PRTG firewall monitoring ensures
the security of your network
Monitor incoming and outgoing traffic
Stay informed on the status of your firewalls
Automatic alerts in the event of malfunctions
Compatible with countless manufacturers
Native sensors for Cisco and other devices
Firewall Monitoring
What you’ll find on this page
- What is firewall monitoring?
- The advantages of firewall monitoring with PRTG
- What Firewall monitoring with PRTG looks like
- What data does PRTG gather?
- How Firewall monitoring with PRTG works
- PRTG firewall monitoring software: Preconfigured sensors for the biggest manufacturers
- PRTG supports many Firewall Vendors & Products
- More than just firewall monitoring: Monitor and analyze traffic in real time
- Case studies: Companies that monitor their network and firewalls with PRTG
- FAQ – Firewall monitoring
- Tutorial: Allowing PRTG through the firewall
What is firewall monitoring?
The stability of the network firewall is responsible for the protection of both the processes which are running as well as sensitive data. It is of the greatest importance to corporate security that the firewall be stable. IT service interruptions can paralyze the company, while the theft of company figures, future plans, and customer data can have unforeseeable consequences. It is all the more vital, therefore, that the firewall remains uninterrupted and always up to date.
With PRTG Firewall monitoring, you get a series of sensors which makes monitoring your firewall straightforward and effortless. Enjoy a clear overview of inbound and outbound network traffic, and be informed immediately in the event of a crash. This will enable you to promptly take action to restore the security of your system.
In addition, PRTG constantly monitors for firewall updates - for outdated firewall software is synonymous with a threat to security.
Thanks to PRTG, the entire staff can work with peace of mind.
How PRTG defines sensors
In PRTG, “sensors” are the basic monitoring elements. One sensor usually monitors one measured value in your network, e.g. the traffic of a switch port, the CPU load of a server, the free space of a disk drive. On average you need about 5-10 sensors per device or one sensor per switch port.
The advantages of firewall monitoring with PRTG
A more secure business IT
All IT-based work processes are vulnerable to attacks to the IT infrastructure. With firewall monitoring, you can guarantee your firewall is always enabled and thus ward off attacks from the outside.
Data protection taken seriously
Your business partners and customers trust that with you, their data is in good hands. Firewall monitoring is an important step to safeguarding this data.
Automatic alarm
You don't need to stay glued to the screen: you'll be notified if the firewall is down or network security is in any way compromised.
PRTG makes your job easier
Our monitoring software frees you to focus on other tasks by promptly notifying you of potential issues.
Save effort
PRTG gives you one central monitoring tool for your servers and entire network. Enjoy a quick overview of your whole infrastructure via our dashboard and app.
Save time
Getting started with PRTG is a breeze. Setting up or switching from another network monitoring tool is easy thanks to the auto-discovery and pre-configured device templates.
Save money
80% of our customers report substantial cost savings with network monitoring. Your costs of licenses will likely pay for themselves within weeks.
How Firewall monitoring with PRTG works
PRTG Firewall Monitoring works jointly with most routers and firewalls. Cisco, Draytek, Fortinet and Bintec systems are supported. Also LANCOM and Windows Servers, as well as all other SNMP-compatible devices. SNMP is used most of the time, but for Cisco ASA firewalls, NetFlow technology is employed.
NetFlow offers a much more detailed analysis of bandwidth traffic than SNMP. While both SNMP and NetFlow show how much traffic the firewall filters, NetFlow can also indicate the most used connections and protocols and most active senders.
PRTG Firewall Monitoring can be configured in a matter of minutes, after which time the safeguarding of your network will be up and running. In the event the firewall is down or unusual activity is detected, PRTG will immediately send you an alert by email, SMS, or push notification.
NetFlow is a protocol for collecting, aggregating and recording traffic flow data in a network. NetFlow data provide a more granular view of how bandwidth and network traffic are being used than other monitoring solutions, such as SNMP. NetFlow was developed by Cisco and is embedded in Cisco’s IOS software on the company’s routers and switches and has been supported on almost all Cisco devices since the 11.1 train of Cisco IOS Software.
Read more
PRTG firewall monitoring software: Preconfigured sensors for the biggest manufacturers
PRTG comes with more than 250 native sensors, including sensors for countless router, switch, and server manufacturers.
This makes our monitoring software quick and easy to set up – not to mention ideal for protecting your company from external threats.
See our overview of PRTG sensors and firewall manufacturers.
Cisco firewall monitoring
PRTG comes with sensors for monitoring a variety of Cisco devices. In fact, several of its native sensors are designed especially for Cisco. These include SNMP sensors for Cisco firewall monitoring and CBQoS (Class Based Quality of Service) monitoring. You can also use NetFlow sensors to monitor the traffic that runs through Cisco firewalls. More on Cisco Monitoring.
Juniper firewall monitoring
Many system administrators use Juniper products and devices for their company networks. PRTG comes with an SNMP sensor for Juniper that monitors the various hardware parameters of Juniper firewalls. You can also use jFlow sensors to monitor the traffic that runs through Juniper firewalls. More on jFlow Monitoring.
SonicWall Firewall Monitoring
SonicWall is a leading provider of network firewalls. PRTG comes with a native sensor that lets you monitor SonicWall firewalls directly from your monitoring dashboard. To do so, simply enable SNMP in your SonicWall product.
Most firewalls can easily be monitored via SNMP. For some products we offer a predefined sensor. Here you see a selection of the supported firewalls:
| Firewall | Available Predefined Sensors | Link to Manual/Tutorial |
| Mikrotik |
| MikroTik Traffic Flow Monitoring with PRTG from MUM Mikrotik (PDF) |
| SonicWall |
| SNMP SonicWall System Health Sensor SNMP SonicWall VPN Traffic Sensor NetFlow v9 Sensor
|
| Sophos UTM |
| Device Template for Sophos NetFlow v9 Sensor |
| Palo Alto Networks |
| Knowledge Base article with Tutorial NetFlow v9 Sensor |
| Cisco Asa |
|
SNMP Cisco ASA VPN Connections Sensor SNMP Cisco ASA VPN Users Sensor |
| FortiGate |
| NetFlow v9 Sensor |
| pfSense |
| SNMP Traffic Sensor NetFlow v9 Sensor (Softflowd must be enabled on pfsense) |
| Checkpoint |
| |
| WatchGuard Firebox |
| |
| Draytek |  (via SNMP Custom Sensor) | With device OID and PRTG SNMP Custom Sensor |
| Juniper |
| SNMP Juniper NS System Health Sensor (older) |
| ZyXEL |
| With device OID and PRTG SNMP Custom Sensor |
| Barracuda CloudGen | (via SNMP Custom Sensor) | With device OID and PRTG SNMP Custom Sensor |
Trusted by 500,000 users and recognized
by industry analysts as a leader
“Fantastic network and infrastructure monitoring solution that is easy to deploy and easier still to use. Simply the best available.”
“Software is absolutely perfect, Support is superior. Meets all needs and requirements, this is a must have solution if you are needing any form of monitoring.”
“The tool excels at its primary focus of being a unified infrastructure management and network monitoring service.”
More than just firewall monitoring: Monitor and analyze traffic in real time
Traffic monitoring
Need an overview of your traffic? PRTG monitors network traffic in detail. This includes web traffic, email traffic, and file transfer traffic, as well as IP addresses, protocols, and connections. With our software, you can spot data traffic problems in real time and take action at once – before your coworkers realize something is wrong. More on Traffic Monitoring.
Log file monitoring
Sysadmins also need to keep an eye on their log files. But analyzing these files in detail can be a real hassle. PRTG helps you get a head start. You’ll automatically receive an alert if log file entries spike or certain text strings appears in a log file. Among other things, our software monitors the log files of Windows systems and applications. More on Log Monitoring.
Case studies: Companies that monitor their network and firewalls with PRTG
"Primarily we're monitoring Windows and BSD servers, although we also monitor switches, routers, firewalls, edge appliances and other networking hardware."
Jonathan Hoppe, Co-Founder, Total Uptime Technologies.
“As well as all of the basic admin tasks, I’m really interested in utilizing PRTG as widely as possible across the business to realize its full potential. Extending it to our CCTV cameras, and also temperature monitoring in our server room, shows that the product can be effectively applied when it comes to security and environmental monitoring as well.”
David Harris, IT-Manager, PET-XI
FAQ – Firewall monitoring
What kind of software can I use to monitor my firewall?
In general, you have two possibilities: you can use the monitoring systems of firewall providers, or you can use centralized monitoring software to monitor your firewall as well as your entire network. Nagios, ManageEngine, and PRTG are examples of such software. For more information, see our comparison of PRTG with our competitors.
Is PRTG a firewall analyzer?
PRTG sensors monitor the status of your firewall and hardware parameters such as CPU usage. However, our sensors are not suitable for filtering and storing log files. Some software providers specialize in the analysis of firewalls. PRTG is often used in combination with their tools.
How can I monitor my routers and switches?
When your firewall sounds the alarm, it’s not always easy to identify the source of the problem. PRTG monitors your switches and routers around the clock to check for anomalies. It lets you keep an eye on your entire network.
Tutorial: Allowing PRTG through the firewall
Our monitoring software is often used in decentralized networks. It therefore comes with remote probes that connect to the core PRTG server. To use these probes, you must allow PRTG through your firewall. Learn how to do it here.
PRTG: The multi-tool for sysadmins
Adapt PRTG individually and dynamically to your needs and rely on a strong API:
PRTG features a variety of alert types: E-mail, SMS, Pager, Apps, running an external application, etc. You can specify when and how each person is to be informed about network issues. To do so, you can add contacts and edit, delete, or pause your notifications at any time. The notification system is built into the monitoring software and is available at no extra charge. Because of its integrated quality, configuring the alert feature is done in just a few clicks. PRTG won't wait to let you know if your "house is on fire." You define your own thresholds. If these are crossed, you'll receive a corresponding notification. This means you can intervene promptly before clients or coworkers are aware of any problems. Notification system:
Be alerted quickly
Flexible
Integrated
Proactive
Create innovative solutions with Paessler’s partners
Partnering with innovative vendors, Paessler unleashes synergies to create
new and additional benefits for joined customers.
With condition monitoring and retrofitting, PRTG and Schildknecht DATAEAGLE make even older production plants competitive.
Schildknecht
“Easy to implement and configure with good technical support.”
R. v. S., ICT Manager at Heinen & Hopman Eng BV
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PRTG |
Network Monitoring Software - Version 24.2.94.1400 (April 10th, 2024) |
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Hosting |
Download for Windows and cloud-based version PRTG Hosted Monitor available |
Languages |
English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese |
Pricing |
Up to 100 sensors for free (Price List) |
Unified Monitoring |
Network devices, bandwidth, servers, applications, virtual environments, remote systems, IoT, and more |
Supported Vendors & Applications |
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Combining the broad monitoring feature set of PRTG with IP Fabric’s automated network assurance creates a new level of network visibility and reliability.