System administrators keep accounts, devices, networks and data working, and most people only notice them when something breaks. This page is a thank-you for SysAdmin Day, and a practical look at where ManageEngine products can take some of the load. It comes from Optrics Engineering, ManageEngine's Canadian partner in Edmonton, Alberta, since 2010.
What is System Administrator Appreciation Day?
System Administrator Appreciation Day, or SysAdmin Day, falls on the last Friday of July every year and thanks the people who keep an organization's systems, networks and accounts running. System administrator Ted Kekatos started it, and the first one was held on July 28, 2000. Optrics features this page on its home page during that week each year.
Kekatos got the idea from a Hewlett-Packard magazine ad in which grateful co-workers bring a system administrator flowers and fruit baskets for installing new printers. Cake is the traditional way to mark the day.
What does a sysadmin's day look like?
A sysadmin's day is mostly interruptions: tickets, password resets, patches, alerts, new accounts, audit questions and backups, often several at once. The rest of this section walks through a typical day hour by hour, with the ManageEngine product that takes on part of each job.
8:00 am
How can a sysadmin clear the overnight ticket queue faster?
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus takes the sorting out of the morning queue: its no-code automation can route and assign incoming tickets, each ticket is tracked against its SLA with escalations, and a self-service portal and knowledge base let users answer common questions before they become tickets. The Standard edition is free for up to 5 technicians.
See ServiceDesk Plus for editions and licensing in Canada.
8:30 am
How can a sysadmin stop spending mornings on password resets and lockouts?
ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus lets users reset their own Active Directory passwords and unlock their accounts after proving who they are with multi-factor authentication, so those calls stop reaching IT. With the Professional edition they can do it from the Windows, macOS and Linux sign-in screens, and a Free edition covers up to 50 domain users.
See ADSelfService Plus, or try a made-up example in our Password Strength Tester.
10:00 am
How can a sysadmin keep up with patching?
ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus automates patching for Windows, macOS and Linux and more than 1,100 third-party applications, across office, remote and roaming computers. If you also need software deployment, asset management and remote troubleshooting from the same agent, ManageEngine Endpoint Central includes patching along with those, and a Free edition covers up to 25 endpoints.
Compare Patch Manager Plus and Endpoint Central.
11:30 am
How does a sysadmin find out about a network problem before users do?
ManageEngine OpManager watches routers, switches, firewalls, physical and virtual servers and WAN links in real time and raises an alert when something fails or crosses a threshold, so IT hears about it first. A Free edition covers 3 devices, and OpManager Nexus adds bandwidth analysis, configuration management and firewall visibility in the same console.
See OpManager and OpManager Nexus.
1:00 pm
How can a sysadmin set up a new employee's accounts quickly?
ManageEngine ADManager Plus creates Active Directory, Microsoft 365 and Exchange accounts from templates, one at a time or in bulk, so a new hire gets the right groups and mailbox without a checklist of manual steps. The same tool handles movers and leavers, and its help-desk delegation lets technicians do routine account work without full Active Directory rights.
See ADManager Plus. A Free edition covers up to 100 domain objects.
2:30 pm
How should a sysadmin handle requests for shared admin passwords?
ManageEngine Password Manager Pro keeps shared and administrator passwords in an AES-256 encrypted vault, releases them only to people allowed to use them, resets them automatically on the systems they protect, and records every access. That replaces the spreadsheet, and it shows who used which password and when.
See Password Manager Pro. A Free Edition covers 1 administrator and up to 10 resources.
3:00 pm
How can a sysadmin find out who changed something in Active Directory?
ManageEngine ADAudit Plus records changes to Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Windows servers, file servers and workstations as they happen, and shows who made each change, what changed, when and from where. Instead of searching Windows event logs, the sysadmin runs a report, and alerts can flag critical changes straight away.
See ADAudit Plus, or our ADAudit Plus Quick Start Guide. A Free edition audits up to 25 workstations.
4:30 pm
How does a sysadmin make sure Active Directory and Microsoft 365 can be restored?
ManageEngine RecoveryManager Plus backs up Active Directory (on-premises, Entra ID or hybrid), Microsoft 365 including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive and Teams, on-premises Exchange and Google Workspace, and can restore at a fine level, down to a single Active Directory attribute or an individual Exchange item. Regular, restorable backups turn "did it run?" into a quick check.
See RecoveryManager Plus. A Free edition covers small environments.
Want to try any of these?
Every product above has a free 30-day trial through Optrics, and we quote and invoice in Canadian dollars.
Already running ManageEngine? What works well with it?
Many ManageEngine products are built to work together, so a product you already run can often do more once it is connected to another. The pairings below are either built-in integrations documented by ManageEngine, bundles that combine several products in one console, or products that simply cover the next step of the same job.
| If you run | Consider | How they work together |
|---|---|---|
| ServiceDesk Plus | Endpoint Central | Built-in integration: deploy software, push patches and take remote control from a ticket, with asset data in the service desk |
| ServiceDesk Plus | OpManager | Built-in integration: network alarms become tickets and close when the fault clears |
| ServiceDesk Plus | ADManager Plus | Built-in integration: create, change, disable and unlock Active Directory accounts from a request |
| ServiceDesk Plus | Password Manager Pro | Built-in integration: release a password only against a valid ticket |
| ServiceDesk Plus and Endpoint Central | Analytics Plus | Built-in integration: ready-made reports that combine data from both |
| ADManager Plus, ADAudit Plus or ADSelfService Plus | AD360 | Bundle: all three in one console, with optional Microsoft 365, Exchange, backup and SharePoint components |
| ADAudit Plus | Log360 | Bundle: ManageEngine's SIEM platform, which includes ADAudit Plus and EventLog Analyzer |
| ADAudit Plus | RecoveryManager Plus | Next step: see what was changed or deleted, then restore it from backup |
| OpManager | OpManager Nexus | Bundle: OpManager plus bandwidth, configuration, IP address, firewall and application monitoring |
What works with ServiceDesk Plus?
ServiceDesk Plus has built-in integrations with several ManageEngine products. With Endpoint Central, technicians can deploy software, push patches and take remote control of a computer from inside a ticket; with OpManager, network alarms become tickets automatically and close when the fault is resolved; and with ADManager Plus, technicians can create, change, disable and unlock Active Directory accounts from a service request.
Password Manager Pro can also check for a valid ServiceDesk Plus ticket before it releases a password, and Analytics Plus includes ready-made reports that combine ServiceDesk Plus and Endpoint Central data, for example to compare patch activity with incident volume.
What works with ADManager Plus, ADAudit Plus or ADSelfService Plus?
The three products are the core of AD360, ManageEngine's identity and access management platform, which brings them together in one console with M365 Manager Plus, Exchange Reporter Plus, RecoveryManager Plus and SharePoint Manager Plus as optional components. If you already run one of the three and need another, AD360 is worth comparing with buying the products separately.
See AD360 for editions and licensing in Canada.
What works with ADAudit Plus for security monitoring?
Log360, ManageEngine's SIEM platform, includes ADAudit Plus and EventLog Analyzer among its components and adds log collection from servers, network devices, applications and cloud services, with threat detection and incident response in one console. RecoveryManager Plus covers the next step: ADAudit Plus shows who changed or deleted an object, and RecoveryManager Plus restores it from backup.
See Log360.
What works with OpManager?
OpManager Nexus is the larger bundle built around OpManager: it adds bandwidth analysis, network configuration management, IP address and switch port management, firewall visibility and application performance monitoring in the same console. OpManager can also send its alarms to ServiceDesk Plus as tickets.
What works with Endpoint Central?
ServiceDesk Plus is the main partner for Endpoint Central: technicians act on computers directly from tickets, and asset data from Endpoint Central's scans feeds the service desk. Analytics Plus can then report across both, for example to see how patch activity relates to incident volume.
Which of these ManageEngine tools have a free edition?
Several do, which makes them easy to try on a small environment before buying. ServiceDesk Plus Standard is free for up to 5 technicians, ADSelfService Plus for up to 50 domain users, Endpoint Central for up to 25 endpoints, ADAudit Plus for up to 25 workstations, ADManager Plus for up to 100 domain objects, OpManager for 3 devices, and Password Manager Pro for 1 administrator and 10 resources.
Free editions have feature and size limits. A 30-day trial shows the full product, and Optrics can quote the paid editions in Canadian dollars when you're ready.