<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Add a Device

Device Name

Enter a meaningful name to identify the device. The name will be shown by default in the device tree and in all alarms.

IP Version

Define which IP protocol PRTG will use to connect to this device. The setting is valid for all sensors created on this device. Choose between:

• Connect using IPv4: Use IP version 4 for all requests to this device.

• Connect using IPv6: Use IP version 6 for all requests to this device.

IP Address/DNS Name

Enter the IP address (either v4 or v6, depending on your selection above) or DNS name for the device. Most sensors created on this device will inherit this setting and they will try to connect to this address for monitoring.

There are some sensor types that still have their own setting for IP address/DNS name. Those sensors will use their own settings.

Tags

Enter one or more tags; confirm each tag by hitting the space, comma, or enter key. You can use tags to group sensors and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.

Device Icon

Choose a device icon from the list. It will be shown in the device tree.

Sensor Management

Select which type of auto-discovery you would like to perform for this device. Choose between:

• Manual (no auto-discovery): Select this if you want to only create sensors manually.
• Automatic device identification (standard, recommended): Use a small set of auto-discovery templates. This will scan your LAN and usually create a set of standard sensors on your device.
• Automatic device identification (detailed, may create many sensors): Use an extended set of auto-discovery templates. This will scan your LAN and usually create many sensors on your device.
• Automatic sensor creation using specific device template(s): Use specific auto-discovery templates only. Please select templates below. This will scan your LAN and add sensors defined in the template.

Discovery Schedule

This option is only visible if you select one of the auto-discovery options above. Define when the auto-discovery will run. Choose between:

• Once: Perform auto-discovery only once. For existing devices, this will initiate a one-time sensor update for the current device. If you select this option, you have to start the auto-discovery manually, it will not run automatically.
• Hourly: Perform auto-discovery for new sensors every hour.
• Daily: Perform auto-discovery for new sensors every day.
• Weekly: Perform auto-discovery for new sensors every week.

Device Template(s)

This option is only visible if using specific device templates (last option) is enabled above. Choose one or more templates by adding a check mark in front of the respective template name. You can also select and deselect all items by using the check box in the table head. These will be used for auto-discovery on the current device. Choose from:

• ADSL
• Amazon Cloudwatch
• Buffalo TeraStation NAS
• Cisco ASA VPN
• Cisco Device (Generic)
• Dell EqualLogic
• Dell MDI Disk
• DNS Server
• Environment Jacarta
• Environment Poseidon
• FTP Server
• Generic Device (PING only)
• Generic Device (SNMP-enabled)
• Generic Device (SNMP-enabled, Detailed)
• HTTP Web Server
• Hyper V Host Server
• IPMI enabled devices
• Juniper NS Device
• Linux/UNIX Device (SNMP or SSH enabled)
• Mail Server (Generic)
• Mail Server (MS Exchange)
• Microsoft Sharepoint 2010
• NAS LenovoEMC
• NAS QNAP
• NAS Synology
• NetApp
• NTP Server
• Printer (HP)
• Printer Generic
• RDP Server
• RMON compatible device
• Server (Compaq/HP agents)
• Server (Dell)
• Sever Cisco UCS
• Server IBM
• SonicWALL
• SSL Security Check
• Switch (Cisco Catalyst)
• Switch (Cisco IOS Based)
• Switch (HP Procurve)
• UNIX/Linux Device
• UPS Health (APC)
• UPS Health (Generic)
• UPS Health (Leibert)
• VMware ESX / vCenter Server
• Webserver
• Windows (Detailed via WMI)
• Windows (via Remote Powershell)
• Windows (via WMI)
• Windows IIS (via SNMP)
• XEN Hosts
• XEN Virtual Machines
   

Once the auto-discovery is finished, PRTG will create a new ticket and list the device templates that were actually used to create new sensors. Templates that were not applied will not be shown in the ticket.

Domain or Computer Name

Define the authority for Windows access. This is used for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and other Windows sensors. If you want to use a Windows local user account on the target device, enter the computer name here. If you want to use a Windows domain user account (recommended), enter the (Active Directory) domain name here. If not explicitly defined, PRTG will automatically add a prefix in order to use the NT LAN Manager (NTLM) protocol. Do not leave this field empty.

User

Enter the username for Windows access. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Password

Enter the password for Windows access. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

User

Enter a login name for the access via SSH and WBEM. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Login

Define the authentication method to use for login. Choose between:

• Login via Password: Provide a password for login. Enter below.
• Login via Private Key: Provide a private key for authentication.
  PRTG can only handle keys in OpenSSH format that are not encrypted. You cannot use password protected keys here. In the text field, paste the entire private key, including the "BEGIN" and "END" lines. Please make sure the according public key is provided on the target machine. For details, please see Monitoring via SSH.

Password

This field is only visible if you select password login above. Enter a password for the Linux access via SSH and WBEM. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Private Key

This field is only visible if you select private key login above. Paste a private key into the field (OpenSSH format, unencrypted). Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

If you do not insert a private key for the first time, but change the private key, you need to restart your PRTG core server service in order for the private key change to take effect! For details, please see Monitoring via SSH.

For WBEM Use Protocol

Define the protocol to use for WBEM. This setting is only relevant if you use WBEM sensors. Choose between:

• HTTP: Use an unencrypted connection for WBEM.
• HTTPS: Use an SSL-encrypted connection for WBEM.

For WBEM Use Port

Define the port to use for WBEM. This setting is only relevant if you use WBEM sensors. Choose between:

• Set automatically (port 5988 or 5989): Use one of the standard ports, depending on whether you choose unencrypted or encrypted connection above.
• Set manually: Use a custom port. Define below.

WBEM Port

This setting is only visible if you enable manual port selection above. Enter the WBEM port number.

SSH Port

Enter the port number to use for SSH connections.

By default, PRTG uses this setting automatically for all SSH sensors, unless you define a different port number in the sensor settings.

SSH Rights Elevation

Define the rights that you want to use to execute the command on the target system. Choose between:

• Run the command as the user connecting (default): Use the rights of the user who establishes the SSH connection, as defined above.
• Run the command as another user using 'sudo' (with password): Use the rights of another user with a password required for sudo to run commands on the target device, for example, as root user.
• Run the command as another user using 'sudo' (without password): Use the rights of another user without a password required for sudo to run commands on the target device, for example, as root user.
• Run the command as another user using 'su': Use the rights of another user with su to run commands on the target device.

Target User

This field is only visible if you choose sudo or su above. Enter a username to run the specified command as a user other than root. If you leave this field empty, you will run the command as root. Ensure you set the Linux password even if you use a public or private key for authentication. This is not necessary if the user is allowed to execute the command without a password.

Password Target User

This field is only visible if you choose to run the commands using su or sudo with password above. Enter the password for the specified target user.

SSH Engine

Select the method you want to use to access data with SSH sensors. We strongly recommend that you keep the default engine! For now, you still can use the legacy mode to ensure compatibility with your target systems. Choose between:

• Default (recommended): This is the default monitoring method for SSH sensors. It provides best performance and security.
• Compatibility Mode (deprecated): Try this legacy method only if the default mode does not work on a target device. The compatibility mode is the SSH engine that PRTG used in previous versions and is deprecated. We will remove this legacy option soon, so please try to get your SSH sensors running with the default SSH engine.

You can also individually select the SSH engine for each SSH sensor in the sensor settings.

User

Enter a login name for access to VMware and Xen servers. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Password

Enter a password for access to VMware and Xen servers. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Single Sign-On (SSO) passwords for vSphere do not support special characters. Please see the manual sections for VMware sensors for details.

VMware Protocol

Define the protocol used for the connection to VMware and XenServer. Choose between:

• HTTPS (recommended): Use an SSL-encrypted connection to VMware and XenServers.
• HTTP: Use an unencrypted connection to VMware and XenServers.

Session Pool

Define if you want to use session pooling for VMware sensors. Choose between:

• Reuse session for for multiple scans (recommended): Select this option to use session pooling. With session pooling, a VMware sensor uses the same session as created in advance to query data and needs not to log in and out for each sensor scan. We recommend that you choose this option because it reduces network load and log entries on the target device, resulting in better performance.
• Create a new session for each scan: If you select this option and disable session pooling, a VMware sensor has to log in and out for each sensor scan. We recommend that you use the session pooling option above for better performance.

SNMP Version

Select the SNMP version for the device connection. Choose between:

• v1: Use the simple v1 protocol for SNMP connections. This protocol only offers clear-text data transmission, but it is usually supported by all devices.
  SNMP v1 does not support 64-bit counters which may result in invalid data when monitoring traffic via SNMP.
   
• v2c (recommended): Use the more advanced v2c protocol for SNMP connections. This is the most common SNMP version. Data is still transferred as clear-text, but it supports 64-bit counters.
• v3: Use the v3 protocol for SNMP connections. It provides secure authentication and data encryption.

When using SNMP v3 you can only monitor a limited number of sensors per second due to internal limitations. The limit is somewhere between 1 and 50 sensors per second (depending on the SNMP latency of your network). This means that using an interval of 60 seconds limits you to between 60 and 3000 SNMP v3 sensors for each probe. If you experience an increased Interval Delay or Open Requests with the Probe Health Sensor, distribute the load over multiple probes. SNMP v1 and v2 do not have this limitation.

Community String

This setting is only visible if you select SNMP version v1 or v2c above. Enter the community string of your devices. This is a kind of "clear-text password" for simple authentication. We recommend that you use the default value.

Authentication Type

This setting is only visible if you select SNMP version v3 above. Choose between:

• MD5: Use Message-Digest Algorithm 5 (MD5) for authentication.
• SHA: Use Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) for authentication.

The type you choose must match the authentication type of your device.

If you do not want to use authentication, but you need SNMP v3, for example, because your device requires context, you can leave the field Password empty. In this case, SNMP_SEC_LEVEL_NOAUTH is used and authentication deactivated entirely.

User

This setting is only visible if you select SNMP version v3 above. Enter a username for secure authentication. This value must match the username of your device.

Password

This setting is only visible if you select SNMP version v3 above. Enter a password for secure authentication. This value must match the password of your device.

Encryption Type

This setting is only visible if you select SNMP version v3 above. Select an encryption type. Choose between:

• DES: Use Data Encryption Standard (DES) as encryption algorithm.
• AES: Use Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as encryption algorithm.

AES 192 and AES 256 are not supported by Net-SNMP because they lack RFC specification.
 

The type that you choose must match the encryption type of your device.

Data Encryption Key

This setting is only visible if you select SNMP version v3 above. Enter an encryption key here. If you provide a key in this field, SNMP data packets are encrypted using the encryption algorithm selected above, which provides increased security. The key that you enter here must match the encryption key of your device.

If the key you enter in this field does not match the key configured on the target SNMP device, you will not get an error message about this! Please enter a string or leave the field empty.

Context Name

This setting is only visible if you select SNMP version v3 above. Enter a context name only if it is required by the configuration of the device. Context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP device. Please enter a string.

SNMP Port

Enter the port for the SNMP communication. We recommend that you use the default value.

SNMP Timeout (Sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. If the reply takes longer than the value you enter here, the request is aborted and an error message triggered.

The settings you define in this section apply to the following sensor types:

• ADO SQL v2 Sensor
• Microsoft SQL v2 Sensor
• MySQL v2 Sensor
• Oracle SQL v2 Sensor
• PostgreSQL Sensor

Port for Databases

Define which ports PRTG will use for connections to the monitored databases. Choose between:

• Set automatically (default port, recommended): PRTG automatically determines the type of the monitored database and uses the corresponding default port to connect. See below for a list of default ports.
• Define one custom port valid for all database sensors: Choose this option if your database management systems do not use the default ports. Define the port for database connections manually below. If you choose this option, PRTG will use the custom port for all database sensors.

If you choose the automatic port selection, PRTG uses the following default ports:

• Microsoft SQL: 1433
• MySQL: 3306
• Oracle SQL: 1521
• PostgreSQL: 5432

Custom Database Port

Enter the number of the port that PRTG will use for database connections. Please enter an integer value.

All database sensors on this device will use this port to connect.

Authentication Mode

Select the authentication method for the connection to the SQL database. Choose between:

• Windows authentication with impersonation: If you select this option, PRTG uses the Windows credentials as defined in the particular device settings for the database connection.
  The user whose credentials are used needs to have permissions to log on to the system on which the PRTG probe with a database sensor runs. This is required for the impersonation.
• SQL server authentication: Choose this option if you want to use explicit credentials for database connections.

User

This field is only visible if you select SQL server authentication above. Enter the username for the database connection.

Password

This field is only visible if you select SQL server authentication above. Enter the password for the database connection.

Timeout (Sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Please enter an integer value. If the reply takes longer than this value defines, the sensor cancels the request and triggers an error message. The maximum timeout value is 300 seconds (5 minutes).

Access Key

Enter your Amazon Web Services (AWS) access key. Please see the corresponding Amazon CloudWatch sensor documentation to learn more about the rights that are required for querying AWS CloudWatch metrics.

Secret Key

Enter your Amazon Web Services (AWS) secret key. Please see the corresponding Amazon CloudWatch sensor documentation to learn more about the rights that are required for querying AWS CloudWatch metrics.

User Group Access

Define which user group(s) will have access to the object you're editing. A table with user groups and types of access rights is shown: It contains all user groups from your setup. For each user group you can choose from the following access rights:

• Inherited: Use the access rights settings of the parent object.
• None: Users in this group cannot see or edit the object. The object neither shows up in lists nor in the device tree. Exception: If a child object is visible to the user, the object is visible in the device tree, though not accessible.
• Read: Users in this group can see the object and review its monitoring results.
• Write: Users in this group can see the object, review its monitoring results, and edit the object's settings. They cannot edit access rights settings.
• Full: Users in this group can see the object, review its monitoring results, edit the object's settings, and edit access rights settings.

You can create new user groups in the System Administration—User Groups settings. To automatically set all objects further down in the hierarchy to inherit this object's access rights, set a check mark for the Revert children's access rights to inherited option.

For more details on access rights, please see the section User Access Rights.