SAP Solution Manager vs IT-Conductor for SAP Monitoring

SAP Teched 2017 Las Vegas will cover many sessions on SAP Solution Manager 7.2 (Solman 7.2). When it comes to technical SAP monitoring and basis operations, we have gotten just as many questions about how different is Solman 7.2 in comparison to Solman 7.1 as well as IT-Conductor. We have published many guides for deploying Solman technical monitoring and comparing it to other tools available, so we recommend you check out some of the following posts and make your informed decisions about whether to upgrade, reimplement and/or use Solman 7.2 for SAP monitoring.

Solution Manager 7.2 Monitoring Setup and Configuration eBook
HANA and SAP Monitoring Comparison Matrix - in 9 capability areas
Still on Solman 7.1? See Solution Manager Technical Monitoring

IT-Conductor customers are going to Teched with one less worry since we are actively monitoring the availability and performance of their SAP applications WITHOUT Solman, so they are free to focus on other topics of interest.

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Key Areas	SAP Solution Manager	IT-Conductor
Infrastructure	TWO separate landscapes needed to be sized (SAP quicksizer) and procured both hardware and software development production Shared with other Solman users for non-monitoring applications such as ChaRM, Documentation, Quality testing, Maintenance, etc. Performance can impact monitoring itself	IT-Conductor Gateway behind customer firewall (can be VM), 4vCPU, 8GB RAM. Can be shared with other systems. primary standby (optional) IT-Conductor cloud platform is designed for automation and monitoring at global high availability and scalability
Installation/Setup	Preparation/planning: several days, lots of SAP notes and manuals Actual installation: 2-3 days: Server, OS, Storage, DB, SAP SWPM (ABAP, Java) Post-Install Setup: 1-2 days: Monitoring Infrastructure (SLD, LMDB, Java Connectivity, BW Setup, Users, CA, Introscope, Email, CRM Basis, Gateway services)	Preparation: Subscribe online. Also available through SAP AppCenter or AWS Marketplace Installation: 10 minutes: IT-Conductor only requires a GATEWAY installation, a 5 minute process. This can be installed on an existing Windows/Linux. Post-Install configuration: NONE! IT-Conductor does not require any configuration, as systems management infrastructure such as Sites, Users, Groups, Email notifications are already integrated.
Configuration	Basic Configuration: 1-2 days Schedule Jobs SAPRouter User creation and connectivity to SAP Support Hub Communication Client libraries install on Solman as needed for managed systems such as HANA Update MAI (Monitoring Alerting Infrastructure) Content	Users: 5 min/system: Monitoring users with provided monitoring roles on systems to be managed SAP Transport (optional): 5 min/SAP system. Advanced monitoring such as End user experience, workload profiles
Add Systems to Monitoring	Managed System Configuration: 1-2 hours / system Diagnostic agent installation per linked systems and integrate with SLD Upload Extractors (if Monitoring HANA 2.0) Assign Products Check Prerequisites Maintain RFCs Assign Diagnostic Agent Enter System Parameters Enter Landscape Parameters Maintain Users Finalize & Check Configuration	Use wizards to add apps for monitoring: 5 min/system IT-Conductor automatically ’discovers’ all related objects for an SAP product using best-practices templates. Availability and Performance Monitoring of systems normally ready in 15 minutes or less
System Monitoring	Fiori tiles-based and SAPUI5 interface Manage thresholds and alerts via Templates	Monitoring Top 10 critical areas in SAP can be done automatically via threshold settings and subscriptions one, and applied to ALL systems Secure Web access from ANYWHERE Users, Groups, Distribution List, built-in API integration to other IT service management platforms Dynamic Health services monitoring and SLA drill-downs to root-cause
Life Cycle Management	Requires upgrade of SOLMAN, which involves almost the same effort if not more than installation: Housekeeping BW Administration CRM Administration, TREX is needed if Solman is not installed on HANA ABAP & JAVA Basis Administration for standard SAP landscape Frequent Content Updates Frequent Security Updates Template Maintenance Solman itself needs Monitoring Monitoring is NOT available while upgrading the production SOLMAN (unless manual setup for Emergency Monitoring – this puts monitored system at risk without any monitoring tool)	SAP Monitoring as a Service operates with high availability, flexibility, and scalability of the cloud. Your SAP environment are monitored continuously whether on-premise, on cloud, or in hybrid environments, so customers can be monitored during upgrades and migrations Application monitoring is continuously enhanced and delivered seamlessly to customers globally as part of the service
Technical Support/Expertise	Requires ‘dedicated’ SME for SOLMAN, which includes Full SAP landscape management Continuous education and Solman-specific training courses	No training required, online support available via chat, email, service desk, wiki, webinars and a remote SAP Basis expert Trusted Advisory team CoE: Customer Center of Excellence Basis team learns more on monitoring aspects and performance analysis while using IT-Conductor advanced features
Summary	Cost: $$$$ - high initial cost and ongoing support costs, especially if using Focus Insights Personnel: dedicated SMEs Complexity: High Flexibility: Medium Usability: Medium Availability: Needs self-monitoring and alternate monitoring methods during upgrades	Cost: $ initial cost, and $ full service subscription Personnel: existing Basis, Managers, Operations become users - not platform administrators Complexity: Low Flexibility: High Usability: High Availability: High