PRTG Manual: HTTP Full Web Page Sensor

Sensor Name

Enter a name to identify the sensor. By default, PRTG shows this name in the device tree, as well as in alarms, logs, notifications, reports, maps, libraries, and tickets.

If the name contains angle brackets (<>), PRTG replaces them with braces ({}) for security reasons. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?

Parent Tags

The tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.

This setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.

Tags

Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.

It is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).

For performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

• httpfullsensor

Priority

Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority () to the highest priority ().

Timeout (Sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).

If the reply takes longer than this value, the sensor cancels the request and shows a corresponding error message.

URL

Enter the address of the web page that the sensor loads. If you enter an absolute URL, the sensor uses this address independently of the IP Address/DNS Name setting of the parent device.

The URL must be URL encoded.

PRTG uses a smart URL replacement with which you can use the parent device's IP address or Domain Name System (DNS) name setting as part of the URL. For more information, see section Smart URL Replacement.

Browser Engine

Define which browser engine the sensor uses to load the web page:

• Chromium (recommended): Use the WebKit engine that is delivered with PRTG to measure the loading time. With each scanning interval, PRTG loads the URL in an instance of Chromium and measures the time it takes to fully load the page. This is the recommended setting.
  Chromium does not support TLS 1.2-only connections. In this case, we recommend that you use the PhantomJS engine or Internet Explorer instead.
• PhantomJS (Headless WebKit): Use the PhantomJS engine. This engine can have a high impact on the probe system's CPU and memory load but additional options for result handling are available.
• Internet Explorer: With each scanning interval, the URL is loaded in the background in an instance of Internet Explorer. PRTG uses the Internet Explorer of the probe system.
  For full functionality, we strongly recommend that you install at least Internet Explorer 11 on the probe system.
  If you select Internet Explorer as browser engine, you might face issues with the creation of temporary files. In this case, we recommend that you use the Chromium or the PhantomJS browser engines. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Why is my HTTP Full Web Page sensor generating so many temporary files?

All browser engines use the proxy settings from the Windows user account that the probe runs under (this is usually the local Windows "system" user account). To use a proxy, adjust the settings accordingly on the probe system (on all cluster nodes, if in a cluster). For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How can I access proxy settings for the HTTP Full Web Page sensor?

Security Context

Define the Windows user account that the sensor uses to run the browser engine:

• Use security context of PRTG probe service: Run the browser engine under the same Windows user account that the probe system runs under. By default, this is the local Windows "system" user account.
• Use Windows credentials of parent device: Use the Windows user account from the parent device settings.
  We recommended that you use this setting if you use Chromium (recommended) as your browser engine.

Result Handling

This setting is only visible if you select PhantomJS (Headless WebKit) above. Specify how the browser engine handles the web page result:

• Discard result (recommended): Do not store the sensor result.

• Render and store a screenshot of most recent result as JPG: Render and store the web page result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Fullpage of Sensor (ID).jpg. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites the file with each scanning interval.
• Render and store screenshots of all results as JPGs (requires lots of disk space): Render and store one new screenshot of the web page with each sensor scan, and store the screenshots in the \Screenshots (Fullpage Sensor) subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. You can use this option to create a visual history of the web page.
  Depending on the monitored website and the scanning interval of the sensor, this option can create a very high amount of data. Use this option with care and make sure you set appropriate data purging limits in the Core & Probes settings.

If necessary, you can change the window size of the rendered screenshots. For details, see the Knowledge Base: How can I change the size of PhantomJS full web page screenshots?

In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Authentication

This setting is only visible if you select PhantomJS (Headless WebKit) above. Define if the monitored web page needs authentication for access:

• Web page does not need authentication: Access to the web page is granted without authentication.
• Web page needs authentication: PRTG automatically tries to use HTTP basic authentication (BA) or Windows NT LAN Manager (NTLM) to access the web page with authentication. Enter the credentials below.
  Basic access authentication forwards the credentials in plain text.

User Name

This setting is only visible if you select PhantomJS (Headless WebKit) above. Enter the user name for the web page.

Password

This setting is only visible if you select PhantomJS (Headless WebKit) above. Enter the password for the web page.

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.

You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.

Graph Type

Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:

• Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
• Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic.
  You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only visible if you enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Downtime

In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status

Loading Time

The loading time of the full web page

This channel is the primary channel by default.