Microsoft Exchange is one of the most popular and widely used email servers in the world. It is also a critical infrastructure for any organization because email is the primary form of communication at work.
Whether your employees want to setup a meeting or get notifications about vulnerability issues in the network, emails are the key.
This is why every organization should take proactive steps to ensure that their Exchange server is in good health always.
Here is our list of the eight Best Exchange Server Monitoring Tools:
- Atera – EDITOR’S CHOICE This cloud platform provides remote monitoring and management services that can be used by IT support departments or managed service providers to supervise networks, servers, and applications that include Exchange Server. Start a free trial.
- SolarWinds Exchange Monitoring Tool – FREE TRIAL Part of the Server & Application Monitor, this tool enables the management of mailboxes as well as monitoring performance and traffic volumes. Installs on Windows Server.
- PRTG Exchange Monitor – FREE TRIAL A mailbox monitoring, backup, and management system that is part of a wider bundle of system monitoring tools. Installs on Windows Server.
- ManageEngine OpManager – FREE TRIAL A network management system that includes alerts for Exchange Server performance. Installs on Windows Server and Linux.
- Checkmk An infrastructure monitoring system for networks, servers, and applications with specialized services for monitoring Microsoft Exchange Server. Also runs on Linux.
- Foglight for Exchange A monitoring system with performance and capacity tracking for Microsoft Exchange Server. Installs on Windows Server and Linux.
- Nagios An Exchange Server monitor that is available in Nagios XI and the free Nagios Core. Both systems install on Linux.
- Netwrix Auditor for Exchange Part of the Netwrix Auditor platform, this monitoring service ties into compliance reporting. Installs on Windows and Windows Server.
We’ve gone through the Best Exchange Server Monitors and Tools for keeping tabs on your Server Health, Mailbox Sizes, Quotas and more. Here are some of the important and critical components you should monitoring in your Exchange Server Infrastructure:
- Critical Services Monitoring including Information Store, IIS Server, Exchange Assistants, Transport Service, Unified Message Service, etc.
- Mailbox Database Size, Queues and Mounted Status (This includes Whitespace, etc)
- Average Mailbox Size
- Sort Users by Mailbox Size, Number of Attachments, Attachment Size
- User Mailbox Quota Used and Remaining
- Total Number of Mailboxes
- Information Store details including Number of Connections, RPC Requests, RPC Latency and Active User Count
- Database Cache Size
- Database Page Faults & Stalls per Second
- Etc, etc.
Best File Server Monitoring Software
Here’s the Best Exchange Server Monitoring Tools & Software:
Methodology for Selecting the Best Exchange Server Monitoring Software
With the help of these tools, you can track corporate servers and keep running things smoothly, but choosing the right tool can be quite challenging. Hence, we have shared a few methodologies that you must keep in mind.
- Check if it supports monitoring applications and servers.
- Can you predict capacity shortages with the selected tool?
- Does it send instant alerts or notifications via email or SMS?
- Can it quickly identify internet connection issues?
Exchange monitoring tools help to monitor an Exchange server, so you can identify issues and fix them before they become big problems. A study estimates that when an Exchange server is down, financial losses range from $25,000 to $4 million an hour.
To avoid such unnecessary expense, here are some of the top Microsoft Exchange Email Server monitoring tools available today.
1. Atera – FREE TRIAL
Atera is a software platform that is delivered from the cloud and is tailored to the needs of managed service providers (MSPs). The package includes a remote monitoring and management (RMM) module that covers all aspects of system management, including the monitoring, backup, and management of Exchange Server and Outlook clients.
Features of Atera’s Exchange Server monitoring service include:
- Scheduled backups of all Exchange Server mailboxes
- Restore points and rollback
- System utilization monitoring for Exchange Server
- Outlook client performance monitoring
- Network traffic identification by protocol
- Identification of Exchange Server performance
- Alerts for performance thresholds or resource exhaustion
- Capacity planning and resource reallocation
- Ticketing system for user contacts
- Remote access for technicians investigating Outlook problems on endpoints
Pros:
- You can monitor, manage, and schedule a backup of Exchange Server mailboxes and Outlook clients
- Track Exchange Server’s system usage
- Notifies on reaching performance threshold limits or detecting resource depletion
- Offers remote access for technicians so that they can easily examine Outlook issues on endpoints
- Monitors Exchange Server performance and restore points
Cons:
- A few setup options are difficult to locate
Pricing: Free Trial of the Power edition, Prices from $99 per month per technician
Download: https://www.atera.com/sign-up/
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Atera is our top pick for an Exchange Server monitoring system because it keeps track of the performance of any application, not just Exchange Server. The package offers extensive remote monitoring and management systems and is provided in versions for in-house IT support teams and managed service providers. Technician team management packages are also available. These include a ticketing system, a task tracker, and a time-sheet compiler that can feed into a billing system. Managed service providers also get tools to run their business, which include contract and service-level agreement management. Task automation services in the Atera package include a software deployer and an automated patch manager. You can manage endpoints running Windows in all of the plan levels of Atera editions and macOS can be managed in higher plans.
Download: Get a 30-day FREE Trial!
Official Site: https://www.atera.com/signup/
OS: Cloud-based
2. SolarWinds Exchange Monitor Tool (SAM) – FREE TRIAL
SolarWinds Exchange Monitoring Tools come from SolarWinds, a company well-known for offering top-of-the-line performance monitoring tools. The Exchange Monitoring tool gives you complete visibility into Exchange server, so you can proactively handle problems.
Here is a look at its important features.
- Alerts on database usage and free space availability, so you can plan for mailbox database capability.
- Forecasts storage metrics with current and historical data, to help you identify problems pertaining to volume capacity or IOPS.
- Suggests optimum storage performance options.
- Constantly monitors hub transport server, mailbox server, edge transport server and the CAS, so you can plan for mail storms or other related issues ahead of time.
- User-friendly interfaces make it easy to search the exact information you want. This feature also helps to troubleshoot user mailboxes, as you don’t have to waste time running a script to identify the problem mailbox.
- Comes with an advanced reporting tool that makes data visually appealing and easy to read.
- Makes it easy to drill into any Exchange issue to fix it at the earliest.
Pros:
- Full visibility into the Exchange server to track issues proactively
- Notifies on detecting free space availability or database utilization
- identifies issues with volume capacity or IOPS by forecasting storage measures
- Tracks hub transport server, mailbox server, and other areas on a constant basis
- Generate visually appealing and insightful reports for analysis
Cons:
- Difficult to set up personalized SNMP notifications
Pricing: Free 30-day Free Trial!
Download: solarwinds.com/server-application-monitor/use-cases/exchange-server-monitor
3. PRTG Network Monitor by Paessler – FREE TRIAL
PRTG Exchange Monitoring tool monitors many parameters of your Exchange Server, so there are no financial and productivity losses stemming from server problems.
Here’s a look at some of its features.
- Continuously monitors exchange server availability and performance.
- Ensures the smooth delivery of emails
- Sends alerts when the mail server is down or when there are any issues with availability or performance. It sends these alerts through email, SMS or push notifications.
- Monitors database capacity, load and traffic patterns.
- Handles documentations such as event log entries.
- Easy to setup and configure.
- Comes with pre-configured sensors for Microsoft Exchange Server, so they are automatically in place when installation is complete.
- A well-designed dashboard displays all the information about Exchange Server in a neat and comprehensive way.
Sensors
Below is a list of sensors designed specifically for monitoring the Exchange server.
- Exchange mailbox (powershell) sensor – Monitors the mailbox size, logins and the latest emails.
- Exchange database (powershell) sensor – Monitors database availability group (DAG) status.
- Exchange backup (powershell) sensor – Verifies if Exchange backups are performed at scheduled intervals.
- Exchange mail queue (powershell) sensor – Monitors the number of emails that are currently in the mail queue.
- Exchange public folder (powershell) sensor – Monitors Exchange Server’s public folders, including its size, access, etc.
- WMI Exchange server sensor and WMI Exchange transport queue sensor – Queries important information through WMI
- SMTP and IMAP round trip sensor – Checks the response time of SMTP and IMAP servers.
- SMTP and POP3 round trip sensor – Monitors end-to-end delivery of emails.
- POP#, IMAP and SMTP sensors – Monitors the availability of email servers
Pros:
- Allows tracking different aspects of the Exchange Server
- Ensures email transmission is seamless
- Allows users to watch over database capacity, load as well as traffic patterns
- Easy configuration and a comprehensive dashboard that displays everything in detail
- Notifies on detecting availability or performance issues as well as when the mail server stops working
Cons:
- Problems arise when there are too many Linux Systems
Pricing: The cost depends on the number of sensors you choose.
- 100 sensors – free
- 500 sensors – $1600
- 1000 sensors – $2850
- 2500 sensors – $5950
- 5000 sensors – $10500
- XL1 Unlimited: Unlimited sensors for one core installation – $14500
- XL1 Unlimited: Unlimited sensors for five core installations – $60000
The above prices include a one-year maintenance. To renew, the price is 25% of the original license. You can start with a 30-day free trial to test your network requirements.
Download: https://www.paessler.com/download/prtg-download
4. ManageEngine OpManager – FREE TRIAL
OpManager from ManageEngine helps you to stay on top of your Exchange server’s performance.
It allows you to do the following:
- Check for inactive mailboxes and remove them for better performance.
- Keep a check on your mailbox performance counters to ensure that your database storage capacity is within acceptable limits.
- Troubleshoot outlook connectivity by examining various parameters such as number of requests per second, average response time, etc.
- Streamline all voice messages and emails into a single mailbox, so it is easy to identify access issues.
- Monitor critical information like scan time, the number of scan requests rejected, blocked recipients and more, to provide better security against spam and viruses.
- Plan for capacity based on the inputs from this tool.
- Create stellar reports using the built-in templates.
- Get a list of all the servers and database status copies that are a part of the database availability group (DAG).
Pros:
- Tracks inactive mailboxes and eliminates them to deliver better results
- Examines several parameters to resolve outlook connectivity issues
- Identifies access problems fasters by streamlining voicemails and emails into a single mailbox
- Uses pre-built templates to produce stellar reports
- Allows tracking scan time, blocked recipients, etc.
Cons:
- The reporting feature needs improvement
Pricing: Free Trial as well, but this product starts at $945.
Download: https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/
5. Checkmk
Checkmk is a monitoring system that covers networks, servers, and applications. Exchange Server is one of the applications that this package is able to monitor. The system is able to monitor mail queues for Microsoft Exchange Server.
The Checkmk library gives access to a list of Exchange Server monitoring functions.
Features include:
- Monitors Active Sync performance.
- Checks the Autodiscover feature of Exchange Server.
- Monitors database availability groups (DAG) for recovery.
- Measures database latency.
- Information Store monitoring.
- Monitors Outlook Web Access (OWA).
- Monitors the performance of RPC access.
- Monitors the resources of the host.
- Measures the performance of the connecting network.
Pros:
- Capable of tracking Microsoft Exchange Server’s message queues
- You can track the performance of Active Sync and connecting network
- Keeps track of RPC access efficiency
- Examines Exchange Server’s Autodiscover function
- Keeps track of the host’s resources
Cons:
- Designed purposely for system administrators, as a result, not a great option for home users
- Historical data browsing requires improvement
Pricing: Two free editions are available – one based on Nagios Core called the Raw Edition, the other a proprietary system from Checkmk. The Standard edition for corporate systems starts at 600 Euros per year and a version for managed service providers starts at 1,200 Euros per year.
Download: You can access a 30-day free trial at https://checkmk.com/product/server-monitoring
6. Foglight for Exchange
Foglight for Exchange comes from a company called Quest that specializes in providing products for streamlining IT administration.
It comes with the following features.
- Comes with intuitive dashboards that allow you to view critical load areas and any abnormal data flow.
- Allows you to browse through different Exchange components to get a logical flow of data and to ensure optimal health and performance.
- Offers consolidated views to make it easy to identify issues in your physical and virtual environment.
- Provides insight into mailboxes running in the cloud as well.
- Isolates Exchange components running in the virtual server, so you can fix issues directly in the virtualization layer.
- Categorizes top users to detect load issues.
- Detailed alerts to notify you of issues. You can customize these alerts to include best practices, deviations, operational problems and more.
- Creates SLA performance and availability reports.
- Gives you the option to schedule and run diagnostic reports.
- Advanced permission controls make it convenient to assign user-based permissions.
Pros:
- The dashboard displays critical load areas and abnormal data flow
- Helps discover issues in physical as well as virtual environment
- Generate insights about cloud-based accounts
- Generate reports related to SLA performance and availability
- Allows you to plan and execute diagnostic reports
Cons:
- Foglight has an outdated interface
- Does not offer information about systems outside of the exchange
Pricing: To get a detailed pricing, contact the sales team at https://www.quest.com/register/55453
Download: Download a 30-day free trial from https://www.quest.com/register/55518/
7. Nagios Exchange Server Monitoring Tool
Nagios Exchange monitoring tool offers a comprehensive monitoring of all Exchange mail servers.
It comes with the following benefits.
- Its monitoring capabilities ensure that the mail server is always up and running.
- It stays on top of performance and sends notifications if any parameter is off the threshold limits.
- Detects outages, power failures, delays and email server failures quickly.
- Advanced reporting tool helps to create customized reports.
- Monitors POP3, SMTP and IMAP servers.
Pros:
- Watch over all Exchange mail servers
- Alerts if any parameter exceeds the threshold limit
- Quickly identifies delays and email server failures
- Creates custom reports using advanced reporting tools
- Allows tracking SMTP as well as IMAP servers
Cons:
- The learning slope for configuration and onboarding is substantial
- With too many options, customization can become overwhelming
Pricing: Pricing starts at $2,995.
Download: A free 30-day trial is available at https://www.nagios.com/downloads/nagios-xi/
8. Netwrix Auditor for Exchange
Netwrix Auditor for Exchange is an exchange monitoring service that helps you stay on top of your Exchange infrastructure and gives you better control over your mailbox access. It is a part of the unified Netwrix auditor platform.
Besides these aspects, here’s what it can do for you.
- Monitors all critical changes made to Exchange server, due to any change in configuration, use or permissions.
- Interactive search feature helps to quickly identify the root cause of the problem.
- Provides necessary information to extensively investigate events like mailbox deletion.
- Gives detailed information on who accessed what mailboxes. This way, you can know when a non-owner accesses a mailbox containing sensitive data.
- Sends alerts when parameters go past the threshold limits. Also, notifies any suspicious or criminal activities.
- Offers compliance reports that are mapped to regulatory compliance standards such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOX and GDPR.
- Stores a complete audit trail for historic verifications and analysis
- Supports granular access control, so you can give permission-based access to individuals.
Pros:
- Offers better control over mailbox access
- Keeps note of all critical changes made to the Exchange server
- Identifies the root cause of the problem faster
- Provides thorough details on who viewed which mailboxes
- Maintains an exhaustive audit record for historical verifications and analysis
Cons:
- Few plugins are challenging to use
- Integration with other auditing tools is difficult
Pricing: There are three editions – Small Business edition, Standard edition and Data Discovery & Classification edition. Small Business edition is ideal for 150 or less AD users while the Standard edition is ideal for more than 150 AD users. The Data Discovery& Classification edition includes the Data Discovery tool, along with Exchange monitoring.
Contact the sales team at https://www.netwrix.com/how_to_buy.html to get the price.
Download: A 20-day free trial is available at https://www.netwrix.com/exchange_server_monitoring.html
Conclusion
To conclude, Exchange monitoring Software and Tools are essential to protect your Exchange servers from going down, along with Managing and Monitoring Datastores and important Exchange Services that should never go down. The above-explained tools come with good features to give you complete control over the health, performance and availability of this critical resource.
We suggest you download a few of them and test them in your network to get a better feel of what they are compatible of – If you want our Top picks, We suggest one of the top 3 list above – either Solarwinds, PRTG or OpManager by ManageEngine!
