Microsoft SharePoint is one of the most widely used website creation, collaboration, and document management platforms in the world. However, the default service isn’t the best way method of administration for SharePoint; SharePoint administrator tools are. In this article, we’re going to look at the seven best SharePoint administrator tools.
Here is our list of the seven best SharePoint administrator tools:
- SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (FREE TRIAL) Server and application monitoring tool that can monitor SharePoint performance. Monitor requests per second, throughput, request, wait time, and rejected requests. Customizable alerts and reports. Get the 30-day free trial.
- ManageEngine SharePoint Manager Plus (FREE TRIAL) SharePoint management and auditing tool for Windows. Manage SharePoint from a single pane of glass, view usage analytics, and generate custom reports. Access the 30-day free trial.
- Paessler PRTG Network Monitor (FREE TRIAL) Infrastructure monitoring software. Free for up to 100 sensors with preconfigured sensors for SharePoint. Custom dashboard, reporting, and alerts. Start a 30-day free trial.
- SPDocKit SharePoint administrator tool with documentation and auditing. Generate analytics, usage reports, manage permissions, and more.
- eG Enterprise Performance monitoring solution with an autodiscovery feature, which creates a map of SharePoint applications and infrastructure dependencies. Includes custom reports.
- Metalogix Diagnostic Manager SharePoint monitoring software that can collect and filter ULS log entries. Includes a configurable threshold-based alerts system and custom reports.
- DocAve SharePoint administrator tool that can manage permissions, policy configurations, security changes, and create sites.
The best SharePoint administrator tools
1. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (FREE TRIAL)
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is a server and application monitoring tool with SharePoint management capabilities. You can monitor SharePoint performance through a range of metrics including throughput, requests per second, request wait time, rejected requests, and more. In addition, you can monitor queries with high CPUs and response times.
Once you detect a problem like long load times you can begin to find the root cause. There is also integration with SolarWinds Web Performance Monitor so that you can monitor web transactions. Monitoring web pages allows you to find individual transactions that are affecting service performance.
Email and SMS Alerts speed up detection and notify you if performance conditions change. You can set trigger conditions for alerts, and determine when you will receive notifications (useful for minimizing the white noise). Customized reports allow you to share performance events with your team.
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is ideal for enterprises that want a SharePoint monitoring tool that’s easy to deploy and use. The visibility by the dashboard and other features gives you a comprehensive perspective of performance issues. The price starts at $2,995 (£2,275). You can download the 30-day free trial.
2. ManageEngine SharePoint Manager Plus (FREE TRIAL)
ManageEngine SharePoint Manager Plus is a SharePoint management and auditing solution for Windows. With ManageEngine SharePoint Manager Plus the user can monitor changes to SharePoint document libraries, lists, permissions, groups, and more from one location. The user can also conduct administrative tasks such as managing permissions, creating groups, and deleting groups.
To help you navigate your SharePoint environment you can use the Object Explorer to monitor the permissions of SharePoint objects, sites, files, and folders. You can see when these entities were created and modified, as well as assign permissions to different users.
Out-of-the-box alerts enable the user to keep a record of changes to SharePoint. For example, there is a Check Permissions report, which allows you to view a list of user permissions. Export reports in XLS, CSV, PDF, and HTML. For further information use SharePoint usage analytics to rank reports and view more information.
There are two versions of ManageEngine SharePoint Manager Plus available to purchase: Standard and Professional. The Standard version starts at $945 (£722) with a range of SharePoint reporting and auditing features. The Professional version starts at $1,195 (£913) with SharePoint reporting, management, and migration features. You can download the 30-day free trial.
3. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor (FREE TRIAL)
Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is a network monitoring software with pre-configured sensors for monitoring SharePoint servers and applications. With the WMI SharePoint Process Sensor, you can monitor metrics on your SharePoint server including the number of current page requests, number of active threads, number of ongoing SQL queries, template cache size, global heap size, CPU usage, and more.
Sensors can be configured with custom alerts. The alerts system is threshold-based so you can choose when alerts are generated. For example, if your server’s CPU usage goes above 75%, you can configure the tool to send you a notification. Notifications are available by email, SMS, push messages, Slack messages, and more.
More generally, PRTG Network Monitor has a customizable real-time dashboard. Through the dashboard, you can see an overview of your network and SharePoint environment. Then with custom reporting, you can export your data asa PDF, HTML, XML, or CSV file.
PRTG Network Monitor is a product suitable for companies of all sizes, but particularly those on lower budgets. There is a freeware version available for up to 100 sensors. Paid versions of PRTG Network Monitor begin at $1,600 (£1,222) for 500 sensors. You can download a 30-day free trial.
4. SPDocKit
SPDocKit is a SharePoint documentation and analysis tool with support for permission management. The SPDocKit platform enables you to create documentation and reports on your SharePoint farm’s configuration settings. Information reports include farm, site, search topology, web applications, site collections, IIS application pools, SQL server configuration, database permissions, and more.
The platform provides a dashboard view where you can monitor an overview of your SharePoint farm. Through the dashboard, you can see the number of servers, top databases and site collections, monitor configurations, and availability. There are visual displays such as charts and bar displays to help make sense of the data.
The SharePoint analytics feature gives you a comprehensive outlook for SharePoint performance. You can use it to view the total number of searches for farms and the number of views/edits that your documents have.
There are two versions of SPDocKit available for purchase: Farm and Consultant. The Farm version costs $2,499 (£1,909) per year and includes SharePoint Audit Log Reports, Analytics, Usage Reports, and more. The Consultant version costs $1,999 (£1,527) per year and includes features such as a Farm Explorer and Compare Wizard. You can download the 30-day free trial.
5. eG Enterprise
eG Enterprise is a performance monitor that can monitor SharePoint farms. The software measures the performance of SharePoint sites and web pages. Performance data can be monitored through a single console where you can switch between SharePoint Usage Analytics, SharePoint Objects, SharePoint Documents, SharePoint Search Content Feed, SharePoint Server, and SharePoint services.
Managing SharePoint application performance with eG Enterprise is very easy. The autodiscovery feature automatically discovers and creates a map of SharePoint applications and infrastructure dependencies. You also have the option of using real-user monitoring to measure the experience of your end-users, which is useful for troubleshooting the root cause of slow page load times.
The alerts system keeps you notified of performance anomalies. There is also a reports system that allows you to build custom reports on SharePoint infrastructure. Reports are great for providing an overview and creating an audit trail.
eG Enterprise is available in a range of versions including on-premises and a cloud service (prices depend on configuration requirements). The on-premise Subscription version costs $300 (£229) per month. The Perpetual License version costs $10,000 (£7,640). You can request a quote from the company directly. You can start the free trial.
6. Metalogix Diagnostic Manager
Metalogix Diagnostic Manager is a performance monitoring solution for SharePoint that can be installed in under 30 minutes. Through the dashboard, you can monitor the performance and availability of your SharePoint environment down to servers and pages. You can also collect and filter ULS log entries.
You can configure alerts to let you know about service interruption notifications. The alerts system is threshold-based meaning that you set the parameters that will trigger an alert. Similarly, custom reports allow you to take a closer look at SharePoint performance.
Metalogix Diagnostic Manager is a reliable, basic SharePoint monitoring solution. To view the pricing information for Metalogix Diagnostic Manager you will have to contact the sales team directly. You can download the free trial.
7. DocAve
DocAve is one of the top SharePoint administrator tools that support SharePoint and Office 365. With DocAve you can complete SharePoint administration tasks such as managing permissions, creating sites, and completing security changes in bulk from a central console.
For example, you can update user security settings and assign user permissions to individual users remotely. In addition, power users can search and manage user/group permissions through SharePoint and Office 365.
Automation allows you to create your own policy configurations for SharePoint access. The platform can automatically react to unauthorized usage and changes that deviate from existing policies. Automated responses mean that you don’t have to respond to every authorized action manually. Daily or weekly email summary reports update you on any issues that arise within the given time period.
Overall, DocAve is designed to support users looking for an administration solution that cuts administrative tasks. It has strong automation and a GUI that’s easy to navigate. You can contact the company directly for pricing information. Sign up for the free trial from this link here.
Use SharePoint Administrator Tools to Maintain Your Infrastructure
Managing SharePoint can be a challenging experience. SharePoint Administrator tools make the process much easier by providing you with an all-in-one place for you to manage your documents and your users. Using an administrator tool enables you to manage multiple sites more effectively than you could without a software agent.
Throughout this list, we’ve included a range of tools to support you whether you want to manage infrastructure performance or complete administrative tasks like changing user permissions. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor, Paessler PRTG Network Monitor, SPDocKit, and eG Enterprise are our top picks for this article.
