A sysadmin with the right knowledge but wrong tools is like a car without headlights — sooner or later a crash is inevitable.

2019 brought forth a variety of IT management tools that aim to help sysadmins resolve issues efficiently. The problem lies in too many vendors and an excess amount of star-spangled marketing messages that push sysadmins in a quicksand of ‘over-promise and under-deliver'. 

Nonetheless, choosing the right tool for managing your IT is essential. The right decision makes your IT operation efficient; the wrong one ruins both business and reputation.

To keep the sanctity of your IT infrastructure and professional integrity, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of top ten IT management tools sysadmins to take note of.

Let’s dive in:

1. Pingplotter

Feature highlight: Find the ‘why’ for poor network connection and resolve internet problems for good.

Type the website or server address causing problems and, PingPlotter will graph latency and packet losses between the website/server and the hardware. Visualize traceroute results and dig deep into network connection issues so that you are better prepared to fix the problem rather than figuring it out.

2. Sysinternals Suite

Feature highlight: Monitor, manage, and troubleshoot Windows OS, straight from one place.

With more than seventy sysinternal utilities that do not require installation to run, it offers convenience, a rarity for sysadmins. The suite includes AccessChk, AdExplorer, BgInfo, CacheSet, Desktops, to name a few.

3. PowerShell

Feature highlight: Save time by automating repetitive tasks.

If you’re new to the sysadmin world, PowerShell scripts should be your go-to tool. Write and execute scripts to automate tasks as per your requirements. It doesn’t require a genius to run these scripts; a few add-ons and you can get your automation up and running. PowerShell gives newbie sysadmins speed and efficiency, making them competent from day one.

4. Notepad++

Feature highlight: A tabbed-interface allows sysadmins to work on different open documents in a solitary window.

Notepad++ is a simple, lightweight, and perhaps the most loved text editor these days. It packs a punch in functionality, making coding a lot fruitful. Some of the features include custom featuring of code syntax, autocompletion, multi-editing, synchronized scrolling, finding and replacement of text strings with regular expressions. 

5. Pulseway RMM

Feature highlight: The world’s first portable RMM solution that lets sysadmins manage IT infrastructure from anywhere, anytime.

Portability has many benefits for sysadmins: productivity, work-life balance, reduced travel, and more. Pulseway RMM offers all these perks with its super-intuitive mobile experience. Sysadmins can identify and resolve issues proactively, remote access desktops, automate tasks — using the power of their thumb. 

6. Cacti

Feature highlight: The graphic representation of the IT infrastructure helps quickly identify problems as opposed to going through tiresome server logs which means higher response rate.

Cacti's core strength lies in graphs. Numeric data associated with any network device can be given a graphical makeover: displaying network performance and predicting future network activities. To create a graph, simply select a template from Graph Management and you're all set.

7. KeePass

Feature highlight: Reduce cognitive overload by saving all your passwords at a secured place. 

Remembering passwords should not be part of sysadmins’ duties. It’s about managing IT, not a memory test. KeePass takes the load of saving passwords, making it easy for sysadmins to access confidential information swiftly and safely. Moreover, the password management tool operates within the confidentiality policy of the company. 

8. NTOP

Feature highlight: Get real-time updates on network traffic without breaking a sweat

Ntop offers high-speed, web-based traffic analysis and flow collection. The bigger goal is to provide sysadmins an eagle view on active hosts that are engaging with the IT infrastructure. The insights help sysadmins find the source(s) of malicious traffic and take action.

9. PhpMyAdmin

Feature highlight: Manage MySQL functions over the web.

PhpMyAdmin is a global IT management tool that’s written in PHP and translated into 72 languages. It supports a wide range of MySQL and MariaDB operations like database management, tables, columns, users, permissions etc. Armed with a strong support team, this tool has made some fans out of sysadmins. 

10. G-o-o-g-l-e

Feature highlight: Has answers to all your doubts.

Sysadmins need quick solutions to put out the daily fires. The best place to get tried and tested solutions for any problem — Google search. Next time you're stuck, do a Google search, find the answers, apply them and then, sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee while relishing your sysadmin life.