Microsoft System Engineer at Summit Technology Solution
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.
Owner at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
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.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft System Center
June 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft System Center. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Manager of System Security at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
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.
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

Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft System Center Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2025
Popular Comparisons
Veeam Data Platform
Oracle SOA Suite
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft System Center Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- Do you think there is a minimum critical threshold that justifies the deployment of the System Center suite?
- When evaluating Application Infrastructure, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
- What application infrastructure solution do you recommend?
- What do you use application infrastructure solutions for in your organization?
- Why is Application Infrastructure important for companies?
It is a lot of work to deploy. Document during this protracted deployment. That documentation will serve you well.