PRTG Manual: Data Storage

PRTG stores the monitoring configuration, monitoring data, logs, tickets, and reports, as well as support and debug data into different subfolders in the PRTG data directory on the PRTG core server system. Additionally, there is data in the PRTG program directory (for example, scripts for your custom sensors) and in the Windows registry.

i_podYou cannot access these directories in PRTG Hosted Monitor.

In this section:

PRTG Program Directory

32-bit systems:

%programfiles%\PRTG Network Monitor

64-bit systems:

%programfiles(x86)%\PRTG Network Monitor

i_round_blueThese are the default paths. If you specified a different installation directory, you can find your data there.

Subfolders in the PRTG Program Directory

You can find the following folders in the PRTG program directory:

Folder

Description

\cert

Certificates used by PRTG

\Custom Sensors

Custom sensor templates, custom scripts, and example scripts

\devicetemplates

Default and custom device templates

\download

Downloads from PRTG

\lookups

Standard lookup files maintained by PRTG

i_round_blueThe \lookups subfolder contains the \custom subfolder to store your customized lookups.

\MIB

Management Information Base (MIB) files referenced by sensors

\notifications

Custom notifications and notification sounds

\PRTG Installer Archive

PRTG Network Monitor installers for the currently installed version and the previously installed version

\python

Python environment files

\Sensor System

Sensor configuration files

\snmplibs

SNMP library files and converted .oidlib files

\webroot

PRTG web interface data

PRTG Data Directory

On supported Windows versions:

%programdata%\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor

i_round_blueThese are the default paths, depending on your Windows version. If you specified a custom path for data storage, you need to look it up in the PRTG Administration Tool on the PRTG Core Server tab. You can find the path there.

i_round_blueThe Windows ProgramData folder is hidden by default. To display it, you need to enable hidden items in the View options of your Windows system.

i_round_blueYou can find the supported Windows versions in section System Requirements.

Files and Subfolders in the PRTG Data Directory

You can find the following files in the PRTG data directory:

File

Description

PRTG Configuration.dat

Monitoring configuration (for example probes, groups, devices, sensors, users, maps, reports, and more)

i_round_redThis configuration file is the central storage for all your credentials, such as passwords and secrets used by PRTG for authentication. Handle all configuration files as sensitive, even if there are already security measures in place in your system.

i_square_cyanFor recommendations on how to handle your configuration files in a secure manner, see Handling Sensitive Files below.

PRTG Configuration.old

Backup of previous version of monitoring configuration

PRTG Graph Data Cache.dat

Precalculated data for the graphs throughout the PRTG web interface (if missing, this file is automatically recalculated from the files in the monitoring database)

You can find the following folders in the PRTG data directory:

Folder

Description

\Configuration Auto-Backups

Backup versions of the PRTG Configuration.dat file

\Log Database

Database with the recent event history for the whole system: menu option Logs in the PRTG web interface

\Logs

Text file based logs

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Structure of the Logs Folder.

\Monitoring Database

Results of all monitoring requests for all sensors (required for historic reports)

\Report PDFs

Older PDF reports stored in the file system

\System Information Database

Retrieved system information for the categories hardware, users (loggedonusers), processes, services, software, system (in according subfolders)

\Ticket Database

Database with all tickets (ticketdata.dat)

\ToDo Database

Database with all ToDo entries

i_round_blueThe ToDo feature is deprecated as of PRTG 14.1.8

Handling Sensitive Files

Files that contain data such as passwords, secrets used for authentication, keys used to encrypt or decrypt other files are considered sensitive files. In PRTG, the configuration files are the central storage for all your credentials. As such, treat configuration files and all other sensitive files with the highest level of security, even if there are already security measures in place in your system.

PRTG contains some of its own security measures. For example, when you create a support bundle within PRTG that contains the configuration file, all secrets are removed or masked before the file is included in the support bundle. Administrators should not depend solely on PRTG and their operating system (OS) to secure the configuration files, but rather ensure that the security and access control for these files are maintained during transit, deployment, and storage (e.g. backups).

See some recommendations for good security practices when handing sensitive files in the table below:

Scenario

Example

Recommendations

In transit
  • Sharing files to customer support
  • Migration to a new server
  • Always use an encrypted or an offline channel to share the configuration files.
  • Do not share the configuration files with untrustworthy third parties.
  • Use the support bundle feature and share the raw configuration file only when specifically requested by support.

In deployment
  • Storing data in non-default paths
  • Ensure that any custom data path restrict access to those files to only users with high privileges (e.g. administrators).
  • Use the default path whenever possible.

In storage
  • Backups (which includes the configuration files) in the same or alternative location
  • Any backup containing files with sensitive information, like the configuration file, should be protected in the same manner as the live system.
  • Storing backups may erase or change the current access rights and result in more users being able to access the stored data. Always maintain the same level of access control on the paths where configurations files are stored as used in deployment.

Structure of the Logs Folder

Folder

Description

\appserver

Currently not in use

\core

Text file based logs of the PRTG core server system and the cluster system

\debug

Text file based debug logs of the PRTG core server system and probe system, and PRTG core server cache recalculation

\desktopclient

Currently not in use

\enterpriseconsole

Text file based logs of the deprecated Enterprise Console

\probe

Text file based logs of the probe system

\probeadapter

Text file based logs of the probe adapter

i_round_blueThe probe adapter supports multi-platform probe connections.

\sensordeprecation

Text file based log of deprecated sensors

\sensors

Text file based logs of sensors

\serveradmin

Text file based logs of the administration system

\webserver

HTTP server log files of the PRTG web server

Windows Registry

System settings on 32-bit systems:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor

System settings on 64-bit systems:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor

HTTP Full Web Page Sensor: Cached Files

If you use the HTTP Full Web Page, files might be cached in this directory:

C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5

Auto-Update Files

PRTG automatically saves downloaded software versions in the \download subfolder of the PRTG program directory. The compressed prtg.zip file that contains all necessary files is also cached there.

More

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