PRTG Manual: Packet Sniffer Sensor

Performance impact

This sensor has a very high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 50 of this sensor on each probe.

Probe device

By default, this sensor works only on a probe device.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

Network Mapper

Using Network Mapper (Nmap) on the parent probe system might cause high CPU load. If you have this issue, restarting the PRTG probe service might help.

Knowledge Base

Knowledge Base: How can I change the default groups and channels for flow and Packet Sniffer sensors?

Traffic

By default, you can only monitor traffic passing the probe system where the probe device with the sensor is set up. To monitor other traffic in your network, you can configure a monitoring port (if available) that the switch sends a copy of all traffic to. You can then physically connect this port to a network adapter of the probe system (either local probe or remote probe system). This way, PRTG can analyze the complete traffic that passes through the switch. This feature of your hardware might be called Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN), port mirroring, or port monitoring.

Hosted probe

You cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.

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.

For more information about filters, see section Filter Rules for Flow, IPFIX, and Packet Sniffer Sensors.

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 (default): 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. 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 Virtual Network Computing (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:

• 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 more information, 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, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel 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 this sensor shows different channels:

• 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 select Stack channels on top of each other above.

Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit 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.

For all Flow (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.

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, Virtual Network Computing (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)