PRTG Manual: Notification Templates
In the Notification Templates settings, you can define and edit notifications for the user account. Notifications can be triggered for specific sensor states and values.
If you use PRTG on premises and open the system administration page from a different administration page, PRTG asks you to enter your credentials again for security reasons if 15 minutes (900 seconds) have passed since your last credential-based login. A dialog box appears. Enter your Login Name and Password for PRTG in the corresponding fields and confirm to continue.
This section describes one of four steps to set up the notification system. To complete your notification setup, go through all of the following steps:
- Check and set up the Notification Delivery settings to define how and to which recipient PRTG sends messages.
For more information, see section Notification Delivery. - Check and set up Notification Contacts for users so that you can define them as recipients of notifications.
For more information, see section Notification Contacts. - Check and set up Notification Templates to define the notification methods and their content.
For more information, see section Notification Templates.
You can also check or edit notification templates via the Notification Triggers tab. For more information, see section Notification Triggers Settings.
- Check and set up Notification Triggers for objects to define when they trigger notifications.
For more information, see section Notification Triggers Settings.
We recommend that you set up at least two notifications with different delivery methods for each notification trigger, for example, one email notification and one SMS notification. If delivery via email fails, PRTG can still notify you via your smartphone. Set your latency setting to a state trigger and a notification via a different delivery method than the one for the first trigger. Or set up a second trigger with a different notification for the corresponding object.
For more information, see section Notifications.
Click the Notification Templates tab to show a list of all notification templates, what actions they perform, and if they are active or paused.
To edit a notification template, enable the check box next to the notification template and choose from the following options:
- Send test notification (
): Trigger this notification immediately for testing purposes.
When testing notifications, PRTG does not resolve the placeholders, but rather sends the original variables instead.
- Used by (
): Show all objects that trigger this notification.
- Pause (
): Pause this notification. If you manually pause a notification, PRTG does not send messages when this notification is triggered.
- Resume (
): Resume this notification.
- Clone (
): Create a clone of this notification.
- Delete (
): Delete this notification (not possible for predefined notifications).
- Settings (
): Open the settings of a notification template.
You can also use the quick action buttons Send test notification (
), Used by (
), Pause (
) or Resume (
) next to a notification template.
See also section Working with Table Lists. Additionally, the multi-edit functionality is available. This enables you to change properties of several objects simultaneously via bulk changes. For more information, see section Multi-Edit.
Notification Template Settings
Hover over and select Add Notification Template from the menu to add a new notification template, or click the name of a notification template to edit it.
This documentation refers to an administrator that accesses the PRTG web interface on a master node. Other user accounts, interfaces, or failover nodes might not have all of the options in the way described here. In a cluster, note that failover nodes are read-only by default.
When a user with administrative rights creates a new object, only other users with administrative rights can view or edit the new object by default. When a read/write user creates a new object, all members of the read/write user's primary group can view and edit the new object as well. This behavior applies to libraries, maps, reports, notification templates, and schedules.
For more information, see section Access Rights Management.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Template Name |
Enter a meaningful name for the notification template, for example, SMS to service team.
|
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. |
Status |
Select the status of the notification template:
|
Schedule |
Use schedules to activate a notification template only during specific time spans. This way you can pause notifications, for example, during regular maintenance periods or server restarts. Select None if you want your notification template to be active all the time. Choose one of the suggested schedules from the list to define a specific period in which the notification template is active.
|
Notification Handling during Scheduled Pause |
Define how PRTG handles notifications that are triggered during a scheduled pause.
|
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Method |
Define if and how PRTG summarizes several notifications into one or more messages (max. 1,000 characters). Define if several notification triggers are to be collected over a specified time period and then sent as a single summarized notification. Choose from:
|
Subject for Summarized Email or SNS Messages |
Define a subject that PRTG includes when sending summarized notifications. You can use the placeholder %SUMMARYCOUNT for the number of summarized messages.
|
Time Span for Summarizing Messages (in Minutes) |
Define a time span in minutes to define how long PRTG collects notifications for summarization. Enter an integer value.
|
Access Rights
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
User Group Access |
Define the user groups that have access to the object. 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:
|
With the following settings, you can add one or more methods for how PRTG sends out a notification message. You can choose one method or combine several methods from the list. Whenever the notification is triggered, PRTG sends out messages or performs actions for all configured methods at once.
To choose a method, mark the check box in front of the corresponding notification type. You can then see and set the options as described below. The following notification methods are available.
- Send Email
- Add Entry to Event Log
- SMS/Pager Message
- Execute HTTP Action
- Execute Program
- Send Syslog Message
- Send SNMP Trap
- Send Amazon Simple Notification Service Message
- Assign Ticket
- Send Push Notification
- Send Microsoft Teams Message
- Send Slack Message
- Send MQTT Publish Notification
In your message, you can use various placeholders. Some of them are already filled in by default. For a complete list of available placeholders, see section List of Placeholders for Notifications.
Some notification types are only available for PRTG on premises (marked with
). You cannot use these on PRTG hosted by Paessler instances.
This notification method uses notification contacts to deliver the messages. Set them up and check them for the desired user accounts in advance in the Notification Contacts settings.
The three options for recipients below (user, user group, email address) work simultaneously. Because of this, you can define more than one user as a recipient of this notification. PRTG sends the notification email to the active email contacts of the user you select, to the active email contacts of all members of the user group you select, and to all email addresses you enter into the Send to Email Address field.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Sender |
Define which email address and sender name appear in the FROM part of your email notifications:
|
Sender Email Address |
This setting is only visible if you enable Custom above. Enter an email address to use as sender of all email notifications. This setting overrides the global setting from the Notification Delivery tab. The default value is the global sender email.
|
Sender Name |
This setting is only visible if you enable Custom above. Enter a sender name to use as sender of all email notifications. This setting overrides the global setting from the Notification Delivery tab. The default value is the global sender name. |
Send to User |
Select a user to send the notification email to. PRTG sends this notification to each email contact of this user account. You can add and edit email contacts of a user in the Notification Contacts settings. Choose None to not use this feature.
|
Send to User Group |
Select a user group to send an email with the notification to all members of this group. PRTG sends this notification to the email contact of every group member. You can edit user groups in the User Groups settings and email contacts in the Notification Contacts settings. Choose None to not use this feature.
|
Send to Email Address |
Enter one or more recipient email addresses to which PRTG sends the notification email. If you enter more than one address, separate them with commas. Leave this field empty to send this notification only to the email contacts of the user or members of the user group you choose above. We recommend that you use the options Send to User and/or Send to User Group instead because you can manage the notification contacts of users better this way. |
Subject |
Enter the subject of the email notification. Several placeholders (variables) are used here by default: [%sitename] %device %name %status %down (%message)
|
Format |
Define the kind of email that PRTG sends when the notification is triggered:
|
Custom Content |
This setting is only visible if you enable Text with custom content above. Enter the desired message for this email notification in plain text format. You can use placeholders here.
|
Priority |
Define the priority that PRTG sets for the email:
Most email clients can show this priority flag. |
This option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Logfile |
Define the logfile into which PRTG writes the message:
|
Event Source |
This setting is only visible if you enable Application above. Enter the source for the event. Usually, this is the name of the application. |
Event Type |
Select the type of the event:
|
Event Log Message |
Define the message. A message with information about the sensor status is already predefined. Several placeholders (variables) are used here. You can change it to your liking. To reset this field to its default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
|
You have to set up this notification method in the Notification Delivery settings first.
This notification method uses notification contacts to deliver the messages. Set them up and check them for the desired user accounts in advance in the Notification Contacts settings.
The three options for recipients below (user, user group, email address) work simultaneously. Because of this, you can define more than one user as recipient of this notification. PRTG sends the notification to the active SMS contacts of the user you select, to the active SMS contacts of all members of the user group you select, and to every phone number you enter into the Send to Number field.
This notification method uses the central proxy settings that you define for your PRTG core server. For details, see section Core & Probes (section Proxy Configuration).
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Send to User |
Select a user to send the notification to. PRTG sends this notification to each SMS contact of this user account. You can add and edit SMS contacts of a user in the Notification Contacts settings. Choose None to not use this feature. |
Send to User Group |
Select a user group to send a text message with the notification to all members of this group. PRTG sends this notification to each SMS contact of every member of this group. You can edit user groups in the User Groups settings and SMS contacts in the Notification Contacts settings. Choose None to not use this feature.
|
Send to Number |
Define the number to which PRTG sends the text message. The format depends on the SMS provider. Usually, you use a plus sign (+), followed by country code and number. For example, enter +1555012345.
If you enter more than one number, separate them by comma. Leave this field empty to send this notification only to the SMS contacts of the user or members of the user group you choose above. We recommend that you use the options Send to User and/or Send to User Group instead because you can manage the notification contacts of users better this way. |
Message |
Define the message. A message with information about the sensor status is already predefined. Several placeholders (variables) are used here: [%sitename] %device %name %status %down (%message) You can change the message to your liking. To reset this field to its default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
|
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method chosen above, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Execute HTTP Action as soon as possible (ASAP). They are never summarized.
This notification method uses the central proxy settings that you define for your PRTG core server. For details, see section Core & Probes (section Proxy Configuration).
For more details, see section Custom Notifications. You can find ready-to-use custom notifications in the PRTG Sensor Hub, see below.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
URL |
Enter the URL to which PRTG sends the request. You can use placeholders here.
|
SNI (Server Name Indication) |
Select if PRTG sends the Server Name Identification (SNI) extension to the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol along with the HTTP request:
|
Virtual Host (SNI) |
This setting is only visible if you enable Send SNI above. Enter the SNI name that your endpoint configuration requires. Usually, this is the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the virtual host. |
HTTP Method |
Select the HTTP method that you want PRTG to use:
|
Payload |
This setting is only visible if you enable POST, PUT, or PATCH above. Enter a payload here. The payload is the data that PRTG transmits to the URL you have specified. You can use placeholders here. Line breaks are supported.
|
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method chosen above, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Execute Program as soon as possible (ASAP). They are never summarized.
For more details, see section Custom Notifications. You can find ready-to-use custom notifications in the PRTG Sensor Hub, see below.
To remotely run PowerShell scripts, make sure that you set the according Execution Policy. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: PowerShell 32 Bit and 64 Bit and Execution Policy.
This option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Program File |
Select an executable file from the list. PRTG runs it every time the notification is triggered. In this list, you see the files that are in the corresponding \Notifications\EXE subfolder of the PRTG program directory. To appear in this list, store the files as .bat, .cmd, .exe, .com, .ps1, or .vbs.
|
Parameters |
Enter parameters with which the program file is started. You can use placeholders here. For example, if you use a batch file that contains a %1 variable, you can provide a value for this variable here.
|
Domain or Computer Name |
Enter a Windows authority if you want to use a different security context for the program than the security context of the PRTG probe service. |
Username |
Enter the username for Windows access. |
Password |
Enter the password for Windows access. |
Timeout |
Enter a timeout in seconds. After this time has passed, PRTG stops the process if it has not terminated yet. Enter an integer value. |
This option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Host/IP |
Define the IP address or Domain Name System (DNS) name of the computer running the syslog server.
|
Syslog Port |
Enter the port number on which syslog messages are sent. By default, this is port number 514.
|
Facility |
Define the facility information. Several options are available from the list. |
Encoding |
Define the encoding of the syslog message that PRTG sends to your syslog receiver:
|
Message |
Define the message. A message with information about the sensor status is already predefined. Several placeholders (variables) are used here. You can change it to your liking. To reset this field to its default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
|
Syslog Message Severity Status
Depending on the status of the sensor that triggers the syslog notification, PRTG sets the Severity level of the message automatically.
Status |
Description |
---|---|
|
Severity level: Notice (5) |
|
Severity level: Warning (4) |
|
Severity level: Error (3) |
For information about the object identifiers (OID) that PRTG uses in the content of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps, see the Knowledge Base: Is it possible to send SNMP traps using PRTG?
This option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Host/IP |
Define the IP address or DNS name of the computer running the trap receiver.
|
SNMP Port |
Enter the port number on which trap messages are sent. By default, this is port number 162. |
Community String |
Enter the community string of the device. By default, this is set to public. Enter a string or leave the field empty. |
Specific Trap Code |
Enter a code to identify the purpose of the trap. The default value is 0. Enter an integer value. |
Message ID |
Enter an ID to identify the origin of the trap. Enter an integer value. PRTG sends it on the OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.32446.1.1.1. |
Message |
Define the message. A message with information about the sensor status is already predefined. Several placeholders (variables) are used here. You can change it to your liking. To reset this field to its default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
|
Agent IP |
Define the IP address of the agent. Leave this field empty to use the IP address of your PRTG web server. |
Send Amazon Simple Notification Service Message
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
AWS Access Key ID |
Enter your access key as shown in your login area at aws.amazon.com. Enter a string. |
AWS Secret Access Key |
Enter your secret access key as shown in your login area at aws.amazon.com. Enter a string. |
Location |
Define the location of your Amazon service. Choose one of the shown locations:
|
ARN |
Enter the Amazon resource name. Enter a string. |
Subject |
Enter the subject of the message. Enter a string.
|
Message |
Define the message. A message with information about the sensor status is already predefined. Several placeholders (variables) are used here. You can change it to your liking. To reset this field to its default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
|
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method chosen above, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Assign Ticket as soon as possible (ASAP). They are never summarized.
For more information about the ticket system, see section Tickets.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Assign to User or User Group |
Specify whether to assign the notification ticket to a user group or to a single user:
|
User Group / User |
Select the user or user group to which PRTG assigns the notification ticket.
|
Subject |
Enter the subject of the ticket. Several placeholders (variables) are used here by default. You can change it to your liking.
|
Content |
Define the message in the ticket. A message with information about the sensor status is already predefined. Several placeholders (variables) are used here. You can change it as you wish.
|
When Condition Clears |
Specify if PRTG closes the ticket automatically when the defined trigger condition clears:
|
Push notifications only work with the apps PRTG for Android and PRTG for iOS. You have to activate push notifications in the settings of your app first. For more information about the setup, see the Knowledge Base: How can I send push notifications with PRTG?
This notification method uses notification contacts to deliver the messages. Set them up and check them for the desired user accounts in advance in the Notification Contacts settings.
The PRTG core server needs to communicate on port 443 to the PRTG Cloud to send push notifications, which is https://api.prtgcloud.com:443 (the same as for the Cloud HTTP sensor, the Cloud HTTP v2 sensor, the Cloud Ping sensor, the Cloud Ping v2 sensor, and support tickets).
The two options for recipients below (user, user group) work simultaneously. Because of this, you can define more than one user as a recipient of this notification. PRTG sends the notification to the active push contacts of the user you select and to the active push contacts of all members of the user group you select.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Send to User |
Select a user to send the push notification to. PRTG sends this notification to each push contact of this user account. You can edit push contacts of a user in the Notification Contacts settings and add push contacts by activating push notifications in the Android or iOS app with this user. Choose None to not use this feature. |
Send to User Group |
Select a user group to send the push notification to all members of this group. PRTG sends this notification to each push contact of every member of this group. You can edit user groups in the User Groups settings and push contacts in the Notification Contacts settings. Choose None to not use this feature.
|
Message |
Define the message. A message with information about the sensor status is already predefined. Several placeholders (variables) are used here: [%sitename] %device %name %status %down (%message)
You can change the message to your liking. To reset this field to its default value, enter only an asterisk (*). |
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method chosen above, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Send Microsoft Teams Message as soon as possible (ASAP). They are never summarized.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
URL of the Teams Webhook |
Enter the URL of the incoming webhook that you set up in your Microsoft Teams workspace.
|
Title |
Enter the title of your Microsoft Teams notification. The following placeholders (variables) are used here by default: %device %name
|
Subtitle |
Enter the subtitle of your Microsoft Teams notification. The following placeholder (variable) is used here: %message
|
Content |
Define the content of your Microsoft Teams notification:
|
Select Content |
This setting is only visible if you enable Define custom content above. Add a check mark in front of the piece of monitoring information that you want PRTG to include in your Microsoft Teams notification. Remove the check mark in front of the items that you do not want to include. Multiple choices are possible. The following types of monitoring information are available:
|
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method chosen above, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Send Slack Message as soon as possible (ASAP). They are never summarized.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
URL of Slack Webhook |
Enter the URL of the incoming webhook that you set up in your Slack workspace.
|
Sender Name |
Enter a sender name to use as sender of Slack notifications. This field overrides the sender that you might have defined in your Slack workspace. |
Title |
Enter the title of your Slack notification. The following placeholders (variables) are used here by default: %device %name
|
Subtitle |
Enter the subtitle of your Slack notification. The following placeholder (variable) is used here: %message
|
Content |
Define the content of your Slack notification:
|
Select Content |
This setting is only visible if you enable Define custom content above. Add a check mark in front of the piece of monitoring information that you want PRTG to include in your Slack notification. Remove the check mark in front of the items that you do not want to include. Multiple choices are possible. The following types of monitoring information are available:
|
Send MQTT Publish Notification
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method chosen above, PRTG may not send notifications of the type MQTT Publish Notification as soon as possible (ASAP).
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
MQTT Broker |
Enter the address for the connection to the MQTT broker (server). |
Port |
Enter the port number for MQTT connections. The default port for unsecure connections is 1883 and the default port for secure connections is 8883. |
Timeout (Sec.) |
Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Enter an integer value. If the reply takes longer than this value, the sensor cancels the request and triggers an error message. The maximum timeout value is 300 seconds (5 minutes). |
User Credentials |
Select if you want to connect without credentials, or define credentials for the connection.
|
User |
This setting is only visible if you enable Username/Password above. Enter the username for access to the Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT) broker. |
Password |
This setting is only visible if you enable Username/Password above. Enter the password for access to the MQTT broker. |
Connection Security |
Select if you want to use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) secured connection:
|
Server Authentication |
This setting is only visible if you enable Use transport-level-security above. Select if you want to use a certificate for server authentication.
|
CA Certificate |
Copy the certificate authority (CA) certificate for verifying the MQTT server and paste it here.
|
Client Authentication |
This setting is only visible if you enable Use transport-level-security above. Select if you want to use a certificate for client authentication.
|
Client Certificate |
Copy the certificate that you created for authenticating the sensor against the server and paste it here.
|
Client Key |
Enter the client key for authentication against the server.
|
Client Key Password |
Enter the password for the client key certificate. |
Topic |
Enter the topic for the notification. MQTT clients that are subscribed to this topic receive the notification. |
ClientID |
Enter the ClientID for the connection to the MQTT broker (server). |
Message |
Define the message. A message with information about the sensor status is already predefined. Several placeholders (variables) are used here. You can change it to your liking. To reset this field to its default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
|
Save your settings. If you change tabs or use the main menu without saving, all changes to the settings are lost.
In addition to the built-in notifications, you can create your own notifications. To do so, write a script or a program and use it with an Execute Program notification or an Execute HTTP Action notification. There are already many free, useful scripts, plugins, and add-ons for PRTG in the PRTG Sensor Hub available for download. Here is a list of the custom notifications that you can find there.
- How to Send Custom HTML Notifications
- Sending Notifications Using Telegram Bots
For information about the comments and history tabs, see section Object Settings.
Escape Special Characters and Whitespaces in Parameters
You need to escape special characters in parameters that you pass to an executable or script and surround them with quotation marks to make sure that the characters are correctly interpreted. PowerShell scripts in particular require adequate escaping so that the parameters are passed in a valid PowerShell syntax. PRTG automatically does most of the escaping for you.
Follow these rules to escape special characters and whitespaces in the parameters fields:
- Use quotes for parameters that contain whitespaces.
-name "Mr John Q Public"
-name 'Mr John Q Public'
- Use double quotes for parameters that contain single quotes.
-name "Mr 'John Q' Public"
- Use single quotes for parameters that contain double quotes.
-name 'Mr "John Q" Public'
- Use a backslash (\) to escape and pass a literal double quote.
-name pub\"lic
- Use double quotes for parameters that contain double and single quotes and escape double quotes.
-name "pu'b\"lic"
In SSH scripts, you can use alphanumeric characters and the special characters ".", "_", "-", "=", and "/" outside of quoted strings.
We recommend that you do not pass passwords in parameters. Use PRTG placeholders instead. See section Custom Sensors for details.
PRTG MANUAL
- Custom Notifications
- Setting up Notifications Based on Sensor Limits: Example
- Setting up Notifications Based on Libraries: Example
KNOWLEDGE BASE
What placeholders can I use with PRTG?
Is it possible to send SNMP traps using PRTG?
How can PRTG send instant messages to Jabber, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, etc., using external software?
Which audible notifications are available in the PRTG web interface and in PRTG Desktop?
How can I use push notifications with PRTG?
How do I troubleshoot erratic behavior of push notifications in PRTG Desktop or the PRTG apps?
How do I create a webhook for the PRTG Notifications to Slack and Microsoft Teams?
- Account Settings
- System Administration
- User Interface
- Monitoring
- Notification Delivery
- Core & Probes
- User Accounts
- User Groups
- Administrative Tools
- Cluster
- PRTG Status
- Licensing Status and Settings
- Auto-Update
- Optional Downloads
- Help and Support Center
- Contact Support
There are some settings that you must make in the PRTG Administration Tool. For more details, see the sections: