<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Introduction: Monitoring with PRTG

This section shows you how to prepare your IT infrastructure so that you can monitor it with PRTG.

In this section:

To immediately start monitoring with PRTG, go to section Quick Start Guide.

What PRTG Does

PRTG is a unified monitoring tool that can monitor almost any object that has an IP address. It consists of the PRTG core server and one or more probes:

The PRTG core server is responsible for configuration, data management, PRTG web server, and more.
Probes collect data and monitor processes on devices via sensors.

PRTG Architecture

Sensors are the building blocks of PRTG. A sensor can tell you about one or more aspects of a device:

Uptime
Load
Interface throughput
Bandwidth usage
Loading times
Speed
Hardware status
Temperature
Quality
Resource consumption
User counts
Record counts
Log events
Database requests

How to Monitor with PRTG

PRTG obtains monitoring data from target devices in the following ways:

Polls or queries sensor data: PRTG actively gathers data from a device in regular intervals. This includes, for example, device status, resource usage, and performance metrics. Most sensors use this method. PRTG can also consume and collect sensor data based on interfaces with, for example, HTTP or HTTPS requests, port checks, email checks, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) downloads, and database requests.
Listens for or receives sensor data: PRTG passively receives data from a device or application. This includes, for example, unexpected events, Syslogs and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps, detailed data flow, and event log messages.

Most of the monitoring data that PRTG collects is actively queried. It is the basis for statistical sampling to see how a device or application performs over time.

For more information, see section Sensor Technologies.

What PRTG Monitors

PRTG comes with hundreds of sensors.They range from platform-specific sensors to generic hardware and bandwidth sensors. Some of them are preconfigured to immediately gather monitoring data from their target devices. You can also create custom sensors or write custom scripts that return data from applications. Visit the PRTG Sensor Hub to learn more about ready-to-use custom sensors.

For more information, see section List of Available Sensor Types.

How to Prepare Monitoring

The first step in comprehensive monitoring is to make a plan. Think about the following questions:

What do I need to monitor in my IT infrastructure?
How can I retrieve the needed information? Which technologies and credentials are required?
Which notification methods do I want to use to receive alerts if something is wrong?

Which Hardware Do I Want to Monitor?

We recommend that you start with your Business Critical Tier-1: the core network and other infrastructure that all network devices depend upon. This usually includes:

Key infrastructure, such as core routers, switches, VPN and firewalls
Basic network services, such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain Name System (DNS)
Authentication, like Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

Use the following list to help you plan the monitoring of your IT infrastructure with PRTG:

Core infrastructure

1. Routers, switches, firewalls
2. Core network services: DNS, Active Directory (AD), LDAP servers

For your hardware devices, you need statistics on availability, usage, and performance.
PRTG retrieves data via standard protocols:
1. Ping, SNMP; web queries via HTTP and HTTPS; email via Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
2. Hardware parameters via SNMP, Secure Shell (SSH), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
3. Bandwidth usage via Flow (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX), packet sniffing, SNMP
4. Windows systems via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
5. Other interfaces via SSH and scripts (for example, PowerShell and Python)