PRTG Manual: WMI Service Sensor

Performance impact

This sensor has a high performance impact. Stay below 200 WMI sensors per probe. Above this number, consider using multiple remote probes for load balancing.

WoW64

This sensor requires WoW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) for target systems that run Windows Server 2016.

Credentials

This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

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.

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.

If Service is Not Running

Select whether you want PRTG to start or restart the service if it is stopped or paused:

• Start/Restart service: PRTG tries to start the service if it is not running when the device is scanned. In combination with a change trigger, you can use this mechanism to trigger a notification whenever PRTG (re)starts the service.
• Do not start/restart service (default): PRTG does not automatically start any service on the device.

If you select the Start/Restart service option and the sensor detects that the service does not run, PRTG tries to restart the service during this scan and postpones the next sensor scan for one interval. With the following scan, the sensor checks if the service runs now. If starting the service was not successful or if the service fails again, the sensor shows the Down status and does not try to start the service again. If the service runs after a (re)start attempt, the sensor continues monitoring as usual.

If Service is Restarted

This setting is only visible if you select Start/Restart service above.

Define what the sensor does if PRTG restarts the service:

• Ignore (default): Do nothing.
• Trigger 'change' notification: Send an internal message that indicates a change.
  In combination with a change trigger, you can use this to trigger a notification if a change occurs.

Extended Monitoring

Select whether you want to monitor CPU usage and other performance counters:

• Only check if the service is running (default): PRTG only monitors the channel Sensor Execution Time.
• Monitor other performance counters: PRTG also monitors other performance counters.

Extended monitoring might cause a class not found error on some Windows systems.

Service

The Windows service that this sensor monitors.

Description

The description of the Windows service that this sensor monitors.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

• Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
• Store result: Store the last result of the requested data in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt, Result of Sensor [ID]-A.txt, and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes, especially in combination with content checks. PRTG overwrites these files 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, 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.

CPU Usage

The CPU usage

Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.

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

Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.

Pagefile Usage

The pagefile usage

Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.

Sensor Execution Time

The execution time of the monitoring request

This channel is the primary channel by default.

Threads

The number of threads

Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.

Working Set

The working set

Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.