there are some changes in the UI, it gets stuck and it will notify you.
AlertSite is also being used for URL checks, TCP connections, API monitoring, HTTP monitoring, etc., depending on internal applications.
How has it helped my organization?
AlertSite benefits our company because we have configured or integrated it with PagerDuty for the alerts, especially because there are specific critical applications we need to check every minute or two, based on our requirements. These critical alerts are configured on AlertSite via PagerDuty, then connected to ServiceNow, so whenever there are issues, alerts are triggered very quickly. Everyone in our team uses AlertSite, and anyone on call finds the tool very useful.
What is most valuable?
I found multiple features in AlertSite that I like. One is data monitoring history, for example, a history of the blackouts and the data. Sometimes, there's a glitch in the application that AlertSite can capture, and the tool notifies you about that glitch. It also identifies issues that could happen in the future.
AlertSite is also a fast tool that you can use to monitor on-premise servers, internal applications, and even global applications.
The data is available on a single UI in AlertSite, so there's no need to monitor and click on different applications or URLs.
I also love that the tool is quite user-friendly, apart from being fast.
What needs improvement?
One area that needs improvement in AlertSite is the slow UI. I'm using the classic UI because it's quite user-friendly, or in human-readable format, but it's a little slow. It takes time to load all the monitors, so if that could be sped up, that would be helpful.
The AlertSite support team also needs improvement in terms of availability. Most of the agents in the team aren't available 24 x 7, so if there's something you need to discuss, you need to tell the support team ahead of time to schedule it. Multiple times, when a case comes up during weekends or whenever my team is doing an update, support needs improvement, availability-wise.
I use AlertSite for synthetic monitoring, so whatever is available right now is okay, but if I want to request a new feature on a website, currently, the UI refreshes automatically. I would like to have the option on AlertSite to configure that manually. The UI auto-updates every few minutes, so if I can control that manually, that would be helpful.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using AlertSite for more than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
AlertSite is a stable and reliable tool, though there might have been a few times it wasn't, most of the time, it's reliable, and it works.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
AlertSite is quite good in terms of scalability. It's already been scaled in my company, and I found it very easy to scale. Every hardware has a licensed capacity, and my team can increase the number of hardware based on the requirements, and at this level, the tool is quite easy to scale.
How are customer service and support?
In terms of support, AlertSite has documentation, though it's not completely updated, I find most of the details to be available, and people can try and sort things out themselves, particularly for basic issues.
The issue is the response time of AlertSite technical support during weekends. On weekdays, the response time is quick, and there's an on-call number you can contact, but normally, my team does updates during weekends and at midnight because during midnight, people are in bed and sleeping, so you need to make the AlertSite support team aware that you'll be doing an update and that you need support, so you'll have to schedule with the team and that takes time.
How was the initial setup?
In terms of setting up AlertSite, for the first version, my team didn't have to do anything because that was handled by the support team. It was just handed over to us after it was set up.
As for the on-premise servers, there was a private node that required my team to work with the AlertSite support team to receive the hardware in the data center. After the hardware was received, my team had to work with the network security team to open the firewall for the URL sensor because the server appliance was in the data center, so the firewall needs to be opened, and after that, it was pretty straightforward.
The AlertSite team had the document, so whatever was required such as codes, was given, then my team worked with the networking team to get it open, then we could connect and use the tool.
I was the only one on my team who did most of the updates, installation, and private nodes. AlertSite deployment only requires one person for an hour or two of work.
How long the initial setup for the tool would take depends on the availability of the internal team, for example, there's a required SLA for the firewall, so this depends on the internal team. It would take two to three days to receive the hardware, and once you receive the hardware, it would be taken to the data center and configured there, etc.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The management team handles the licensing policy for AlertSite. I have some billing details, but I'm unable to share them.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I've focused on enterprise monitoring for the last nine years, so I've worked on multiple monitoring tools such as AppDynamics and Splunk apart from AlertSite, and currently, my team is checking on Elasticsearch as well.
AppDynamics, NudgeAPM, and AlertSite are used for different types of monitoring, so when you're using AppDynamics, the things you can do with it can't be done on AlertSite because AlertSite is used for synthetic monitoring, and you can't do that on AppDynamics as well. All of the tools have different functionalities.
For synthetic monitoring, for example, for your connections and checks, you can configure AlertSite, and the tool is more comfortable to use. My team just needs to configure AlertSite and hand it over to the application team, then it's easier for the team to monitor.
What other advice do I have?
I have experience with two versions of AlertSite. One is SaaS, with UXM, the older version in February. The other version is the private node, where you install private node servers in the data center, then my team connects to the UI to get all the monitoring data.
In terms of AlertSite maintenance, the support team releases updates for the private node servers, so you have to keep that updated for vulnerability. Whenever a new update is released, you have to work on the software internally, and that's it. Sometimes, it's just a quick update that the AlertSite team does without requiring my team to do anything. My team just receives a notification from AlertSite.
The enterprise monitoring team which I'm part of has eight members. Three of the members look into AlertSite issues, so when an application has an issue, the application team would contact my team to identify the error, so my team navigates the AlertSite monitor to get the root cause of the error.
My team uses AlertSite daily, but the upgrades happen rarely, for example, just once every quarter depending on the release.
My advice to anyone planning to implement AlertSite, especially if you want to install private nodes, is to get guidance from the support team and work with the ops team as well to get the implementation done without wasting time configuring it by yourself.
I'm rating AlertSite eight out of ten because it needs improvement in UI performance and support.
My company doesn't have a partnership with AlertSite.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud