PRTG Manual: HTTP Data Advanced Sensor
The HTTP Data Advanced sensor accesses a web server and retrieves Extensible Markup Language (XML) encoded or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) encoded data.
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
▪Dutch: HTTP Data Geavanceerd
▪French: Données avancé (HTTP)
▪German: HTTP Daten (Erweitert)
▪Japanese: HTTP データアドバンスト
▪Portuguese: Dados HTTP (avançado)
▪Russian: HTTP: Данные (Расширенный)
▪Simplified Chinese: HTTP 数据高级
▪Spanish: Datos HTTP (avanzado)
▪The requested web server must return XML-encoded or JSON-encoded data that matches the format as defined in section Custom Sensors.
▪This sensor does not support Secure Remote Password (SRP) ciphers.
▪This sensor supports smart URL replacement.
▪This sensor supports the IPv6 protocol.
▪This sensor has a medium performance impact.
▪For best sensor performance, we recommend that you specify the content type on the target server, which is application/xml or application/json.
▪See the Knowledge Base: Which HTTP status code leads to which HTTP sensor status?
The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the settings that are required to create the sensor. You can change nearly all settings on the sensor's Settings tab after creation.
Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
Setting |
Description |
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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.
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Parent Tags |
Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.
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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.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor: ▪httpsensor |
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 ( |
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address/DNS Name of the parent device. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings.
Setting |
Description |
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Timeout (Sec.) |
Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).
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URL |
Enter the URL that the sensor connects to. If you enter an absolute URL, the sensor uses this address independently of the IP Address/DNS Name setting of the parent device. You can enter the URL of a web page (to measure the loading time of the page's source code), or enter the URL of an image or of a page asset to measure this element's availability and loading time.
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Request Method |
Select an HTTP request method to determine how the sensor requests the URL: ▪GET: Directly request the website. ▪POST: Send post form data to the URL. ▪HEAD: Only request the HTTP header from the server without the actual web page. |
Postdata |
This setting is only visible if you select POST above. Enter the data part for the POST request.
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Content Type |
This setting is only visible if you select POST above. Define the content type of the POST request: ▪Default (application/x-www-form-urlencoded): Use the default content type to encode the form data set for submission to the server. ▪Custom: Use a custom content type. Enter the content type below. |
Custom Content Type |
This setting is only visible if you select Custom above. Define the custom content type, for example, XML, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), or HTTP. |
Server Name Indication |
Shows the Server Name Indication (SNI) that the sensor automatically determines from the host address of the parent device or from the target URL of the sensor.
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SNI Inheritance |
Define if you want to inherit the SNI from the parent device: ▪Inherit SNI from parent device: Determine the SNI from the host address of the parent device. ▪Do not inherit SNI from parent device: Determine the SNI from the target URL as defined in the settings of this sensor. |
Result Handling |
Define what the sensor does with the data loaded at the URL: ▪Discard result: Do not store the sensor result. ▪Store result: Store the last result of the requested data 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]-A.txt, and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes, especially in combination with content checks. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.
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Setting |
Description |
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HTTP Version |
Define the HTTP version that the sensor uses when it connects to the target URL: ▪HTTP 1.0: Use HTTP version 1.0. ▪HTTP 1.1: Use HTTP version 1.1. |
User Agent |
Choose which user agent string the sensor sends when it connects to the target URL: ▪Use the default string: Do not enter a specific user agent and use the default string. Usually, this is Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; PRTG Network Monitor (www.paessler.com); Windows). ▪Use a custom string: Use a custom user agent. Define the custom user agent below. |
Custom User Agent |
This setting is only visible if you enable Use a custom string above. Enter the string that the sensor uses as the user agent when it connects to the target URL. |
HTTP Headers |
Define if you want to send custom HTTP headers to the target URL: ▪Do not use custom HTTP headers: Do not use custom HTTP headers. ▪Use custom HTTP headers: Use custom headers. Define below. |
Custom HTTP Headers |
This setting is only visible if you enable Use custom HTTP headers above. Enter a list of custom HTTP headers and values that you want to transmit to the URL, each pair in one line. The syntax of a header-value pair is header1:value1
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Setting |
Description |
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Authentication |
Define if authentication is necessary on the web page: ▪Web page does not need authentication ▪Web page needs authentication |
User Name |
If the proxy requires authentication, enter the user name for the proxy login.
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Password |
This setting is only visible if you select Web page needs authentication above. Enter a password. |
Authentication Method |
This setting is only visible if you select Web page needs authentication above. Select the authentication method that the URL uses: ▪HTTP authentication: Use simple HTTP authentication. ▪NT LAN Manager authentication: Use the Microsoft NT LAN Manager (NTLM) protocol for authentication. ▪Digest access authentication: Use digest access authentication. This applies a hash function to the password, which is safer than HTTP authentication. |
Setting |
Description |
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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.
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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. |
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. |
By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.
For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.
Proxy Settings for HTTP Sensors
The proxy settings determine how a sensor connects to a URL. You can enter data for an HTTP proxy server that sensors use when they connect via HTTP or HTTPS.
This setting only applies to HTTP sensors and how they monitor. To change the proxy settings for the PRTG core server, see section Core & Probes.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Proxy Settings for HTTP Sensors.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
Which channel units are available depends on the sensor type and the available parameters. If no configurable channels are available, this field shows No configurable channels.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Channel Unit Configuration.
Instead of entering a complete address in the URL field of an HTTP sensor, you can only enter the protocol followed by a colon and three forward slashes (this means that you can enter either http:/// or https:///, or even a simple forward slash / as the equivalent for http:///). PRTG automatically fills in the parent device's IP Address/DNS Name in front of the third forward slash.
Whether this results in a valid URL or not depends on the IP address or Domain Name System (DNS) name of the parent device. In combination with cloning devices, you can use smart URL replacement to create many similar devices.
For example, if you create a device with the DNS name www.example.com and you add an HTTP sensor to it, you can provide values in the following ways:
▪If you enter https:/// in the URL field, PRTG automatically creates the URL https://www.example.com/
▪If you enter /help in the URL field, PRTG automatically creates and monitor the URL http://www.example.com/help
▪It is also possible to provide a port number in the URL field. It is taken over by the device's DNS name and is internally added, for example, http://:8080/
Smart URL replacement does not work for sensors that run on the probe device.
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel |
Description |
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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 |
[Value] |
The values that the web server returns in several channels
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KNOWLEDGE BASE
Which HTTP status code leads to which HTTP sensor status?
▪https://kb.paessler.com/en/topic/65731
What security features does PRTG include?
▪https://kb.paessler.com/en/topic/61108
My HTTP sensors fail to monitor websites which use SNI. What can I do?
▪https://kb.paessler.com/en/topic/67398
My HTTP sensors don't work. What can I do?