PRTG Manual: Core & Probes
On the Core & Probes tab, you can define settings for the PRTG core server as well as for probe connections if you use remote probes or mini probes.
If you cannot save changes to Core & Probes settings because you get an Error (Bad Request) with the message Active Directory Domain not accessible, make sure that you provide the correct access type for your domain in section Active Directory Integration. For example, change Use the PRTG core server service account (usually Local System) (default) to Use explicit credentials and provide correct credentials for the domain. PRTG automatically sets the access type to Use the PRTG core server service account (usually Local System) (default) by default, so you might need to change this.
If 15 minutes (900) seconds have passed since your last credential-based login and you open a setup page from a different setup page, PRTG asks you to enter your credentials again for security reasons. A dialog box appears. Enter your Login Name and Password and click OK to continue.
This documentation refers to an administrator that accesses the PRTG web interface on a master node. Other user accounts, interfaces, or failover nodes might not have all of the options in the way described here. In a cluster, note that failover nodes are read-only by default.
In this section:
- Proxy Configuration
- Probe Connection Settings
- Multi-Platform Probe Connection Settings
- Active Directory Integration
- Historic Data Purging
This option is not available in PRTG Hosted Monitor.
Setting |
Description |
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Proxy Server Handling |
Define if you want to use PRTG with a direct internet connection or if a proxy is necessary:
We recommend that you use PRTG with a direct internet connection. The proxy settings are valid for auto-update, activating the product, obtaining Geo Maps tiles, and for sending HTTP, push, and SMS text message notifications. |
Server |
This setting is only visible if you select Use a proxy server above Enter the address of the proxy server that you use for outbound connections. Enter a valid address. |
Port |
This setting is only visible if you select Use a proxy server above Enter the port number of the proxy server that you use for outbound connections. Enter an integer. |
Proxy Authentication |
This setting is only visible if you select Use a proxy server above Determine whether the proxy server needs credentials or not:
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User Name |
This setting is only visible if you select User name and password above. Enter a user name for proxy authentication. Enter a string. |
Password |
This setting is only visible if you select User name and password above. Enter a password for proxy authentication. Enter a string. |
Setting |
Description |
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Define how the PRTG core server handles incoming connections from probes:
This is the default setting in PRTG Network Monitor.
You can also change this setting in the PRTG Administration Tool on PRTG Core Server Systems. If you change this setting, PRTG needs to restart the PRTG core server to apply your changes. After you click Save, a dialog box appears that asks you to confirm the restart. Click OK to trigger the restart. During the restart, all users of the PRTG web interface, the PRTG app for desktop, or the PRTG Apps for Mobile Network Monitoring are disconnected and reconnected. This option is not available in PRTG Hosted Monitor. |
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Access Keys |
Enter a list of access keys for remote probe connections. Enter one access key per line. Every remote probe and multi-platform probe that wants to connect to this PRTG installation has to use one of these keys. For more information on how to set an access key for a remote probe, see section PRTG Administration Tool. |
Enter a list of remote probe IP addresses or Domain Name System (DNS) names that you want to allow to connect to the PRTG core server. Enter one IP address or DNS name per line. The following options are also possible:
PRTG always automatically allows the local probe (127.0.0.1). PRTG checks the list of allowed IP addresses before it checks the list of denied IP addresses. If the IP address of a remote probe regularly changes (for example, because of an internet provider that dynamically assigns IP addresses), enter the potential IP address range for the remote probe or use any. You can use the PRTG syntax for IP address ranges. For more information, see section Define IP Address Ranges. |
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Enter a list of remote probe IP addresses or DNS names that you do not want to allow to connect to the PRTG core server. Enter one IP address or DNS name per line. You can use Deny IP Addresses to explicitly deny connections from remote probes that you do not want to include in your setup either at all or for a certain time. You can also use it to allow access to an IP address range under Allow IP Addresses, but to deny access to a single IP address from the IP address range. You can use the PRTG syntax for IP address ranges. For more information, see section Define IP Address Ranges. If you deny the IP address or DNS name of a remote probe, you must restart the PRTG core server to apply your changes. We recommend that you use IP addresses rather than DNS names because DNS name resolution might be cached. |
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Deny GIDs |
Enter a list of global IDs (GID) Enter one GID per line. PRTG denies access to matching GIDs. If you remove a remote probe from the device tree or if you deny a remote probe after installation, PRTG automatically adds its GID to this list. The remote probe is no longer able to connect. Denying GIDs is more precise than denying IP addresses, where other remote probes at the same location could also be excluded. A GID is the ID that PRTG attributes to every probe that you include in your monitoring. |
Connection Security |
Specify the security level that the PRTG web server accepts for connections to and from the PRTG core server:
If you set a registry key in previous PRTG versions to override the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) version and cipher suites of PRTG web server connections or probe connections, High security (TLS 1.3, TLS 1.2) overrides the registry setting and only TLS 1.3 and TLS 1.2 are allowed. If you select Default security (TLS 1.3, TLS 1.2) (recommended), the registry value overrides this setting and the connection security that you defined in the registry applies. If you change this setting, PRTG needs to restart the PRTG core server to apply your changes. After you click Save, a dialog box appears that asks you to confirm the restart. Click OK to trigger the restart. During the restart, all users of the PRTG web interface, the PRTG app for desktop, or the PRTG Apps for Mobile Network Monitoring are disconnected and reconnected. This option is not available in PRTG Hosted Monitor. |
Mini Probes |
Define if you want to allow mini probe connections to the PRTG core server:
If you want to use mini probes, you need to configure the PRTG web server to accept connections from mini probes and select Secure HTTPS server (port 443, recommended, mandatory for internet access) in the PRTG web server settings. For more information, see section Mini Probe API. See also the Knowledge Base: Where can I find PRTG mini probes which are ready to use? If you change this setting, PRTG needs to restart the PRTG core server to apply your changes. After you click Save, a dialog box appears that asks you to confirm the restart. Click OK to trigger the restart. During the restart, all users of the PRTG web interface, the PRTG app for desktop, or the PRTG Apps for Mobile Network Monitoring are disconnected and reconnected. This option is not available in PRTG Hosted Monitor. |
Mini Probe Port |
This setting is only visible if you select Allow mini probes to connect to an extra port above. Enter the number of the port for mini probe connections. Make sure that SSL is available on this port. If you change this setting, PRTG needs to restart the PRTG core server to apply your changes. After you click Save, a dialog box appears that asks you to confirm the restart. Click OK to trigger the restart. During the restart, all users of the PRTG web interface, the PRTG app for desktop, or the PRTG Apps for Mobile Network Monitoring are disconnected and reconnected. This option is not available in PRTG Hosted Monitor. |
Select if you want to allow PRTG MultiBoard to access the PRTG data directories and PRTG program directories of the PRTG core servers connected to PRTG MultiBoard:
PRTG MultiBoard requires access to the PRTG Configuration.dat file for the Probe Transfer and Configuration Viewer features. |
Multi-Platform Probe Connection Settings
Setting |
Description |
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Multi-Platform Probe Connections |
Define if you want to allow multi-platform probe connections to the PRTG core server:
Multi-platform probes connect to the PRTG core server via a NATS server. For more information, see the Multi-Platform Probe for PRTG manual. If you change this setting, PRTG needs to restart the PRTG core server to apply your changes. After you click Save, a dialog box appears that asks you to confirm the restart. Click OK to trigger the restart. During the restart, all users of the PRTG web interface, the PRTG app for desktop, or the PRTG Apps for Mobile Network Monitoring are disconnected and reconnected. |
NATS Connection Security |
This setting is only visible if you select Allow multi-platform probe connections above. Define the connection security level between the PRTG core server and the NATS server.
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NATS Server Host |
This setting is only visible if you select Allow multi-platform probe connections above. Enter the host name and the port of the NATS server. An encrypted NATS server connection follows the format host name:port. The default host is localhost:23561. Enter the host name as a fully qualified domain address name (FQDN) of the system that runs the NATS server. The default port for this connection is 23561. The NATS server supports port numbers 1 - 65535. |
NATS User Name |
This setting is only visible if you select Allow multi-platform probe connections above. Enter the user name for authentication against the NATS server. Enter a string. |
NATS Password |
This setting is only visible if you select Allow multi-platform probe connections above. Enter the password for authentication against the NATS server. Enter a string. |
NATS Server Certificate Authority Handling |
This setting is only visible if you select TLS (default) above. Define the CA certificate the NATS server uses:
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Certificate File Name |
This setting is only visible if you select Specify a certificate authority certificate file above. Select the CA certificate to use for TLS validation. This file must match the CA certificate used to install the NATS server. |
Connection Log Level |
Define the log severity level of the multi-platform probe connection that will appear in the log file:
The log level decreases in severity, with Error being the highest severity and Trace being the lowest. The log file will record all logs pertaining to the selected log severity level and all higher severity levels. For example, if you select Info (default), the log file will contain logs identified as Info, Warning, and Error. If you select Debug, the log file will contain logs identified as Error, Warning, Info, and Debug. You can find the log files in the PRTG data directory: C:\ProgramData\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\Logs\probeadapter. We recommend that you only set your level to Debug or Trace when you are troubleshooting your setup due to the large amount of logs the probe adapter generates. Treat log files created at these log levels as confidential as some logs may contain sensitive information. |
This option is not available in PRTG Hosted Monitor.
Setting |
Description |
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Domain Name |
To use the Microsoft Entra ID integration, enter the name of your local domain. Enter a string or leave the field empty. PRTG does not support trusted domains or AD subdomains. For more important notes about AD integration, see section Active Directory Integration, section Notes and Restrictions. |
Domain Access |
Define how PRTG performs Active Directory (AD) queries:
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Primary Domain Controller |
This setting is only visible if you select Specify domain controllers above. Enter the DNS name of the primary domain controller. |
Backup Domain Controller (optional) |
This setting is only visible if you select Specify domain controllers above. Optionally enter the DNS name of the backup domain controller or leave the field empty. |
LDAP Connection Security |
Define if you want to use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) secured connection to the LDAP server:
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Access Type |
Define which user account PRTG uses to configure AD access:
PRTG uses this account to query the AD for available groups. |
User Name |
This setting is only visible if you select Use explicit credentials above. Enter the Windows user account name that PRTG uses to authenticate for AD configuration. |
Password |
This setting is only visible if you select Use explicit credentials above. Enter the password for the Windows user account that PRTG uses to authenticate for AD configuration. |
Data purging enables you to automatically delete unnecessary data to free up disk space and to improve system performance. You can define different time spans for several kinds of data.
For more information on storage locations, see section Data Storage.
PRTG Hosted Monitor purges historic data using the default purging limits of PRTG Network Monitor except the configuration backups that are purged after 30 days. You cannot modify historic data purging limits in PRTG Hosted Monitor.
Setting |
Description |
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Log File Records |
Define how long PRTG keeps records in the system log file Log Database.db. Enter a value in days. PRTG automatically deletes all entries that are older than this value. This also affects the content of the Logs tab of monitoring objects like sensors. Keep this value as low as possible to enhance system performance. The default value is 30 days. |
PRTG Web Server Log Records |
PRTG creates one PRTG web server log file every day. Define how many PRTG web server log files to keep. Enter a value in days. PRTG automatically deletes all PRTG web server log files that older than this value. The default value is 30 days. |
Historic Sensor Data |
Define for how long PRTG keeps historic sensor data for all sensors. Enter a value in days. Historic sensor data is the basis for reports on monitoring data. If you decrease this value, less historic monitoring data is available. Depending on the scanning intervals and the number of sensors in your setup, the file that contains this data can become large. For smaller installations up to 500 sensors, 365 is usually appropriate. The default value is 365 days. The maximum value is 9999 days. |
Toplist Records |
Define for how long PRTG keeps toplist records for Flow (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX) and Packet Sniffer sensors. Enter a value in days. We recommend that you use 30 days here. Old toplist data is deleted automatically as soon as a limit of 2 GB is reached. The oldest data is deleted from the database first. The default value is 30 days. |
Closed Tickets |
Define for how long PRTG keeps tickets that are in the Closed status. Enter a value in days. The default value is 365 days. |
Reports |
Define the maximum age for PDF reports. Enter a value in days. PRTG automatically deletes all reports that are older than this value. The default value is 365 days. |
Configuration Auto-Backups |
Define the maximum age for daily configuration backups. Enter a value in days. PRTG automatically deletes all configuration backup files that are older than this value. The default value is 365 days. PRTG Hosted Monitor purges the configuration backups after 30 days. |
Screenshots of HTTP Full Web Page Sensor |
Define for how long PRTG keeps the screenshots of the HTTP Full Web Page sensor (PhantomJS browser engine). Enter a value in days. PRTG automatically deletes screenshots that are older than this value with every sensor scan. The default value is 10 days. |
Save your settings. If you change tabs or use the main menu without saving, all changes to the settings are lost.
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Where can I find PRTG mini probes which are ready to use?
How can I create a TLS certificate?
OTHER MANUALS
Multi-Platform Probe for PRTG (PDF)
There are some settings that you must define in the PRTG Administration Tool. For more information, see sections: