PRTG Manual: jFlow v5 (Custom) Sensor
The jFlow v5 (Custom) sensor receives traffic data from a jFlow v5-compatible device and shows the traffic by type. Make sure that the sensor matches the jFlow version that your device exports. With this custom sensor, you can define your own channel definitions to divide traffic into different channels.
The sensor can show the following:
- Traffic by type individually according to your needs
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the monitored device and the sensor setup.
- Dutch: jFlow v5 (Klant specifiek)
- French: jFlow v5 (personnalisé)
- German: jFlow v5 (Benutzerdefiniert)
- Japanese: jFlow v5(カスタム)
- Portuguese: jFlow v5 (personalizado)
- Russian: jFlow v5 (нестандартный)
- Simplified Chinese: jFlow v5 (自定义)
- Spanish: jFlow v5 (personalizado)
- This sensor can have a high impact on the performance of your monitoring system. Use it with care. We recommend that you use no more than 50 sensors of this sensor type on each probe.
- You have to enable jFlow export of the respective version on the monitored device for this sensor to work. The device must send the flow data stream to the IP address of the probe system.
- This sensor does not officially support more than 50 channels. Depending on the data used with this sensor, you might exceed the maximum number of supported channels. In this case, PRTG tries to display all channels. Be aware, however, that you experience limited usability and performance.
- You cannot use this sensor in cluster mode. You can only set it up on a local probe or a remote probe but not on a cluster probe.
- This sensor has a very high performance impact.
- See the Knowledge Base: What is the Active Flow Timeout in Flow sensors?
You cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG hosted by Paessler instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.
The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the setting fields that are required for creating the sensor. Therefore, you do not see all setting fields in this dialog. You can change (nearly) all settings in the sensor's Settings tab later.
Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address or DNS Name of the parent device on which you created the sensor. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings. See below for details on available settings.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Sensor Name |
Enter a meaningful 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.
|
Parent Tags |
Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe. This setting is shown for your information only and cannot be changed here. |
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:
|
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 ( |
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Receive jFlow Packets on UDP Port |
Enter the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number on which PRTG receives the flow packets. It must match the one you have configured in the jFlow export options of your hardware router device. Enter an integer value.
|
Sender IP |
Enter the IP address of the sending device that you want to receive the jFlow from. Enter an IP address to receive data from a specific device only, or leave the field empty to receive data from any device on the specified port. |
Receive jFlow Packets on IP |
Select the IP address(es) on which PRTG listens to jFlow packets. The list of IP addresses you see here is specific to your setup. To select an IP address, add a check mark in front of the respective line. You can also select all items or cancel the selection by using the check box in the table header. The IP address that you select here must match the IP address that you configured in the jFlow export options of your hardware router device.
|
Active Flow Timeout (Minutes) |
Enter a time span in minutes after which new flow data must be received. If the timeout is reached and no new data was received during this time, the sensor changes to an Unknown status. Enter an integer value. We recommend that you set the timeout one minute longer than the respective timeout configured in your hardware router device. The maximum timeout is 60 minutes.
|
Sampling Mode |
Define if you want to use the sampling mode:
|
Sampling Rate |
This setting is only visible when sampling mode is On above. Enter a number that matches the sampling rate in your device that exports the xFlows. If the number is different, monitoring results will be incorrect. Enter an integer value. |
Channel Definition |
Enter a channel definition to divide the traffic into different channels. Write each definition in one line. All traffic for which no channel is defined is accounted to the default channel named Other.
|
Stream Data Handling |
Define what PRTG does with the stream and packet data:
|
For detailed information, see section Filter Rules.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Include Filter |
Define if you want to filter any traffic. If you leave this field empty, all traffic is included. To include specific traffic only, define filters using a special syntax. |
Exclude Filter |
First, the filters defined in the Include Filter field are considered. From this subset, you can explicitly exclude traffic, using the same syntax. |
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
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.
|
Graph Type |
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
|
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. |
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Primary Toplist |
Define which Toplist is your primary Toplist:
|
By default, all of the following settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. You should 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. You then see the options described below.
For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.
Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Scanning Interval |
Select a scanning interval from the dropdown list. The scanning interval determines the amount of time that the sensor waits between two scans. Choose from:
|
If a Sensor Query Fails |
Select the number of scanning intervals that the sensor has time to reach and to check a device again if a sensor query fails. Depending on the option that you select, the sensor can try to reach and to check a device again several times before the sensor shows the Down status. This can avoid false alarms if the monitored device only has temporary issues. For previous scanning intervals with failed requests, the sensor shows the Warning status. Choose from:
|
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.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Schedule |
Select a schedule from the list. You can use schedules to monitor during a certain time span (days or hours) every week. Choose from:
|
Maintenance Window |
Select if you want to set up a one-time maintenance window. During a maintenance window, monitoring stops for the selected object and all child objects. They show the Paused status instead. Choose between:
|
Maintenance Begins |
This setting is only visible if you enable Set up a one-time maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the start date and time of the one-time maintenance window. |
Maintenance Ends |
This setting is only visible if you enable Set up a one-time maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the end date and time of the one-time maintenance window. |
Dependency Type |
Select a dependency type. You can use dependencies to pause monitoring for an object depending on the status of a different object. You can choose from:
|
Dependency |
This setting is only visible if you enable Select a sensor above. Click |
Dependency Delay (Sec.) |
This setting is only visible if you enable Select a sensor above. Define a time span in seconds for the dependency delay. After the master sensor for this dependency returns to the Up status, PRTG additionally delays the monitoring of the dependent objects by the time span you define. This can prevent false alarms, for example, after a server restart or to give systems more time for all services to start. Enter an integer value.
|
Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
User Group Access |
Define the user groups that have access to the sensor. You see a table with user groups and group access rights. The table contains all user groups in your setup. For each user group, you can choose from the following group access rights:
|
Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Channel Unit Types |
For each type of channel, select the unit in which PRTG displays the data. If you define this setting on probe, group, or device level, these settings can be inherited to all sensors underneath. You can set units for the following channel types (if available):
|
For all xFlow (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX) and Packet Sniffer sensors, Toplists are available on the sensor's Overview tab. Using Toplists, you can review traffic data for small time periods in great detail.
For more information, see section Toplists.
The following filter rules apply to all xFlow (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX) and Packet Sniffer sensors.
For more information, see section Filter Rules for xFlow, IPFIX, and Packet Sniffer Sensors.
Field |
Possible Filter Values |
---|---|
IP |
IP address or Domain Name System (DNS) name |
Port |
Any number |
SourceIP |
IP address or Domain Name System (DNS) name |
SourcePort |
Any number |
DestinationIP |
IP address or Domain Name System (DNS) name |
DestinationPort |
Any number |
Protocol |
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), any number |
ToS |
Type of Service (ToS): any number |
DSCP |
Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP): any number |
The following filter rules apply to jFlow v5 sensors only.
Field |
Possible Filter Values |
---|---|
Interface |
Any number |
ASI |
Any number |
InboundInterface |
Any number |
OutboundInterface |
Any number |
SenderIP |
IP of the sending device. Use this if you have several devices that send flow data on the same port, and you want to divide the traffic of each device into a different channel. Possible values: IP address or DNS name |
SourceASI |
Any number |
DestinationASI |
Any number |
PRTG MANUAL
- Filter Rules for xFlow, IPFIX, and Packet Sniffer Sensors
- Channel Definitions for xFlow, IPFIX, and Packet Sniffer Sensors
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Where is the volume line in graphs?
What is the Active Flow Timeout in Flow sensors?
For more information about sensor settings, see the following sections: