PRTG Manual: HL7 Sensor

.NET 4.7.2 or later

This sensor requires .NET 4.7.2 or later to be installed on the probe system (on every cluster node, if on a cluster probe).

If the framework is missing, you cannot create this sensor.

For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Which .NET version does PRTG require?

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:

• dicom
• hl7

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 ().

Port

Enter the port of the HL7 interface that the sensor uses for the connection.

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.

Message Header

Define if you want to use the default message header (MSH) as defined in the selected .hl7 message file or if you want to override certain headers:

• Default message header: Send the MSH as defined in the .hl7 message file.
• Override message header: Define a custom MSH below that overrides the MSH in the .hl7 message file.

Sending Application

This setting is only visible if you select Override message header above. Enter the name of the sending application, for example, PRTG. It overrides the default value in the message. Enter a string.

Sending Facility

This setting is only visible if you select Override message header above. Enter the name of the sending facility. It overrides the default value in the message. Enter a string.

Receiving Application

This setting is only visible if you select Override message header above. Enter the name of the receiving application. It overrides the default value in the message. Enter a string.

Receiving Facility

This setting is only visible if you select Override message header above. Enter the name of the receiving facility. It overrides the default value in the message. Enter a string.

HL7 Message

Select an .hl7 file from the list. The sensor sends it to the target device with every scanning interval.

The list shows all files that are available in the \Custom Sensors\hl7 subfolder of the PRTG program directory on the probe system. For files to appear in this list, store them in this subfolder with the extension .hl7.

To be accepted by the HL7 interface, your files must have the expected HL7 message format. PRTG comes with two sample .hl7 message files that you can use to test your HL7 monitoring and to have a look at the expected format. These files are in the \Custom Sensors\hl7 subfolder.

You can override certain headers using the Message Header sensor setting.

You cannot change this value after sensor creation.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

• Discard result: Do not store the sensor result.

• Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt, Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt, and Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.

This option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.

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

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.

ACK Status

The acknowledgment (ACK) status

• Up status: Accept
• Down status: Error, Reject

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

Message Control ID OK

The message control ID status

• Up status: Yes
• Down status: No

Response Time

The response time

This channel is the primary channel by default.