[Infrastructures] The Major Products

[Todd Snyder]

Good day all,

We are looking at finally putting in a systems management tool/tools in
the new year to handle 1000 pretty much identical stores.  We currently
do very little, and what we have is home built.  It looks like we've got
budget and motivation to buy a management tool/tools, but so far
everyone says they do the same things and are all "the best" (we're at
the "talking to sales people stage" obviously).

What systems management tools do you use and recommend?  We're looking
at Zenworks 7, Aduva OnStage, BMC Marimba, CA Unicentre, Symantec
iCommand, HP Openview, Tivoli *something*, etc.  

I'm looking for professional opinions on these and other products.  What
have you done, what would you do again, and what would you avoid even if
it was given to you?  How do you manage 1000 'identical' boxes in very a
very geographically diverse network with very little (if any - we use
satellite) real bandwidth between us and them for management?  It's a
mix of Linux/SCO servers with Windows XP workstations hanging off them.

Thanks for your help/opinions/time in advance.

Todd

 
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Todd Snyder
Store Technical Services
Shoppers Drug Mart
416-493-1220 x5722