Microsoft System Center Reviews and Pricing

it_user428484

Docente de Certificaciones Microsoft at a non-tech company with 51-200 employees

Jan 24, 2018

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Management Packs help implement best practices, but needs more flexible reporting

Pros and Cons

"Managment Packs for Microsoft-specific products, help us implement the best practices for each product."
"The detail in the alarms is great."

"Less server consumption would help, as would better, more flexible reports."

What is most valuable?

Management Packs for Microsoft-specific products, which help us implement the best practices for each product.

The detail in the alarms is great.

What needs improvement?

Less server consumption would help, as would better, more flexible reports.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is okay.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No problem with scalability.

How are customer service and support?

I have never needed technical support for this product.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used WhatsUp Gold, but System Center came with our Microsoft license.

How was the initial setup?

It's is complex because there are a lot of divisions, and the management of the rules applied to the server are complex.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't evaluate others before going with this, but we are actually analyzing Operations Management Suite, a powerful integration with SCOM 2012 R2.

What other advice do I have?

Don't install all the Management Packs at the same time; this is key.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user216687

Microsoft System Engineer at Summit Technology Solution

Sep 7, 2015

We've implemented some of its family of features, such as SCCM, SCOM, SCVMM, and DPM, which have been valuable to us. But, the DPM function could be improved compared to its backup competitors.

One Really powerfull product is System Center.

With my team we implemented the System Center family such as SCCM, SCOM, SCVMM, and DPM.

System Center is a full product that can work together and do a lot of cool things such as monitoring ٍservers and even non-Microsoft products such as routers, switches and Linux machines using System Center Operation Manager. You can use SCOM to send emails or view very detailed alerts or even take an action (although this will need some configuration with System Center Orchestrator). You can do many things with SCOM and be aware of every component in your infrastructure environment. I consider SCOM the second powerful server in the system center family.
With System Center Configuration manager you can Manage PCS and servers, keep their software updated, set configuration, set security polices, and monitor system status. In my mind, I see the this as the best product in System Center.
System Center VMM is a management server for your Hyper-V servers thats allows you to configure and manage all of them and your storage resources. To create and deploy VMs and services, you only need System Center VMM without needing to go to each Hyper-V server and create your virtual machine, etc. You can also create a VM template so that when creating a new VM, you don't need to configure everything from the beginning. It's a really stable server that makes managing Hyper-V servers easy.
DPM is used for backing up your servers. In my opinion, DPM needs a lot of improvements to its limitations. There are a lot of stronger DPMs, such as Veeam, Symantec Bakcups, and more. But to be fair, having DPM is better than not having a backup solution compared to the expense you will spend on other products.

This is not all of System Center's products, but I mentioned what I have used and know. I hope that this information is useful for you. Thanks.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user504504Network Engineer at XCOM Managed Services

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Sep 27, 2016

It is a lot of work to deploy. Document during this protracted deployment. That documentation will serve you well.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft System Center

September 2025

Free Report: Microsoft System Center Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft System Center. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.

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868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.

it_user6648

Owner at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

May 23, 2013

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System Center 2012 SP1 is one hell of an infrastructure management suite

Valuable Features:

2012 product is the whole suite with one SKU Automation is the heart of SC2012 Third party, management packs integration Control other hypervisors (VMware and Citrix) API integration

Room for Improvement:

Installation is cumbersome and not much documentation available for best practices for installation. While some components require less prerequisites others are very extensive. Third-party hypervisors difficult to configure

Other Advice:

System Center 2012 SP1 is one hell of infrastructure management suite. With careful planning and installation of key components, you can take control of your entire environment.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user5868

Senior Manager of System Security at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Apr 11, 2013

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Integrates great with other Microsoft products, but for non-MS products it's a challenge

Valuable Features:

Integrates great with other Microsoft Products.

Room for Improvement:

Have had challenges to integrate with Non-Microsoft Products.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user3870Senior Manager of Engineering with 1,001-5,000 employees

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May 30, 2013

Hi Imran,

There is no main function of Microsoft System Center. It was developed to be able to centrally control an active directory environment. Deploying software, installing updates, central event logging, monitoring, virtual machine management.. the list goes on.

The perfect tool for central control.

Wissam

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