PRTG Manual: WMI Event Log Sensor
The WMI Event Log sensor monitors a Windows logfile via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).
You can individually set the sensor to a specific status according to a new event log entry.
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
▪Dutch: WMI Logboek
▪French: Journal des événements (WMI)
▪German: WMI Ereignisprotokoll
▪Japanese: WMI イベントログ
▪Portuguese: Log de eventos (WMI)
▪Russian: Журнал событий WMI
▪Simplified Chinese: WMI 事件日志
▪Spanish: Registro de eventos (WMI)
▪This sensor has a very high performance impact. Use it with care. We recommend that you use no more than 50 sensors of this sensor type on each probe.
▪This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems in the settings of the parent device.
▪This sensor requires WoW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) for target systems that run Windows Server 2016.
▪This sensor supports the IPv6 protocol.
▪See the Knowledge Base: My Event Log sensor ignores changes in the event log. What can I do?
▪See the Knowledge Base: How can I configure sensors using speed limits to keep the status for more than one interval?
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.
The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the settings that are required to create the sensor. You can change nearly all settings on the sensor's Settings tab after creation.
The settings that you select in the Add Sensor dialog are valid for all sensors that you create when you finish the dialog.
WMI Event Log Monitor
Setting |
Description |
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Log File |
Select the log files that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each log file that you select.
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Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
Setting |
Description |
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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.
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Parent Tags |
Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.
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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.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor: ▪wmieventlogsensor |
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 ( |
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address/DNS Name of the parent device. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings.
Setting |
Description |
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Log File |
Shows the Windows log file that this sensor monitors.
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Result Handling |
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result: ▪Discard result: Do not store the sensor result. ▪Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.
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For details and how to find out the correct filter, see the Knowledge Base: My Event Log sensor ignores changes in the event log. What can I do?
Setting |
Description |
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Event Type |
Specify the type of event that this sensor processes: ▪Any ▪Error ▪Warning ▪Information ▪Security Audit Success ▪Security Audit Failure
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Filter by Source |
Filter all events for a certain event source: ▪Off: Do not filter by event source. ▪On: Filter by event source. |
Filter Type |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by Source above. Select the filter type: ▪Include filter: Include the specified value and disregard all other values. ▪Exclude filter: Exclude the specified value and regard all other values. |
Match String (Event Source) |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by Source above. Enter an event source that you want to filter for. Depending on the kind of filter, the sensor either processes the event source (Include filter option) or it does not process it (Exclude filter option). Enter a string. |
Filter by ID |
Filter all events for a certain event ID: ▪Off: Do not filter by event ID. ▪On: Filter by event ID. |
Filter Type |
This setting is only visible if ID filtering is On above. Select a filter type: ▪Include filter: Include the specified value and disregard all other values. ▪Exclude filter: Exclude the specified value and regard all other values. |
Match Values (Event ID) |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by ID above. Enter an event ID that you want to filter for. Depending on the kind of filter, the sensor either processes the event ID (Include filter option) or it does not process it (Exclude filter option).
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Filter by Category |
Filter all events for a certain event category: ▪Off: Do not filter by event category. ▪On: Filter by event category. |
Filter Type |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by Category above. Select a filter type: ▪Include filter: Include the specified value and disregard all other values. ▪Exclude filter: Exclude the specified value and regard all other values. |
Match String (Event Category) |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by Category above. Enter a category that you want to filter for. Depending on the kind of filter, the sensor either processes the event category (Include filter option) or it does not process it (Exclude filter option). Enter a string. |
Filter by User |
Filter all received events for a certain event user: ▪Off: Do not filter by event user. ▪On: Filter by event user. |
Filter Type |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by User above. Select a filter type: ▪Include filter: Include the specified value and disregard all other values. ▪Exclude filter: Exclude the specified value and regard all other values. |
Match String (Event User) |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by User above. Enter a user name that you want to filter for. Depending on the kind of filter, the sensor either processes the event user (Include filter option) or it does not process it (Exclude filter option). Enter a string. |
Filter by Computer |
Filter all received events for a certain event computer: ▪Off: Do not filter by event computer. ▪On: Filter by event computer. |
Filter Type |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by Computer above. Select a filter type: ▪Include filter: Include the specified value and disregard all other values. ▪Exclude filter: Exclude the specified value and regard all other values. |
Match String (Event Computer) |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by Computer above. Enter a computer name that you want to filter for. Depending on the kind of filter, the sensor either processes the event computer (Include filter option) or it does not process it (Exclude filter option). Enter a string. |
Filter by Message |
Filter all received events for a certain event message: ▪Off: Do not filter by event message. ▪On: Filter by event message. |
Filter Type |
This setting is only visible if you enable Filter by Message above. Select a filter type: ▪Include filter: Include the specified value and disregard all other values. ▪Exclude filter: Exclude the specified value and regard all other values. |
Match String (Event Message) |
This setting is only visible if message filtering is On above. Enter a message that you want to filter for. Depending on the kind of filter, the sensor either processes the event message (Include filter option) or it does not process it (Exclude filter option). Enter a string.
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Setting |
Description |
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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 is always 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 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. |
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. |
By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.
For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel |
Description |
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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 |
New Records |
The number of new records per second
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KNOWLEDGE BASE
My Event Log sensor ignores changes in the event log. What can I do?
▪https://kb.paessler.com/en/topic/59803
How can I configure sensors using speed limits to keep the status for more than one interval?
▪https://kb.paessler.com/en/topic/73212
What security features does PRTG include?
▪https://kb.paessler.com/en/topic/61108
My WMI sensors don't work. What can I do?