The number of management tools to choose from is absolutely enormous. And the task of sorting through those tools to pick the one that’s right for you is even more difficult. In an effort to help readers help other readers, we’d like to hear from you.

It’s been awhile since I asked for your top picks of management tools. The last time I did this, we received a wide variety of suggestions. One reader I know of found the tool that he needed from the suggestions, a very cost-effective product that fulfilled all of his needs.

Please send in your recommendations of the management tools you’ve used and would recommend to a friend (not an enemy). No vendor responses please. Please include what you use the tool for, a brief description of your environment, and why you like it. You can name multiple tools. Here are the categories of tools you can recommend:

* Application performance management
* Web services
* Network management
* Systems management
* Storage management
* Database management
* Security management
* Service-level management
* Business service/process management
* Desktop management
* Other management tools

Send your recommendations to mailto:rasmussen@emausa.com with the subject line “Favorite Management Tools.”

I’ll collect all of your suggestions and report back in a follow-up article about your favorite management tools. So if you are not a vendor, send in your nominations!

Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.