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PRTG Manual: SNMP Traffic v2 Sensor

The SNMP Traffic v2 sensor monitors bandwidth and traffic on a device via the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

This sensor is in beta status. The operating methods and the available settings are still subject to change. Do not expect that all functions work properly, or that this sensor works as expected at all.

SNMP Traffic v2 Sensor

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

Sensor in Other Languages

Dutch: SNMP Traffic v2
French: Trafic v2 (SNMP)
German: SNMP-Datenverkehr v2
Japanese: SNMP トラフィック v2
Portuguese: Tráfego (SNMP) v2
Russian: SNMP Traffic v2
Simplified Chinese: SNMP 流量版本 2
Spanish: Tráfico (SNMP) v2

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark	Description
Enabled Beta Sensors experimental feature	This sensor requires that the Beta Sensors experimental feature is enabled. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What are beta sensors and how can I use them?
SNMP v2c or SNMP v3	We recommend that you select SNMP v2c (most common) or SNMP v3 in the credentials for SNMP devices of the parent device (if supported by the target device). SNMP v1 does not support 64-bit counters, which might result in invalid data. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: SNMP Traffic sensor suddenly drops at 610Mbps
Localhost	It might not work to query data from a probe device via SNMP (querying localhost, 127.0.0.1, or ::1). Add this device with the IP address that it has in your network and create the sensor on this device instead.
IPv6	This sensor supports IPv6.
Performance impact	This sensor has a very low performance impact.
SNMP compatibility options	This sensor is not affected by the following SNMP compatibility options set in the parent device: Port Name Template, Port Name Update, Port Identification, and End Interface Index.
Scanning interval	The minimum scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute. The recommended scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute.
Multi-platform probe	You can add this sensor to a multi-platform probe.
Knowledge Base	Knowledge Base: Where is the volume line in graphs?

Basic Sensor Settings

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

bandwidthsensor
snmp
snmptrafficsensor

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

SNMP Interface

Setting	Description
Description	The description of the interface in the physical device that this sensor monitors. The internal name is found in the ifTable under ifDescr. PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if the Paessler support team explicitly asks you to do so. Wrong usage can result in incorrect monitoring data.
64-Bit	If the interface that this sensor monitors uses 64-bit counters. PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if the Paessler support team explicitly asks you to do so. Wrong usage can result in incorrect monitoring data.

Setting

Description

The description of the interface in the physical device that this sensor monitors. The internal name is found in the ifTable under ifDescr.

PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if the Paessler support team explicitly asks you to do so. Wrong usage can result in incorrect monitoring data.

64-Bit

If the interface that this sensor monitors uses 64-bit counters.

SNMP Traffic Specific

Setting	Description
Additional Channels	By default, each SNMP Traffic v2 sensor creates the channels Traffic In, Traffic Out, and Traffic Total. Select additional channels for all interfaces. Click the respective channel names to mark the channels and to monitor their data: Errors in and errors out: The number of incoming and outgoing packets that could not be delivered because of errors. Discards in and discards out: The number of discarded incoming and outgoing packets even though no errors have been detected. Unicasts in and unicasts out: The number of unicast packets that have been delivered. Non-unicasts in and non-unicasts out: The number of non-unicast packets that have been delivered. These channels might not function properly with 64-bit interfaces. Multicasts in and multicasts out (64-bit only): The number of delivered packets that were addressed to a multicast address. Broadcasts in and broadcasts out (64-bit only): The number of delivered packets that were addressed to a broadcast address. Unknown protocols in: The number of received packets that were discarded because of an unknown or unsupported protocol. You cannot delete additional channels later. You can only disable them. If the sensor shows the Warning status with the message Channels not available, you can disable the affected channels to remove the warning.
Connection Status Handling	An interface is not operational if, for example, an Ethernet port on a switch does not have a cable plugged in. This setting is valid for all selected interfaces. Define how PRTG reacts when an interface is operational: Show the 'Down' status anytime ifOperStatus is not 'Up': Show the Down status for a disconnected interface. This applies every time the ifOperStatus of the interface is not 'up'. Show the 'Down' status when ifAdminStatus is 'Up' but ifOperStatus is not: Show the Down status for a disconnected interface only if it is not deliberately deactivated in the configuration. This applies if the ifAdminStatus is 'up' and the ifOperStatus of the interface is not 'up'. The sensor stays in the Up status when the interface has been deactivated. Ignore all disconnected states (default): Show the Up status regardless of the ifOperStatus status. Monitoring might discontinue without notice.

Setting

Description

Additional Channels

By default, each SNMP Traffic v2 sensor creates the channels Traffic In, Traffic Out, and Traffic Total. Select additional channels for all interfaces. Click the respective channel names to mark the channels and to monitor their data:

Errors in and errors out: The number of incoming and outgoing packets that could not be delivered because of errors.
Discards in and discards out: The number of discarded incoming and outgoing packets even though no errors have been detected.
Unicasts in and unicasts out: The number of unicast packets that have been delivered.
Non-unicasts in and non-unicasts out: The number of non-unicast packets that have been delivered.
These channels might not function properly with 64-bit interfaces.
Multicasts in and multicasts out (64-bit only): The number of delivered packets that were addressed to a multicast address.
Broadcasts in and broadcasts out (64-bit only): The number of delivered packets that were addressed to a broadcast address.
Unknown protocols in: The number of received packets that were discarded because of an unknown or unsupported protocol.

You cannot delete additional channels later. You can only disable them.

If the sensor shows the Warning status with the message Channels not available, you can disable the affected channels to remove the warning.

Connection Status Handling

An interface is not operational if, for example, an Ethernet port on a switch does not have a cable plugged in. This setting is valid for all selected interfaces.

Define how PRTG reacts when an interface is operational:

Show the 'Down' status anytime ifOperStatus is not 'Up': Show the Down status for a disconnected interface. This applies every time the ifOperStatus of the interface is not 'up'.
Show the 'Down' status when ifAdminStatus is 'Up' but ifOperStatus is not: Show the Down status for a disconnected interface only if it is not deliberately deactivated in the configuration. This applies if the ifAdminStatus is 'up' and the ifOperStatus of the interface is not 'up'. The sensor stays in the Up status when the interface has been deactivated.
Ignore all disconnected states (default): Show the Up status regardless of the ifOperStatus status.
Monitoring might discontinue without notice.

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. 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). Show in and out traffic as positive and negative area graph: Show channels for incoming and outgoing traffic as positive and negative area graph. This visualizes your traffic in a clear way. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings). Manual scaling is not possible if you choose this option. You cannot show a positive/negative graph for a channel if you choose to display its data in percent of maximum (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.

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.

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).
Show in and out traffic as positive and negative area graph: Show channels for incoming and outgoing traffic as positive and negative area graph. This visualizes your traffic in a clear way.
You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings). Manual scaling is not possible if you choose this option.
You cannot show a positive/negative graph for a channel if you choose to display its data in percent of maximum (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.

Debug Options

Setting	Description
Result Handling	Define what PRTG does with the sensor result: Discard result: Do not store the sensor result. Store result: Store the last sensor result 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.

Setting

Description

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

Discard result: Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the last sensor result 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.

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

For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

Channel List

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

Channel	Description
Broadcasts In	The number of incoming broadcast packets
Broadcasts Out	The number of outgoing broadcast packets
Discards In	The number of incoming discards
Discards Out	The number of outgoing discards
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
Errors In	The number of incoming errors
Errors Out	The number of outgoing errors
Multicasts In	The number of incoming multicast packets
Multicasts Out	The number of outgoing multicast packets
Non-Unicasts In	The number of incoming non-unicast packets
Non-Unicasts Out	The number of outgoing non-unicast packets
Traffic In	The incoming traffic
Traffic Out	The outgoing traffic
Traffic Total	The total traffic This channel is the primary channel by default.
Unicasts In	The number of incoming unicast packets
Unicasts Out	The number of outgoing unicast packets
Unknown Protocols In	The number of incoming, unknown protocols