PRTG Manual: Packet Sniffer Sensor

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:

• bandwidthsensor
• sniffersensor

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 ().

Include Filter

Define if you want to filter any traffic. If you leave this field empty, the sensor includes all traffic. To include specific traffic only, define filters using a special syntax.

Exclude Filter

First, the sensor considers the filters in Include Filter. From this subset, you can explicitly exclude traffic, using the same syntax.

Network Adapters

Select the network adapters that this sensor monitors. You see a list of all adapters that are available on the probe system. To select an adapter, enable the check box in front of the respective name.

You can also select all items or cancel the selection by using the check box in the table header.

You cannot change this setting if the probe is not connected.

Stream Data Handling

Define what PRTG does with the stream and packet data:

• Discard stream data (recommended): Do not store the stream and packet data.
• Store stream data only for the 'Other' channel: Only store stream and packet data that is not otherwise filtered and is therefore accounted to the default Other channel. PRTG stores this data in the \StreamLog subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Streams Sensor [ID] (1).csv. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval.
• Store all stream data: Store all stream and packet data. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval.

Use with caution. If you enable this setting, it can create huge data files. We recommend that you only use this setting for a short time.

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

Channel Selection

Define the categories that the sensor accounts the traffic to:

• Web: Internet web traffic.
• File Transfer: Traffic from FTP.
• Mail: Internet mail traffic.
• Chat: Traffic from chat and instant messaging.
• Remote Control: Traffic from remote control applications such as RDP, SSH, Telnet, and VNC.
• Infrastructure: Traffic from network services such as DHCP, DNS, Ident, ICMP, and SNMP.
• NetBIOS: Traffic from NetBIOS communication.
• Citrix: Traffic from Citrix applications.
• Other Protocols: Traffic from various other protocols via UDP and TCP.

For each group, you can select how many channels the sensor uses, that is, how detailed the sensor divides the traffic. For each group, choose from:

• No (): Do not account traffic of this group in its own channel. The sensor accounts all traffic of this group to the default channel named Other.
• Yes (): Count all traffic of this group and summarize it in one channel.
• Detail (): Count all traffic of this group and further divide it into different channels. The traffic appears in several channels that you can see in the Content column.
  Extensive use of this option can cause load problems on the probe system. We recommend that you set specific, well-chosen filters for the data that you really want to analyze.

You can change the default configuration for groups and channels. For details, see the Knowledge Base: How can I change the default groups and channels for flow and Packet Sniffer sensors?

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.

Primary Toplist

Define which Toplist is the primary Toplist of the sensor:

• Top Talkers
• Top Connections
• Top Protocols
• [Any custom Toplists you add]

PRTG shows the primary Toplist in maps when you add a Toplist object.

IP

IP address or DNS name

Port

Any number

SourceIP

IP address or DNS name

SourcePort

Any number

DestinationIP

IP address or 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

MAC

Physical address

SourceMAC

Physical address

DestinationMAC

Physical address

EtherType

IPV4, ARP, RARP, APPLE, AARP, IPV6, IPXold, IPX, any number

VlanPCP

IEEE 802.1Q VLAN Priority Code Point

VlanID

IEEE 802.1Q VLAN Identifier

TrafficClass

IPv6 Traffic Class: corresponds to TOS used with IPv4

FlowLabel

IPv6 Flow Label

Chat

The traffic from chat and instant messaging (IRC, AIM)

Citrix

The traffic from Citrix applications

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

FTP/P2P

The traffic from file transfer (FTP/P2P)

Infrastructure

The traffic from network services (DHCP, DNS, Ident, ICMP, SNMP)

Mail

The internet mail traffic (IMAP, POP3, SMTP)

NetBIOS

The traffic from NetBIOS communication

Other

The traffic from various other protocols (UDP, TCP)

Remote Control

The traffic from remote control applications (RDP, SSH, Telnet, VNC)

Total

The total traffic

This channel is the primary channel by default.

Various

The traffic from various other sources

WWW

The traffic from the web (HTTP, HTTPS)