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PRTG Manual: Remote Probe Quick Setup

<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Remote Probe Quick Setup

Install a PRTG Remote Probe directly by right-clicking on a device in the PRTG device tree. This semi-automatic installation mechanism is an alternative to the Remote Probe Setup Using Installer.

However, note that this is an experimental feature. It may not work in all situations. In this case, please see Debugging and try the standard remote probe installation.

To install a Remote Probe directly from the device tree in the PRTG web interface, follow these steps:

Before you start, take a closer look at the requirements in the first three steps.

Step 1: Meet the Requirements

To install a probe remotely on a computer please ensure that the following conditions are true:

The target computer runs the operating system Windows 7 or later.
The target computer is accessible through Remote Procedure Call (RPC). This is usually the case when your PRTG server and the target computer are located in the same LAN segment. Otherwise, open Windows services.msc on the target computer and start the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service.
Programs are allowed to communicate through your Windows Firewall. Open the settings of your Firewall and choose Allow programs to communicate through Windows Firewall. Mark the checkbox for Remote Service Management, and the checkbox Public in the corresponding line.
Connections between remote probes and the PRTG core server require port 23560. Please open or forward this port in your firewall configuration.

You cannot install a remote probe on the local probe device and the Remote Probe Quick Setup is also not available for devices on remote probes. Please use the Remote Probe Installer.

You cannot install a remote probe on the computer on which the PRTG core server runs because the core server already includes a local probe service.

Step 2: Prepare the Core Server

Because your remote probe needs to connect to your PRTG core server, your PRTG core server needs to accept incoming remote probe connections. So you should prepare your PRTG core server first. To do so, edit the relevant settings in System Administration—Core & Probes. From the main menu in the PRTG web interface, select Setup | System Administration | Core & Probes to access the probes settings and go to the Probe Connection Settings.

Probe Connection Settings in System Administration

By default, a core server accepts connections from the Local Probe only (this is, IP address 127.0.0.1). This setting is the most secure setting, but it does not allow any remote probe to connect to your PRTG core server.

To accept remote probes, choose one of the following settings:

All IPs available on this computer: Any IP on your core server system accepts incoming probe connections.
Specify IPs: Specify selected IP addresses that accept incoming connections.

In the Access Keys field, you can enter a new access key that will be used for the core probe connection. The access key can include arbitrary signs and have arbitrary length. In any case, save the correct access key for later use.
In the Allow IPs field, you can enter the IP address of the computer you want to install a remote probe on. To make things easier, you can also enter the word any: this will set the core server to accept remote probes connecting from any IP address.
If you use any, make sure you write the word in lower case only! Any other variations will not be valid!

Do you run PRTG Network Monitor in a cluster? Then mind this important note.
In the Deny IPs field, you can enter the IP address of the computers that you do not want to connect to the PRTG core server.
In the Deny GIDs field, you can enter the global ID (GID) of a device in your network that you do not want to connect to the PRTG core server. Future probe connections from this device will be denied automatically.
What is a global ID (GID)? It is the ID that PRTG Network Monitor attributes to every device that you include in your monitoring.

When you are done, click Save to save your settings.

If you change this setting, PRTG needs to restart the core server to apply your changes. After clicking the Save button, a dialog box appears which asks you to confirm the required core server restart. Click OK to trigger the restart and follow the instructions on the screen. During the restart all the users of the PRTG web interface, of the Enterprise Console, or of PRTG Apps for Mobile Network Monitoring will be disconnected and reconnected.

If you click Cancel, all changes to the core and probe settings will be discarded.

For further information about the core probe connection settings, see also the System Administration—Core & Probes section.

To edit the core probe connection settings you can also use the PRTG Administration Tool on your core server.

If you use the Clustering feature of PRTG and you want to run remote probes outside your local network, you have to make sure your cluster nodes and the addresses they use are reachable from the outside! Check your cluster node settings under System Administration—Cluster before installing a remote probe outside your local network. Enter addresses (DNS names or IPs) which are valid for both cluster nodes to reach each other and for remote probes to reach all cluster nodes individually. Remote probes outside your LAN cannot connect to your cluster nodes if they use local addresses.

If you already have a remote probe installed outside your LAN and the probe is disconnected because of this, please follow these steps:

Uninstall the current remote probe.
Update the cluster node settings with addresses that are reachable from outside your LAN.
Restart your PRTG core servers.
Install the remote probe again. It will then obtain the IP address or DNS name entries that it can reach.

Please see also section Failover Cluster Configuration—Remote Probes in Cluster.

Step 3: Provide Credentials

If not done yet, add a device to PRTG that represents the target computer on which you want to install the remote probe. Set the correct Windows credentials for this device.

Open the Device Settings.
In the Credentials for Windows Systems section, provide Domain or Computer Name, User, and Password for the target computer.
You can also inherit the credentials from the settings of a parent object in the device tree.

Please make sure this user account has administration rights on the target computer.

Step 4: Install the Remote Probe

In the device tree overview, open the context menu of the target device.
Choose Device Tools > Install Remote Probe....
This option is only available on devices on the local probe.
The install assistant will appear on a new page.

Remote Probe Installation Assistant

The installation assistant is divided into four sections:

Experimental feature notice and short introduction
Details: Overview about the device: name, status, priority, parent probe, parent group, and sensor states in place with their number
Prerequisites: For details, see Step 1.
Start Probe Installation: Time estimation for installation and installation start button

Make sure you meet the following requirements. If not, PRTG cannot start the installation process. Open requirements are highlighted in red.

Installation Unable to Start because Prerequisites Are Not Met

If everything is okay you can install the remote probe on the target computer by clicking the button Install Remote Probe on "[device name]". Wait until the process has ended. If the installation was successful, the following message will appear in the Start Probe Installation section: Done. Result is: OK.

Every time you start an installation, PRTG automatically adds a new key to Access Keys in System Administration—Core & Probes, no matter if the installation is successful or not.

Step 5: Approve the New Remote Probe

If the installation was successful, you will receive further instructions after the result message. As indicated, go back to the device tree and acknowledge the new probe. The approval button will appear under the node of the new remote probe. You will also receive a new ToDo ticket.

Click Approve and auto-discover new probe to acknowledge the created remote probe and instantly start an Auto-Discovery in this network. Click Approve new probe to acknowledge the remote probe without running an auto-discovery. You can also discard the probe by clicking Deny new probe.

When denying or removing a remote probe, this device's global ID (GID) will be included into Deny GIDs in System Administration—Core & Probes. Future probe connections from this device will be denied automatically.

Denying the remote probe in the PRTG device tree does not uninstall the probe, but only denies access to the core server. The probe will continue to run on the target system until you uninstall it manually.

After approving, the approval button will turn into a Working status. Please wait while the probe connects. Once approved, PRTG automatically creates a set of sensors for the probe to ensure that bottle-necks on the probe will always be noticed. We recommend that you keep these sensors. Now you can create groups, devices and sensors to customize your monitoring via the new probe.

Debugging

Please be aware that installing a remote probe directly from the device tree in the PRTG web interface is an experimental feature. It may be the case that this approach is not possible in all situations.

However, please follow the steps of this chapter closely when encountering problems with the Remote Probe Quick Install. Especially consider the conditions as described in Step 1 of this section like Windows Firewall settings.

If the quick installation procedure described in this section does not work with your setup, please install your remote probes manually and see how to do so in Remote Probe Setup Using Installer.

Knowledge Base: How can I customize PRTG's ports for core-probe-connections?

https://kb.paessler.com/en/topic/65084

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