Corner Bowl Server Manager Reviews

Reliable & Efficient

Comments: Excellent High Tier software.
Does exactly what we need and more.
Allows reliable log and SIEM monitoring for security and compliance with custom options including retention.
Feature requests are taken into consideration most of the time.
Support is outstanding.

Pros:

Installation and setup was very fast. It's very reliable and runs smoothly on the server. Support team is super responsive, attentive and extremely professional. The first setup is easy with excellent guidance from the team over the phone and/or remote support. UI is very easy to navigate after a short period of time.

Cons:

Missing custom range filtering by date for logs.

Best Value in Monitoring & Log Managment

Comments: I have only scratched the surface of what I can do with this software. While initially looking for a low-cost replacement for our previous tool that was primarily used for AD user account monitoring (e.g., new accounts created, privilege escalation, etc.) and some basic auditing of activity on network shares, I found this tool that can do those things and so much more. It can do everything from basic alerts on server free disk space to helping discover & troubleshoot network issues using the syslog server and everything in-between and beyond. The documentation is thorough and accurate. There are also numerous YouTube videos available to help get things configured. The developer's passion for this software is evident, as he's eager to assist with any issues. I look forward to finding more ways to expand my company's usage of CBSM.

Pros:

The flexibility and extensibility of this software is amazing. The ability to easily monitor and receive alerts on so many diverse machines (basically anything that produces any type of a log - even text files in the filesystem) through one tool makes this a great fit for SMBs, but it's also evident that it can scale to enterprise infrastructure as well.

Cons:

It takes a little time to get a firm understanding of how the software works. Although you can get it installed and monitoring/collecting logs from a single server in ~10 minutes, you will want to spend some time learning how to properly configure your database to suit your environment and how to customize your templates. The documentation and tutorials on the website cover all of this and more.

Fair product that needs refinement

Comments: It seems to provide some alerting, but setup is difficult.

Pros:

General log monitoring. Product pricing was good.

Cons:

The interface is not intuitive. Searching is difficult. Support is non-existent.

Excellent Product with first class support

Comments: I've had some issues in the past when deploying or updating the product and reached out to the support team for assistance and it really is a unique selling point of this product to be able to speak to [sensitive content hidden] (the developer) who not only knows the product back to front but is also dynamically adding in new features when he sees things that are worth improving. This gives me assurance about the product and future working with Cornerbowl.

Pros:

The application is easy to setup and configure and does what it says on the tin. In comparison to other suppliers on the market the product is very competitive on pricing and the platform is regularly updated.

Cons:

There are some product quirks like any software however these dont affect the general functionality of the product.

A *perfect* but not only real-time eventlog monitoring tool

Comments: We use this tool the the maximum. We had about let´s say 100 hours to understand completey the architecture and possibilities provided. This tool can be as complex as the questions you want to drill down with. It can analyse the most complex situations - but *then* you need the know-how (or just let you help). As we want to develop this tool ourselves, it was not a kind of "make it work for us and finish". It was like a "program these functions missing also into it", so that it gets even more capable. We are under permanent development as there are new alerts to be made visible with nearly every month. Different behaviour in NTLM, Kerberos, LDAPS, ... ... ... gives us the need to find legacy systems running into problems.

Pros:

We were analysing the capabilities of a dozen other produts. Nearly none of them is as capable as this. One competitor we used the last 15 years was quite good. But they decided not to follow the path into the cloud. With corner bowl our Azure AD audit-logs, sign-ins and risk events are as easy to control as our on premises active directory events.

Cons:

This software a completely modular. To an extent you would not have expected. This gives numerous options to achieve the goal. Some pathways are better, there is not a single way to built a solution. We had to find out what works best for us. And we had some redesign of the hierarchies of rules and so on we built. It is not totally easy to understand. (But that should be obvious because of the dramatic functional possibilities!)

Simple software with a good amount of features, great price and gets the job done

Comments: I have been using this for the past 8-10 years (I don't remember when I first started using it) and it has been a lifesaver for me and my customers. No budget, no infrastructure, no technical experience then no problem. I didn't even read instructions when I started using it, just clicking around and looking at what the product does with the built in templates got me going.

Pros:

The product is as close to plug and play as you can get for a log management software. Some built-in filters get you started and making your own is pretty simple. This software is made for small businesses and small environments. I use it for collecting logs from a few systems and applications then spit out a report for me weekly. It assist me with meeting compliance requirements without the big cost and infrastructure to make it happen. I like how it can help with other features, such as processor utilization, disk drive space and setting up a near-real-time monitor for functions (account lockout, services stopped)

Cons:

If you are looking for something comparable to Splunk or Alienvault OSSIM, this is not it. This software will help you grab logs, parse through it (based on what you want it to look for) and generate a simple report for you. If you need to parse through large amounts of data (6-12 months) and correlate them with each other, it will be a little more work for you and it will take a bit more time.

Great SIEM / Monitoring / Log collection / Alerting solution

Pros:

It's an all-in-one solution! Cornerbowl provides supports us with Regulatory and Alerting.

Cons:

Currently testing with SQLlite. There is a possibility that we may have to move to MS SQL, which we'll need a license for.

CornerBowl is very simple and friendly tool for SIEM and FIM solution.Highly recommended

Comments: CornerBowl is very simple and friendly tool for SIEM and FIM solution. Once you are familiar with tools very simple to use.

Pros:

CornerBowl is very simple and friendly tool for SIEM and FIM solution

Cons:

some tabs little confusing.But once get familiar with it. then easy to use.

Corner Bowl Server Manager

Pros:

Preconfigured to meet JSIG and NIST compliance. Excellent customer service and support.

Cons:

I would like to see more preconfigured items such as agent staying connected out the box however this is as simple as checking a box on each machine so not really a con

Great Product

Comments: Great

Pros:

I like the ease of setting up the event log consolidation, directory size monitor, and many more I think I have to explore with this product that will be helpful in monitoring our network devices. Honestly, I am learning a lot, not just the features of this product but as a whole this product helps me improved my IT knowledge and skills.

Cons:

Nothing right now. I believe the product is being developed for more features and I am looking forward to see more in the future.

Great features for a reasonable price

Comments: We started using another tool many years ago, to collect eventlog information for SOX reporting. Although that system was supposed to have redundancy builtin, we experienced quite some downtime on several occasions so, we decided to install a second, different eventlog collection system for better redundancy and went for Cornerbowl server manager. It’s very stable and is quite low on system resources.

Pros:

The rich feature set and the reporting are great at this price range. We use another product too that is much more expensive and has less features and with poor reporting.

Cons:

The rich feature set is perhaps also its weakness as it makes it a bit difficult to find things from time to time.

Corner Bowl in a Small Company

Comments: With a very small IT department each member performs multiple tasks. Server Manager is great because it allows me to automate some things that I otherwise would have to manually check each day. The developer has always been very responsive to inquiries. I have used Server Manager for several years. At one point the software the was acquired by another company and I was delighted when ownership and development returned to Corner Bowl. This is a great product; definitely worth your time to try it out.

Pros:

The breadth of features is great. I doubt I have scratched the surface of what can be done with Server Manager. The two main features I use are monitoring failed login attempts and monitoring Windows Service status. I use the service monitor to automatically start a service that has stopped for some reason. Server Manager will alert me to the stopped service and then also notify me when the service has been started again.

Cons:

No real faults but I struggle at times with configuring different options. This is mainly due to the fact that it could be months between setting up a new monitor. By the time I think of another use for Server Manager it has been so long since I last configured something that it takes me a while to get a new monitor going. That is no fault of the software and the developer now posts how-to videos I believe so I should check those out.

The "ONLY" Monitoring Solution

Comments: CornerBowl allows us to leave our eyes on other issues, and it tells us when we need to look at problems. Overall, this is the "ONLY" monitoring solution you need. We have 3 instances doing very different work for us and love it.

Pros:

This software had a little learning curve for me, but with the help of the development team, we were up and going in no time flat, easy to add in devices, and it just plain works. Never any production down incidents as we have had with others. The support is fantastic

Cons:

Missing a couple of reporting features we would like, but overall, nothing to complain about and no problem children with Corner Bowl.

Great product

Comments: Easy to use. Doesnt need a fulltime technician to run it.

Pros:

After ditching Microsofts scom because of its complexity. We were looking for a easy to use software with support for basic functions we wanted to monitor. Servermanager does tick all The boxes for us. Easy to use ready templates for all basic monitoring needs. Customizable for more advanced monitoring and logging.

Cons:

The oldfashioned gui. The new tabs opening everytime you edit a setting is Hard to navigate.

Corner Bowl Server Manager , to have !

Comments: The main purpose of this product was initially to collect and store all the events of our servers in one place. Over time we have also implemented various features such as dedicated alerts for some people interested in the activities of a particular server, as well as all the fundamental security checks in a vast and distributed network

Pros:

Server Manager is really simple to use. In a short time I managed to deploy and start monitoring the first servers. I use the software every day and the alerts help me keep track, especially via email, of all the events that are critical on my network such as activities on AD, new machines on the network, RDP sessions etc

Cons:

The product receives continuous updates and implementations from the parent company, the latest releases have greatly lightened the software itself to the benefit of the whole process. It is possible to really customize it thoroughly and I have not yet found something that I cannot monitor with this product.

Smart choice for Log Management...

Pros:

After having evaluated several choices, we decided to use corner bowl as our core log management solution, reports are easy to build and storage is easily managed through standard DB structures. Cost is a great advantage of the software

Cons:

Report creation interfaces can be improved to simplify summarized results

One Stop Shop

Comments: I have had this for years. I keep a tight ship, however there have been alerts that prompted me for further investigation, and and a result my server preventative maintenance has been above reproach.

Pros:

This software allows me in one console to view and evaluate all my servers. My servers range from 20-30 servers. Microsoft Hyper-V hosts and their guest VM's. Having this many is time consuming going to each machine. I have my templates set to monitor what I need. This software even has a certificate expiration warning template. Which is great for me with On-Premise Exchange Servers.

Cons:

There is so much that has been added, sometimes I get lost when trying to build a new report or trigger. But it is not terrible. I just found out there are tutorials that are listed on the website. I think the weakest link is me going to fast. Wizards I think are a thing of the past unfortunately.

Fast and reliable IT monitoring application

Comments: Automated IT monitoring for servers, endpoints or network devices that service don't need to be restarted in months until you decide to apply free upgrades to include improvements and new features requested by clients that help to all others.

Pros:

-Easy deployment that don't create a backlog on servers -Easy to modify templates to define specific goals on monitoring parameters -Fast notification responses -Precise umbral to trigger real time notifications -Easy way to integrate Databases for logging -Group creation by test or asset type (By CPU, Hard disk, ) -Reporting and triggers actions

Cons:

Nothing in particular, I don't use all features and I believe I use less than 50% of capabilities and functions.

Corner Bowl Server Manager

Comments: Very easy to use at a great price with good support. Weekly reports give us a good idea of what is going on with the machines in the system and it hits all of the auditors check boxes.

Pros:

Very easy to setup and use. Most products are overly complex and you don't use all/any of the features, but that is not the case with Corner Bowl. Price was also very good. Support response is excellent!

Cons:

Tough to get WMI work with machines that are NAT'd, sometimes requiring a local administrator account for multiple machines can be difficult.

Server Manager Great Value

Pros:

I have been using Server Manager for over 5 years. Provides great support, pretty easy to use, new features added with no additional cost, low requirements. Great way to stay on top of your critical items like services.

Cons:

Every time you ask, I wish it could do this, It seems that Corner Bowl adds that feature like Certificate Monitoring.

A great product to manage business needs

Pros:

I would say about the email alerts integrated with multiple agents associated with various templates. Real-time alerts really help to manage business efficiently.

Cons:

Sometimes, some features don't work after upgrades which is okay and the support is really awesome to get it resolved.

Thank you Corner Bowl

Pros:

The software is very good and quick to alert us if they are any issues.

Cons:

I do not think there is anything we least like about the software

Easy, lets me know about problems before they get worse.

Comments: Anytime I have had to contact Cornerbowl they were prompt and able to assist.

Pros:

I have used this software for many years . Basically, I get a consolidated report every morning with event log errors and warnings from all my servers. I filter out informational events and many of the "noise" events that are inconsequential. I get a separate report of login anomalies. Very helpful to keep a close eye on the pulse of the server environment.

Cons:

Once you understand how to use the admin interface, it is easy to use, but it took a little effort to understand.

Easy and affordable excellent reporting and retention.

Comments: I've been using this for about 10 years and have never regretted the decision.

Pros:

Customer support is super. Very responsive always extra information.

Cons:

Can't think of any downside to the product, they do their best to keep things up to date and running smooth.

Prosite Review

Comments: I've been very happy with the software and anytime I've needed help there support has quickly helped me out. It helps me meet the PCI Requirements I need to fulfill monitoring my servers.

Pros:

Server Manager is an inexpensive, easy way to pull back the logs from my servers that are in multiple locations to store them for PCI compliance. Being able to filter and email certain information is a big help administering my servers.

Cons:

About the only Con I have is that sometime it can be a little difficult to set up a filter, especially when you are only making changes every now and then.