In this blog, let’s highlight the cost-benefit of moving from your existing SCOM on-prem to Azure Monitor SCOM MI.
If you are using System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) to monitor on-premises and hybrid cloud environment, you might be wondering whether you should migrate to Azure Monitor SCOM managed instance or keep your SCOM on-premises deployment. In this blog, we will compare the two options in terms of cost benefits (up to 44% when fully migrated to SCOM MI), and help you make an informed decision based on your specific needs and goals.
What is Azure Monitor SCOM managed instance?
Azure Monitor SCOM managed instance is a cloud-based service that provides the same functionality as SCOM on-premises, but without the hassle of managing and maintaining the infrastructure. You can use SCOM MI to monitor your resources on and off Azure, as well as integrate with other Azure services such as Log Analytics, Azure Managed Grafana, and Power BI. SCOM MI is fully compatible with your existing SCOM management packs and agents*, so you can migrate your existing monitoring configuration and data with minimal disruption.
What are the cost benefits of Azure Monitor SCOM managed instance?
Azure Monitor SCOM MI offers several cost benefits over SCOM on-premises, such as:
- Reduced infrastructure & maintenance costs: You don't need to bother about maintaining infrastructure such as server racks, network cables, electricity, cooling, physical security, datacenter lease. Moreover, hardware infrastructure is a depreciation cost. SCOM MI runs on Azure's scalable and reliable infrastructure, which means you only pay for what you use, and you don't have to worry about downtime or performance issues.
- Reduced IT labor costs: SCOM MI is fully managed by Microsoft, which means you get updates, patches, scalability, and security. Since you don’t need to retrain your staff on SCOM management packs and, the efforts required to provision, patch and scale SCOM MI service is significantly less, we estimate ~40% reduction in time (labor cost) required to maintain & operate SCOM MI.
- Optimized licensing costs: You don't need to purchase, renew, or manage any licenses for your monitoring solution. SCOM MI is offered as a PAYG model, which means you only pay a monthly fee based on the number of monitored objects and the amount of data ingested. You also get access to all the features and capabilities of Azure Monitor, which can enhance your monitoring experience and provide additional insights and value.
- For more information on SCOM MI licensing, refer here.
To illustrate the cost benefits of SCOM MI, we have created a comparison table of the estimated annual costs for a typical scenario of monitoring 500 VMs. The table does not include optional SCOM MI integration i.e., data ingestion to Log Analytics, usage of Grafana.
Disclaimer: Below table includes representative numbers only. For accurate Azure costs, refer to Pricing Calculator | Microsoft Azure. Also, we assume that the duration of migration between SCOM to SCOM MI is completed quickly (<3 months) and not as a long-term migration project.
|
Cost category
|
SCOM on-premises
|
Azure Monitor SCOM managed instance
|
|
Infrastructure
(Hardware + Software)
To monitor 500 VMs, you need 2 SCOM servers with Windows OS, 1 SQL server with Windows OS, server racks, storage disks etc.
|
$13,812 (annually)
|
$27,780 (no discount)
$12,586 (max discount)
|
|
Maintenance cost
(Security, lease, electricity, network, etc.)
|
$4,443 (annually)
|
$0 (included under infra cost)
|
|
IT labor cost
(administration)
|
$116,800 (annually)
|
$70,080 (annually)
|
|
Licensing
System Center license to manage 500VMs is $75,747. If you are using all SC products, the operating license cost for SCOM will be least ($12,625).
SCOM MI license is $6/VM/month.
|
$12,625 (If all SC products used)
$75,747 (If SCOM only used)
|
$36,000 (annually)
|
|
Annual cost range
|
$147,680 to $210,802
|
$118,666 to $133,860
|
|
Costs savings
(once you move to SCOM MI to monitor 500VMs)
|
20% if SCOM onprem only used & No Azure discounts applied
36% if all SC products used, max Azure discounts applied
44% if SCOM onprem only used, maximum Azure discounts applied
|
As you can see, Azure Monitor SCOM managed instance can save you up to 44% of the total costs of SCOM on-premises, considering you migrate to SCOM MI quickly. Of course, your actual costs may vary depending on your specific requirements and preferences, but the table gives you a general idea of the potential savings you can achieve by migrating to Azure Monitor SCOM managed instance. If you are interested in moving other System Center products to Azure and want to know the cost analysis, we recommend you build a Business case with Azure Migrate | Microsoft Learn.
How to get started with Azure Monitor SCOM managed instance?
If you are interested in trying out Azure Monitor SCOM managed instance, you can start here. You should talk to your Microsoft sales representative for clarity on plausible discounts and actual cost savings.
If you have any questions or feedback, you can leave your comments below. We would love to hear from you and help you with your monitoring needs.
*SCOM 2022 Agent (as of Feb’24).
References
@Ankur Gupta
