Paessler AG has unveiled a “monitoring as a service” option for managed service providers, delivering the PRTG Network Monitor with a simplified licensing model.
PRTG Network Monitor lets MSPs individually manage each customer deployment, defining the type and quanitity of sensors used, assigning access rights and personalizing the interfaces. One core server in the MSP data center manages all monitoring data, while individual probes installed with each customer gather data and transmit it back to the core via SSL-encrypted traffic. The service is easy to scale and can be customized for each individual user.
“We had been using an open source monitor for Linux, but from a programming and configuration perspective, it was very complex and required a lot of time to configure-both for ourselves and for our customers,” said Matt Myers, senior network specialist for wire technologies. “PRTG has proven to be much easier to use, in terms of configuration, changes and its ability to provide the historical context for network activity.”
The license model allows unlimited usage of core servers and unlimited probes. The only limitation is a maximum number of 25,000 sensors in total allowing to monitor about 2,500 devices which can be spread between any number of customers. This new MSP license comes as an annual subscription. Smaller MSPs can still use PRTG licenses up to 5,000 sensors without any restrictions, including unlimited remote probes for monitoring customer networks, and including access rights management and customizable dashboards.
“Without a network monitoring system in place, our clients have no way of rewinding history to see what’s causing their problems, or identify what their real equipment needs are. By understanding the traffic and demands on their system, they can not only solve problems more quickly, but also justify financial investments required to fund upgrades when necessary,” said Jim Kirby, director of engineering at dataware services. “For all of its features and flexibility, what really sells PRTG is its price. We were able to fully implement PRTG with about 10-times the features for less than the annual maintenance cost on the previous system. Plus, it runs on about one-third of the hardware. I’ve been in IT for more than 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
