Spiceworks Network Monitor Review

Spiceworks Network Monitor (which is free) continues Spiceworks’ long tradition of providing high-quality infrastructure management and network monitoring software. Plus, the company does it for free, as long as you don’t mind some ads in the corners of Spiceworks Network Monitor’s user interface (UI). Sometimes even more valuable than the Spiceworks software is the fact that, by downloading it, you can sign up to become part of the Spiceworks community. Sure, that can include excited technology fans and an orange dinosaur named SpiceRex, but it also includes an amazing and surprisingly responsive network of experts to help in case you get into any kind of IT trouble or need help getting the most out of the Spiceworks platform. (If the orange dinasour comment just now is throwing you, then just ask the Spiceworks community about “SpiceRex(Opens in a new window).”). Though Spiceworks Network Monitor is excellent software, it doesn’t win our Editors’ Choice in our infrastructure management service roundup, a designation that instead goes to MMSoft Pulseway.

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Compared to platforms such as LogicMonitor (Visit Site at LogicMonitor)(Opens in a new window) (which wins our Editors’ Choice in our network monitoring software roundup), Spiceworks Network Monitor isn’t the most complete network monitoring product available. However, Spiceworks Network Monitor is remarkably complete for a free product. The functions are well-chosen and everything works solidly for the most part, which is in sharp contrast to some of the network monitoring solutions we’ve recently seen, such as Datadog. Better, if you have questions about Spiceworks Network Monitor, there’s more than just a tech support number available: the Spiceworks community is there to help as well. So is Spiceworks for that matter since the product does get a full range of tech support despite its status as a free software package.

Previously, Spiceworks Network Monitor was a Windows-only product; however, that’s changed with the introduction of support for several Linux distributions, including Arch, Debian, Fedora, RedHat, SuSE, and Ubuntu. In addition, it also works with a full range of network devices as long as they support the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) versions 1 or 2.

Spiceworks Network Monitor tracks infrastructure devices such as switches and routers for the basics, including input/output (I/O) rate, packets per second, and packet loss. It also tracks servers (and as a bonus, Windows 7 and Windows 10 workstations) for CPU utilization, disk utilization, network data rate and packet loss, and memory utilization. You can also drill down to display those parameters graphically in expanded views. However, Spiceworks Network Monitor does not monitor or manage other devices, most notably mobile devices.

You’ll notice that, while Spiceworks Network Monitor provides excellent basic monitoring, there are features that aren’t present, such as support for SNMP version 3. Spiceworks also has in-app advertising from partner companies (which is how it makes its money), with products that will integrate seamlessly into the Spiceworks Network Monitor application. But, if all you need is the basics, then it’s all free.

Getting Set Up

For this test, I used Spiceworks Network Monitor to watch the activity on the Cisco IOS (originally Cisco Internetwork Operating System)-based switches in my lab and to monitor the health of some Windows computers. While the company says Spiceworks Network Monitor works with Windows Server, the fact is, the product is also capable of handling most operating systems (OSes), including Windows 7 and Windows 10 machines and many flavors of Linux. For the monitoring to work in either case, you need to enable SNMP or Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) on the machines you wish to monitor.

I was also able to have Spiceworks Network Monitor provide information on a Ruckus Wireless ZoneDirector 1200 and a D-Link DGS-3627 switch. Spiceworks Network Monitor will also connect with some network devices that may not do you a lot of good. For example, I was able to monitor the health of an APC SmartUPS 1500 uninterruptable power supply (UPS). But, since the Spiceworks Network Monitor doesn’t include the ability to monitor power supplies, the only thing you’ll learn is that it’s still alive. You can also now monitor the presence of any device that responds to HTTP(S), Ping, or SIP, and while it can’t tell you about the functioning of such a device, it can tell you whether that device still alive, too.

Adding devices or servers to the monitoring application is simple. To add a device, you need to click Add Switch on the dashboard. Then you need to tell Spiceworks Network Monitor the host name or the IP address as well as the community string which, on most devices, is “public.” Once you tell the software to connect, you’ll see a short delay, and then Spiceworks Network Monitor will start monitoring.

Adding a new server (or Windows 7 or Windows 10 computer) is only slightly more complicated. As in the case of a device, you start by clicking the dashboard but this time you do so where it says “Add Server,” and then you enter the host name or the IP address. Then you’ll need to provide the log-in name and password. The servers used in this test were running Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, and connected without a hitch. In fact, the Linux integration is notably seamless unlike the complications of some other network monitors.

As you connect each server or device, a moving graphical display is added to the dashboard under the appropriate heading. For servers, the graph displays disk activity, memory use, CPU usage, and network activity. The switch display shows the input/output (I/O) rate, packets per second, and packet loss. This collection of displays is called the Watchlist.

You can choose to look at specific devices in significantly more detail with what Spiceworks calls a Critical Device Widget. You can choose three devices or servers to display more detailed graphs in boxes on the dashboard below the Watchlist.

If you need even more specific details, then you can click a specific parameter in the Critical Device window, and the graph for that parameter is expanded and additional details show up on the screen with it. For example, I was able to click the display for one of the Cisco switches and examine the exact numbers for the total switch bandwidth usage, complete with the stats at each point where the numbers changed.

You can do something similar with the Watchlist graphics. Hover your mouse pointer over any of the moving graphs and the graph is replaced by the actual number it represents. Click the name of any device or server and you’ll get a full-page display of detailed numbers of the object’s performance. This can be useful if a graph appears to show a high number or level of activity because you can confirm the actual number. Because the scaling of the graphs is automatic, there can be times when a tiny number seems to generate a large movement on the dashboard’s graphs.

Limitations

Despite the impressive capabilities of the Spiceworks Network Monitor, there are some limitations. However, most of the major limitations have been eliminated. For example, alert thresholds are now much more granular and you can change individual settings. With its default settings, you may get emailed about events that aren’t actually critical. For example, I noticed a disk activity alert when one of the machines being monitored started doing backups, but this setting can be adjusted to account for such activity. In addition, you can control when Spiceworks Network Monitor sends out emails so, while such an alert may show up on the dashboard, you do not need to get emailed about it. Plus, you can now decide whether or not an alert was actually critical and fine-tune the threshold.

Currently, you will see a number of references to the beta team displayed on the dashboard and elsewhere in Spiceworks Network Monitor. This is a released product and came out of beta in early June 2015. At this point, Spiceworks Network Monitor’s development has been completed. The product will be included in a new cloud-based app to be released in the future, but until that happens, it’s still supported.

I found the Spiceworks Network Monitor to be a well-featured, easy-to-use product that will nicely meet the needs of most small to midsize businesses (SMBs). You do not need to be a professional network engineer to implement the product and you don’t need to be in the IT department to use it. However, Spiceworks Network Monitor is watching how your network operates, so knowledge of networking and network events is needed to take full advantage of this product. That being said, the graphical displays are intuitive enough that someone who isn’t an IT professional should be able to tell when a server or device needs attention. But the nice thing is, this may be all of the network management you need—and it’s free.

Spiceworks Network Monitor

4.0

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See It

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at Spiceworks

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MSRP Free

Pros

• It’s free.

• Extensible with other (not free) products.

• Good basic monitoring.

• Easy to use and understand.

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Cons

• The product is at the end of its life and will eventually be replaced by a new cloud-based product.

The Bottom Line

Spiceworks Network Monitor is mature, free, and very slick, with enough IT punch to act as a one-stop IT shop for small to midsize businesses. It also gives you access to the Spiceworks community, which is an informed and responsive IT expert community.

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