PRTG Manual: SMTP&POP3 Round Trip Sensor
The SMTP&POP3 Round Trip sensor monitors the time it takes for an email to reach a Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) mailbox after being sent using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). It sends an email using the parent device as SMTP server and then scans a dedicated POP3 mailbox until the email comes in.
The SMTP&POP3 Round Trip sensor will delete these emails automatically from the mailbox as soon as PRTG retrieves them. Emails will only remain in the mailbox particularly if a timeout or a restart of the PRTG server occurred during sensor runtime.
The sensor shows the following:
- Response time of SMTP server
- Response time of POP3 server
- Sum of both response times
SMTP&POP3 Round Trip Sensor
Dutch: SMTP & POP3 Round Trip, French: Durée de boucle SMTP&POP3, German: SMTP&POP3-Übermittlung, Japanese: SMTP&POP3ラウンドトリップ, Portuguese: SMTP&POP3 Viagem de ida e volta, Russian: Цикл SMTP и POP3, Simplified Chinese: SMTP 和 POP3 往返, Spanish: SMTP&POP3 Round Trip
- Please use dedicated email accounts with this sensor type. If you use more sensors of this type, please make sure that each sensor uses its own email accounts.
- This sensor type does not support Secure Remote Password (SRP) ciphers.
- For a general introduction to the technology behind round trip monitoring, see section Monitoring Email Round Trip.
The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the setting fields that are required for creating the sensor. Therefore, you will not see all setting fields in this dialog. You can change (nearly) all settings in the sensor's Settings tab later.
We recommend that you add this sensor to an SMTP server device only, because the settings of this sensor type are optimized for this scenario.
On the details page of a sensor, click the Settings tab to change its settings.
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address or DNS Name of the parent device where you created this sensor. See the Device Settings for details. For some sensor types, you can define the monitoring target explicitly in the sensor settings. See below for details on available settings.
Basic Sensor Settings |
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Sensor Name |
Enter a meaningful 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. |
Parent Tags |
Shows Tags that this sensor inherits from its parent device, group, and probe. This setting is shown for your information only and cannot be changed here. |
Tags |
Enter one or more Tags, separated by spaces or commas. You can use tags to group sensors and use tag–filtered views later on. Tags are not case sensitive. We recommend that you use the default value. You can add additional tags to the sensor if you like. Other tags are automatically inherited from objects further up in the device tree. These are visible above as Parent Tags.
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Priority |
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines where the sensor is placed in sensor lists. Top priority is at the top of a list. Choose from one star (low priority) to five stars (top priority). |
Email Settings |
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From |
Specify the address that the sent emails will contain in the from field. Please enter a valid email address. |
To |
Specify the address that PRTG sends the emails to. Please enter a valid email address. |
HELO Ident |
Enter a server name for the HELO part of the mail protocol. For some mail servers the HELO identifier must be the valid principal host domain name for the client host. See SMTP RFC 2821. |
Step 1: Send Email with Parent Device as SMTP Server |
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Port |
Enter the number of the port that the sensor uses to send an email via SMTP. For non-secure connections usually port 25 is used, for SSL/TLS connections port 465 or 587. The actual setting depends on the server you connect to. If you do not get a connection, try another port number. Please enter an integer value. We recommend that you use the default value. |
Timeout for SMTP Connection (Sec.) |
Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. If the reply takes longer than this value defines, the sensor will cancel the request and show a corresponding error message. Please enter an integer value. The maximum value is 900 seconds (15 minutes). |
SMTP Authentication Type |
Define if you want to use an authentication for the SMTP connection. Choose between:
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Username |
This field is only visible if you enable SMTP authentication above. Enter a username for SMTP authentication. Please enter a string. |
Password |
This field is only visible if you enable SMTP authentication above. Enter a password for SMTP authentication. Please enter a string. |
Additional Text for Email Subject |
The subject part of the round trip email is created automatically by PRTG. It consists of the string PRTG Roundtrip Mail:, followed by a unique GUID to correctly identify the email in the POP3 mailbox, for example, PRTG Roundtrip Mail: {5E858D9C-AC70-466A-9B2A-55630165D276}. Use this field to place your custom text before the automatically created text. |
Transport-Level Security |
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SMTP Specific |
Define the security level for the sensor connection. Choose between:
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Step 2: Check a POP3 Mailbox Until Email Arrives |
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IP Address/DNS Name |
Specify the POP3 server. Enter a valid IP address or DNS name. |
Port |
Specify the port that the sensor uses for the POP3 connection. For non-secure connections usually port 110 is used, for SSL/TLS connections port 995. The actual setting depends on the server you are connecting to. If you do not get a connection, please try another port number. Please enter an integer value. We recommend that you use the default value. |
Connection Interval (Sec.) |
Enter the number of seconds the sensor will wait between two connections to the IMAP server. PRTG will continuously check the mailbox in this interval until the email arrives. Please enter an integer value. |
Maximum Trip Time (Sec.) |
Enter the number of seconds an email may take to arrive in the POP3 mailbox. PRTG will continuously check the mailbox in the interval that you specify above until the email arrives. If it does not arrive within the maximum trip time, the sensor will trigger an error message. Please enter an integer value. |
POP3 Authentication Type |
Select the kind of authentication for the POP3 connection. Choose between:
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Username |
This field is only visible if you select an option with login above. Enter a username for POP3 authentication. Please enter a string. |
Password |
This field is only visible if you select an option with login above. Enter a username for POP3 authentication. Please enter a string. |
Transport-Level Security |
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POP3 Specific |
Define the security level for the sensor connection. Choose between:
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Debug Options |
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Sensor Result |
Define what PRTG will do with the sensor results. Choose between:
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This option is not available when the sensor runs on the Sensor Display |
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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 will always be displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
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Graph Type |
Define how different channels will be shown for this sensor.
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Stack Unit |
This setting is only available if stacked graphs are selected above. Choose a unit from the list. All channels with this unit will be 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. |
By default, all following settings are inherited from objects higher in the hierarchy and should be changed there, if necessary. Often, best practice is to change them centrally in the Root group's settings, see section Inheritance of Settings for more information. To change a setting only for this object, disable inheritance by clicking the button next to inherit from under the corresponding setting name. You will then see the options described below.
Scanning Interval |
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Click |
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Scanning Interval |
Select a scanning interval (seconds, minutes, or hours) from the list. The scanning interval determines the time the sensor waits between two scans. You can change the available intervals in the system administration on PRTG on premises installations. |
If a Sensor Query Fails |
Define the number of scanning intervals that a sensor has time to reach and check a device again in case a sensor query fails. The sensor can try to re-reach and check a device several times, depending on the option you select here, before it will be set to a Down status. This helps you avoid false alarms if the monitored device has only temporary issues. For previous scanning intervals with failed requests, the sensor will show a Warning status. Choose between:
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Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window |
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Schedule |
Select a schedule from the list. Schedules can be used to monitor for a certain time span (days, hours) every week. With the period list option it is also possible to pause monitoring for a specific time span. You can create new schedules and edit existing ones in the account settings.
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Maintenance Window |
Specify if you want to set up a one-time maintenance window. During a "maintenance window" period, this object and all child objects will not be monitored. They will be in a Paused status instead. Choose between:
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Maintenance Begins |
This field is only visible if you enabled the maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the start date and time of the maintenance window. |
Maintenance Ends |
This field is only visible if you enabled the maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the end date and time of the maintenance window. |
Dependency Type |
Define a dependency type. Dependencies can be used to pause monitoring for an object depending on the status of another. You can choose between:
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Dependency |
This field is only visible if the Select object option is enabled above. Click on the reading-glasses and use the object selector to choose an object on which the current sensor will depend. |
Dependency Delay (Sec.) |
Define a time span in seconds for a dependency delay. After the master object for this dependency goes back to Up status, PRTG will start monitoring the depending objects after this extra delayed. This can help to avoid false alarms, for example, after a server restart, by giving systems more time for all services to start up. Please enter an integer value.
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Access Rights |
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Click |
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User Group Access |
Define which user group(s) will have access to the object you're editing. A table with user groups and types of access rights is shown. It contains all user groups from your setup. For each user group, you can choose from the following access rights:
You can create new user groups in the System Administration—User Groups settings. To automatically set all objects further down in the hierarchy to inherit this object's access rights, set a check mark for the Revert children's access rights to inherited option.
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To change display settings, spike filter, and limits, switch to the sensor's Overview tab and click the gear icon of a specific channel. For detailed information, see the Sensor Channel Settings section.
Click the Notification Triggers tab to change notification triggers. For detailed information, see the Sensor Notification Triggers Settings section.
For more general information about settings, see the Object Settings section.
For information about sensor settings, see the following sections:
