PRTG Manual: Windows Network Card Sensor

Windows version

To work with Windows performance counters, this sensor requires that at least Windows Server 2008 R2 is installed on the probe system (on every cluster node, if on a cluster probe).

WoW64 must be installed on target systems that run Windows Server 2016. This allows 32-bit applications to be run on 64-bit systems. This is necessary because the PRTG probe service only runs with 32-bit support. Without it, WMI sensors do not work.

Remote Registry Windows service

To work with Windows performance counters,this sensor requires that the Remote Registry Windows service runs on the target system. If this service does not run, a connection via performance counters is not possible. However, WMI connections might still work.

To enable the service, log in to the respective system and open the services manager (for example, via services.msc). In the list, find the respective service and set its Start Type to Automatic.

Windows credentials

This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems in the settings of the parent device. We recommend that you use Windows domain credentials.

If you use local credentials, make sure that the same Windows user accounts (with the same user name and password) exist on both the probe system and the target system. Otherwise, a connection via performance counters is not possible. However, WMI connections might still work.

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

The 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:

• bandwidthsensor
• wmibandwidthsensor

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 ().

Network Card

The name of the network card that this sensor monitors.

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 name is Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval.

In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

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).

• Show in and out traffic as positive and negative area graph: Show channels for incoming and outgoing traffic as positive and negative area graph. This visualizes your traffic in a clear way.
  You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings). Manual scaling is not possible if you choose this option.
  You cannot show a positive/negative graph for a channel if you choose to display its data in percent of maximum (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.

Discards In

The number of incoming discards

Discards Out

The number of outgoing discards

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

Errors In

The number of incoming errors

Errors Out

The number of outgoing errors

Non-Unicast In

The number of incoming non-unicast packets

Non-Unicast Out

The number of outgoing non-unicast packets

Packets

The total number of packets

Packets Received

The number of packets received

Packets Sent

The number of packets sent

Total

The total traffic

This channel is the primary channel by default.

Traffic In

The incoming traffic

Traffic Out

The outgoing traffic

Unicast In

The number of incoming unicast packets

Unicast Out

The number of outgoing unicast packets

Unknown Protocols In

The number of unknown protocols