PRTG Manual: Ping 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:

• pingsensor

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 ().

Timeout (Sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds for the ping. If the reply takes longer than this value, PRTG cancels the request and shows an error message. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 300 seconds (5 minutes).

Packet Size (Bytes)

Enter the packet size for the ping in bytes. You can enter any value between 1 and 10000. Enter an integer.

We recommend that you use the default value.

Ping Method

Define the kind of ping check that the sensor performs with each scanning interval:

• Send one single ping: Send a single ping only. The sensor then shows the ping time only.
  This setting is useful for monitoring availability.
• Send multiple ping requests (default): Send multiple pings in a row. The sensor then also shows the minimum and the maximum ping time as well as the packet loss (in percent).
  This setting is useful if you want to create reports about average ping times out of a series of ping requests.
   
  If you select this setting, all of the ping requests must be lost for the sensor to show the Down status. For example, if only one ping request is answered in a series of five, the sensor still shows the Up status.

Ping Count

This setting is only visible if you select Send multiple ping requests above. Enter the number of pings that the sensor sends in a row in one scanning interval. Enter an integer. The default value is 5.

Ping Delay (ms)

This setting is only visible if you select Send multiple ping requests above. Enter the time in milliseconds (ms) that the sensor waits between two ping requests. Enter an integer. The default value is 5.

Increase the value if the target device drops ping packets because of denial of service (DoS) suspicion.

Acknowledge Automatically

Define if you want to automatically acknowledge the Down status of the sensor:

• Show down status on error (default): Do not automatically acknowledge an alarm if this sensor changes to the Down status.

• Show down (acknowledged) status on error: Automatically acknowledge an alarm. If this sensor changes to the Down status, it automatically shows the Down (Acknowledged) status instead.

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.

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

Maximum

The maximum ping time when using more than one ping per interval

Minimum

The maximum ping time when using more than one ping per interval

Packet Loss

The packet loss when using more than one ping per interval (%)

Ping Time

The ping time

This channel is the primary channel by default.