June 4, 2021

Key differences: Dashboard Server vs. SquaredUp for SCOM/Azure

If you’ve checked out SquaredUp for SCOM/Azure and decided for one reason or another that it wasn’t the right tool for you, you are in for a treat! Our latest free tool, Dashboard Server, addresses many of the same pain points, but this time, for a variety of platforms not tied to SCOM or Azure.

On the flip side, if you’re currently using SquaredUp for SCOM/Azure, don’t click away! We’ll be discussing why you and your team could do with adding this free, versatile dashboarding tool to your arsenal.

What’s the difference?

Dashboard Server is an intuitive, universal dashboarding tool for Enterprise IT teams looking to visualize metrics and data from any data source. Awesome, easy and FREE for everyone!

SquaredUp for SCOM and Azure on the other hand, are revolutionary console replacements that bring all your rich SCOM and Azure data to life with intuitive and dynamic dashboards.

While the two products share many features, each serves a different purpose. Dashboard Server has no native connection to SCOM/Azure and is therefore a generic dashboarding product that lets you easily connect to any data source, for any team in your organization. SquaredUp for SCOM/Azure dashboards surface the SCOM/Azure metrics you need and lets you easily diagnose the root cause, drill down, and take action – all in a mere a few clicks.

Why get Dashboard Server?

If you once considered SquaredUp and concluded it wasn’t for you – take a second look. Dashboard Server might be the ideal solution, and here’s why.

Get Dashboard Server for free

You don’t need SCOM or Azure at all to use Dashboard Server, and you can have all your metrics – read (not duplicated) from any source – visualized beautifully. You can install it on any Windows server in the cloud or on premises.

With Dashboard Server, you’ll get:

SquaredUp’s best-in-class Dashboard Designer: With this intuitive designer, anybody can quickly and easily create beautiful dashboards in a matter of seconds.
Instant results and real-time visualizations: Because you’re connecting directly to the data source, there is no need for any big data transformation or additional storage Get your data in real time!
Unlimited sharing withOpen Access: Share dashboard across teams/with management with no hassle at all.
Nativeintegrations with the most popular IT tools: Including Azure Log Analytics, Splunk, ServiceNow, Elasticsearch, Azure App Insights
Endless extensibility: Using in-built API, SQL and PowerShell tools
Full range of data visualizations: Including the bar graph, donut, line graph, scalar, sparklines, grid andstatus tiles

Why get Dashboard Server when you already have SquaredUp for SCOM/Azure?

If you are using SquaredUp for SCOM/Azure, don’t assume that you won’t be needing Dashboard Server!

Using both tools simultaneously, you will be able get that coveted single dashboard for the entire IT team – without having to share your SCOM and Azure data.

You’ll also be able to create dedicated dashboards for different teams in your organization, including the Service Team, Management and Finance!

Lastly, you could even use Dashboard Server as the master dashboard for all your SCOM management groups. You’ll be able to track them all without having to log into each one individually.

We go deeper into each of these three use cases in our dedicated blog on why Dashboard Server and SquaredUp for SCOM/Azure are a match made in heaven.

The SquaredUp for SCOM and Azure sweet spot

However, if you’re thinking about migrating entirely from SquaredUp for SCOM/Azure to Dashboard Server, you might want to reconsider.

As a console replacement, one of SquaredUp for SCOM/Azure’s key selling points is that it allows you to easily diagnose root causes, drill down, and take action. These features are not available in Dashboard Server, which offers a higher-level overview without the SquaredUp perspectives that enable you to drill down to uncover root causes.

In theory, you could use Dashboard Server to partially replace the high-level overview SCOM/Azure dashboards. In practice, however, it would take many man hours to recreate the out-of-the-box dashboards by hand crafting SQL and API queries to the SCOM backend (or Azure graph API). And even then, you’d only get the top-level dashboards, since there is no way to recreate the perspective-driven drill downs.