PRTG Manual: SIMATIC S7-1200/1500 Hardware Status Sensor

Enabled Beta Sensors experimental feature

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

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

S7 Web API

This sensor requires S7 Web API to be enabled on the device.

PLC firmware

This sensor requires as of PLC firmware 4.1.

Some CPU types, such as redundant S7-1500R/H systems, do not support hardware module monitoring regardless of firmware version. When the PLC does not support hardware module monitoring, the sensor shows the Down status.

Credentials

This sensor requires credentials for the S7 Web API in settings that are higher in the object hierarchy. The user account must have read_diagnostics permissions.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

Performance impact

This sensor has a very low performance impact.

Scanning interval

This sensor has a fixed minimum scanning interval for performance reasons. You cannot use a shorter scanning interval. Consequently, shorter scanning intervals in the Monitoring settings are not available for this sensor.

• The minimum scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute.
• The recommended scanning interval of this sensor is 5 minutes.

Lookups

This sensor uses lookups to determine the status values of one or more channels.

Limits

This sensor has predefined limits for one or several metrics.

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.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

• Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
• Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response 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.

Hardware Fault Count

The total number of hardware modules in Warning or Down status

This channel has default limits:

• Upper warning limit: 0

• Upper error limit: 1

This channel is the primary channel by default.

This channel shows 0 when the sensor finds no modules.

Because the default upper warning limit is set to 0, the channel gauge is always orange or red. However, the sensor remains in the Up status when the fault count is 0.

[Module Name]

The status of a hardware module or PROFINET IO device connected to the PLC.

• Up status: Good
• Warning status: Deactivated, Maintenance Demanded, Maintenance Required, Unknown
• Down status: Error, I/O Not Available, Not Reachable
• Unknown status: Channel Value Not Set

Channel names correspond to the module names configured in the TIA Portal.

This sensor does not monitor the CPU module. To monitor this module, use the SIMATIC S7-1200/1500 CPU Status sensor.