PRTG Manual: Local Folder Sensor

Enabled Beta Sensors experimental feature

This sensor requires that the Beta Sensors experimental feature of PRTG is enabled.

For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What are beta sensors and how can I use them?

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

Shows 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:

▪filesystem

▪folder

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 ().

Path

Enter the path of the folder that you want to monitor. For example, enter C:\Windows. The folder must exist on the probe system.

The sensor only supports local paths.

Timeout (Sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds. If the scan of the folder takes longer, the sensor cancels the request and shows an error message. If two consecutive scans fail, the sensor shows the Down status. The default value is 300 seconds (5 minutes). The maximum value is 1079 seconds (17 minutes and 59 seconds).

Recurse Subfolders

Specify if the sensor includes subfolders in the folder monitoring. Choose between:

▪Do not recurse subfolders (default): Only monitor the folder. Do not monitor its subfolders.

▪Monitor the folder and its subfolders (recursive): Monitor the folder and all of its subfolders.
If you recurse subfolders in large directories that have a high number of branches, this may cause timeout errors or performance issues.

Filter by File Name

Select if you want to filter by file name. Choose between:

▪Disable (default): Do not filter by file name.

▪Include filter: The sensor counts files that match the File Filter.

▪Exclude filter: The sensor counts files that do not match the File Filter.

File Filter

This field is only visible if you select Include filter or Exclude filter above. Enter a comma-separated list of file names, file formats, or patterns you want to filter for. For example, '*.pdf,*.docx' includes or excludes files with the file formats .pdf or .docx.

The file filter is not case sensitive and supports wildcards (*).

File Age Filter

Select if you want to filter by file age. Choose between:

▪Disable (default): Do not filter by file age.

▪Enable: Filter by file age.

Newer Than

This field is only visible if you select Enable above. Enter a file age. The sensor only counts files that are younger than this age.

Leave this field empty if you only want to filter for files with the Older Than setting.

Older Than

This field is only visible if you select Enable above Enter a file age. The sensor only counts files that are older than this age.

Leave this field empty if you only want to filter for files with the Newer Than setting.

File Age Filter Unit

This field is only visible if you select Enable above. Select the time unit that you want to use for the File Age Filter. Choose between:

▪Days (default)

▪Hours

▪Minutes

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.

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 name is Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file 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.

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

File Count

The number of files in the folder

The sensor counts all files in a folder, including hidden files.

This channel is the primary channel by default.

Folder Count

The number of folders

Folder Size

The folder size

Newest File

The time since the newest modification of a file in the folder (newest file)

The sensor shows a negative value if the date of a modified file is in the future.

Oldest File

The time since the oldest modification of a file in the folder (oldest file)