PRTG Manual: Script v2 Sensor

Python

This sensor requires that Python is installed for the Windows user account that the probe runs under.

File storage

This sensor requires that you store the script file on the probe system. In a cluster, copy the file to every cluster node.

You must store the script file in the \Custom Sensors\scripts subfolder of the PRTG program directory of the probe system on Windows systems or in the /opt/paessler/share/scripts directory of the probe system on Linux systems.

Channel IDs

This sensor supports the channel IDs 10 to 2,147,483,647.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

Channels

This sensor supports up to 50 channels.

Placeholders

You can define placeholders in credentials for script sensors settings that are higher in the object hierarchy.

Performance impact

This sensor has a medium performance impact.

Lookups

This sensor uses lookups to determine the status values of one or more channels.

Parameters

This sensor invokes all scripts with the -E parameter as a security measure. This parameter ignores all python* environmental variables when starting the script.

Example scripts

This sensor comes with example scripts. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: I want to use the Script v2 sensor example scripts. What do I need to know?

JSON schema

For more information about the JSON schema that this sensor uses, see the Knowledge Base: Where can I find the JSON schema against which the Script v2 sensor validates my script output?

Scanning interval

• The minimum scanning interval of this sensor is 30 seconds.
• The recommended scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute.

Hosted probe

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.

Multi-platform probe

You can add this sensor to a multi-platform probe.

Name

Select one or more Python scripts from the list. PRTG creates one sensor for each script that you select. The sensor executes it with every scanning interval.

This list shows all Python script files that are available in the \Custom Sensors\scripts subfolder of the PRTG program directory of the probe system on Windows systems or in the /opt/paessler/share/scripts directory of the probe system on Linux systems. For the files to appear in this list, store the files in this subfolder with the extension .py.

To show the expected values and sensor status, your scripts must return the expected JSON format to standard output (stdout). The Script v2 sensor validates the results that the script returns against the provided JSON schema. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Where can I find the JSON schema against which the Script v2 sensor validates my script output?.

If you use custom sensors on the cluster probe, copy your files to every cluster node.

You cannot change this value after sensor creation.

Type

The type of the script file.

Timeout (Sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).

If the reply takes longer than this value, the sensor cancels the request and shows a corresponding error message.

Parameters

If your script file uses parameters, you can enter them here. You can use placeholders as well. Enter a string or leave the field empty.

You can define placeholders in the credentials for script sensors in the settings of a parent object and use the %host and %sensorid placeholders. The sensor replaces the parameters with their values and passes them to the script as strings via stdin.

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.

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.

If you select Store result, the sensor writes the standard error (stderr) streams in clear text to the last sensor result file. Do not return sensitive information via the scripts that you run with this sensor.

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

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.

Execution Time

The execution time of the script

Status

The status that the script returns

• Up status: OK
• Warning status: Warning
• Down status: Error
• Unknown status: Unknown

This channel is the primary channel by default.

[Value]

The values that the script file returns in several channels