PRTG Manual: HTTP IoT Push Data Advanced Sensor

The HTTP IoT Push Data Advanced sensor displays data from messages that are received from Internet of Things (IoT) capable devices (for example, Sigfox devices) and that are pushed via an HTTPS request to PRTG. It provides a URL that you can use to push messages to the probe system via HTTPS (secured with TLS 1.3 and weak ciphers).

i_podThis sensor is especially useful when you want to push data to a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.

i_round_blueFor more information about the sensor usage, see section How to Use.

HTTP IoT Push Data Advanced Sensor

HTTP IoT Push Data Advanced Sensor

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

Sensor in Other Languages

  • Dutch: HTTP IoT Push Data Geavanceerd
  • French: Données IoT avancé (HTTP Push)
  • German: HTTP IoT Push-Daten (Erweitert)
  • Japanese: HTTP IoT プッシュデータ(アドバンスト)
  • Portuguese: Dados de push IoT (avançado) (HTTP)
  • Russian: Дополнительные данные push-объекта HTTP IoT
  • Simplified Chinese: HTTP IoT 高级推送数据
  • Spanish: Datos push IoT (avanzado) (HTTP)

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark

Description

Fixed port

This sensor has a fixed port (5051). You cannot change it.

Fixed SSL/TLS version

This sensor has a fixed SSL/TLS version (HTTPS (secured with TLS 1.3 and weak ciphers)). You cannot change it.

Remote probe

If you want to add this sensor to a remote probe and use an HTTPS connection to send push notifications, you must import a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate into the \cert subfolder of the PRTG program directory on the remote probe. However, this certificate does not have to match the certificate that you use on the PRTG core server. For more information about SSL certificates, see the Paessler website: How to use your own SSL certificate with the PRTG web server

Cluster probe

This sensor does not support cluster probes. You can only set it up on local probes or remote probes.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

Performance impact

This sensor has a low performance impact.

Multiple channels

If you use this sensor with multiple channels, we recommend that you simultaneously push the data for all your channels to PRTG. You can push data to only one of your channels. However, all other channels record the value of 0 for this push message.

False alerts

This sensor might result in false alerts if the parent probe disconnects from the PRTG core server. In this case, the sensor shows the error message: The latest push message that the sensor received is older than the specified time threshold allows. (code: PE222).

Basic Sensor Settings

Basic Sensor Settings

Basic Sensor Settings

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

  • HttpPushSensor
  • IoT
  • PushData
  • PushSensor
  • Sigfox

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

TLS Settings

TLS Settings

TLS Settings

Setting

Description

TLS Port

The number of the port on which this sensor listens for incoming HTTPS requests. This is always 5051.

HTTP Push Authentication

HTTP Push Authentication

HTTP Push Authentication

Setting

Description

Identification Token

This is the token that PRTG uses to find the matching sensor for the incoming message. When you create the sensor, this token is {__guid__}.

PRTG replaces this token with an automatically generated token after sensor creation. If you want to use a different identification token, you can edit it during or after sensor creation.

i_round_bluePRTG does not automatically replace the token if you change it already during sensor creation.

HTTP Push Data

HTTP Push Data

HTTP Push Data

Setting

Description

No Incoming Data

Define which status the sensor shows if it does not receive a push message for at least two scanning intervals:

  • Ignore and keep last status (default): Keep the status as defined by the last message that the sensor received.
    i_round_blueThe parent probe must be connected to keep the last status. If the parent probe disconnects, the sensor shows the Unknown status. If the parent probe connects again, the sensor does not automatically switch from the Unknown status to the last status before the parent probe disconnected.
  • Switch to unknown status: Show the Unknown status if the sensor does not receive a message for at least two scanning intervals.
  • Switch to down status after x minutes: Show the Down status if the sensor does not receive a message within a specific time span. Define the time threshold below.

Time Threshold (Minutes)

This setting is only visible if you select Switch to down status after x minutes above.

Enter a time threshold in minutes. If this time elapses, the sensor shows the Down status if it does not receive a push message within this time span. Enter an integer. The maximum threshold is 1440 minutes.

Sensor Display

Sensor Display

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.

i_round_blueYou can set a different primary channel later by clicking b_channel_primary 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.
    i_round_redYou 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.

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 b_inherited_enabled under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

How to Use

This function is known as a webhook. Basically, a webhook works like a push notification. Webhooks are usually triggered by an event (for example, a new comment on a blog post) and send according information to a specified URL. The HTTP IoT Push Data Advanced sensor then displays the data of pushed and received messages.

i_round_redThe data that is pushed to this sensor must be valid XML or JSON.

i_square_cyanFor more information about the return value format, see section Custom Sensors.

The HTTP IoT Push Data Advanced sensor uses the following URLs depending on the type of HTTPS request:

  • GET (default) requests: https://<probe_ip>:5051/<token>?content=<valid XML_or_JSON>
     
    The XML-encoded value of the content parameter has to match the format defined in section Custom Sensors.
  • POST requests: https://<probe_ip>:5051/<token>
     
    This HTTPS request method sends the XML-encoded or JSON-encoded HTTPS body as POST data. The body has to match the format defined in section Custom Sensors. We strongly recommend the HTTPS content type application/xml or application/json.

Replace the parameters <probe_ip>, <token>, and <valid XML_or_JSON> (for GET requests) with the corresponding values:

  • For PRTG Network Monitor, the probe IP is the IP address of the probe system.

i_pod For PRTG Hosted Monitor instances, the probe IP is the Domain Name System (DNS) name of the instance.

  • The port number is always 5051. You cannot change this.
  • You can define identification token in the sensor settings.
  • The content of GET requests has to be valid XML or JSON in the PRTG API format.
    i_round_blueThe content has to be URL encoded (for example, the whitespaces in the sample URL below). Most browsers do the URL-encoding automatically.

Minimum example for the GET method that returns one static channel value:

https://127.0.0.1:5051/XYZ123?content=<prtg><result><channel>MyChannel</channel><value>10</value></result><text>this%20is%20a%20message</text></prtg>

i_round_blueBy default, values within the <value> tags in the returned XML or JSON must be integers for them to be processed. If float values are returned, you must explicitly define this value type as defined in section Custom Sensors with <float> tags, otherwise the sensor shows 0 values in affected channels. Example:

https://127.0.0.1:5051/XYZ123?content=<prtg><result><channel>MyChannel</channel><value>10.45</value><float>1</float></result><text>this%20is%20a%20message</text></prtg>

i_round_blueYou can use several sensors with the same port and identification token. In this case, push message data is shown in each of these sensors.

Channel List

i_round_blueWhich channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel

Description

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

[Value]

The data received from the message encoded in valid XML or JSON in several channels

i_round_blueThis channel is the primary channel by default.

i_square_cyanFor more information about the return value format, see section Custom Sensors.

More

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