Ten Challenges With Free Monitoring Solutions.

It’s easy to understand the appeal of free monitoring software. Cost-no-object can be taken to mean “nothing but upside” — speeding deliberation and approvals, and making procurement fast and friction less. Depending on the solution you choose, deployment and implementation can seem fairly elementary, at least for basic use cases. If you get stuck, active user communities hold out the promise of expert help, on demand.

Fast-forward a bit, though, and unexpected downsides may become apparent. We asked sysadmins and CIOs to share some of the challenges they encounter with free IT monitoring solutions.