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PRTG Manual: WMI Service v2 Sensor (BETA)

The WMI Service v2 sensor monitors a Windows service via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) over the WSMan protocol.

After creation, the sensor shows the Down status if the service is not running.

Unlike the WMI Service sensor, this sensor cannot attempt to restart the Windows service that the sensor is monitoring when the service stops.

This sensor is in beta status. The operating methods and the available settings are still subject to change. Do not expect that all functions work properly, or that this sensor works as expected at all.

For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

Dutch: WMI Service v2
French: WMI Service v2
German: WMI Service v2
Japanese: WMI Service v2
Portuguese: WMI Service v2
Russian: WMI Service v2
Simplified Chinese: WMI Service v2
Spanish: WMI Service v2

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark	Description
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?
Credentials	This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems.
Probe system	This sensor requires Microsoft Windows on the target system.
Target system	The target system must be on the WinRM TrustedHosts list on the probe system if they are not in the same domain.
Kerberos	Kerberos only authentication is not available in cross-domain scenarios. Use Negotiate instead.
Access rights	The user account that connects to the target system must be a member of the Remote Management Users group and have the required permissions for the WMI namespace root\CIMv2 and the Service Control Manager on the target system. WMI namespace root\CIMv2 and subnamespaces permissions: Enable Account and Remote Enable. You can configure these permissions in the Windows Management console. Service Control Manager permissions: Connect, Enumerate services, Query lock status, and Read permissions. Windows has no built-in user interface for these permissions. Use PowerShell or System Informer to configure them. After you configure the Service Control Manager permissions, restart the WMI service on the target system. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How can I use a non-administrator Windows account for WMI monitoring via the WSMan protocol?
Windows Compatibility Options	This sensor uses only WSMan Port and Connection Security from the Windows Compatibility Options.
Add Sensor dialog	The name and description of the service in the Add Sensor dialog appear in the language of the device's Windows installation.
Meta-scan	This sensor uses the meta-scan feature. After sensor creation, some settings might appear for reference purposes only.
IPv6	This sensor supports IPv6.
Performance impact	This sensor has a low performance impact.
Lookups	This sensor uses lookups to determine the status values of one or more channels.

Add Sensor

During sensor creation, PRTG performs a meta-scan of the target device. The meta-scan finds all the objects that this sensor can monitor and displays them in a table. Select the checkbox next to the objects that you want to monitor from the meta-scan table. PRTG creates one sensor for each object that you select.

You cannot change the Windows service that this sensor monitors after sensor creation. If you want to monitor a different Windows service, create the sensor again.

Basic Sensor Settings

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

servicesensor
wmiservicesensor

For more information about basic sensor settings, see section Sensor Settings.

WMI Service Settings

Setting	Description
ID	Shows the internal ID of the Windows service that this sensor monitors. PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if absolutely necessary.

Specific Sensor Settings

Setting	Description
Extended Metrics	Select whether you want to monitor CPU usage and other performance counters for the Windows service process: Disable (default): Only monitor the status of the Windows service. Enable: Monitor additional performance counters. These appear as additional sensor channels.

Setting

Description

Extended Metrics

Select whether you want to monitor CPU usage and other performance counters for the Windows service process:

Disable (default): Only monitor the status of the Windows service.
Enable: Monitor additional performance counters. These appear as additional sensor channels.

Sensor Display

Setting	Description
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.

Setting

Description

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.

Debug Options

Setting	Description
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.

Setting

Description

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.

Inherited Settings

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.

Channel List

Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup. For example, all channels besides Status and Downtime are only available if you enable Extended Metrics in the Specific Sensor Settings.

Channel	Description
CPU Usage	The CPU usage
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.
Handles	The number of handles
Pagefile Usage	The pagefile usage of the Windows service process
Status	The operating status of the Windows service Up status: Paused, Running Warning status: Continue Pending, Pause Pending, Start Pending, Stop Pending Down status: Stopped Unknown status: Unknown This channel is the primary channel by default.
Threads	The number of threads
Working Set	The working set