PRTG Manual: Windows Updates Status (PowerShell) Sensor

Performance impact

This sensor has a very high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 50 of this sensor on each probe.

Remote PowerShell

This sensor requires that Remote PowerShell is enabled on the target system and PowerShell 3.0 on both the probe system and the target system.

Also make sure that you have at least PowerShell 3.0 installed on both the probe system and the target system. If you receive an error message regarding issues with the WinRM connection, make sure that remote commands have been enabled in PowerShell. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How do I enable and use remote commands in Windows PowerShell?

.NET 4.7.2 or later

This sensor requires .NET 4.7.2 or later from Microsoft on the probe system. In a cluster, install it on every cluster node.

If the framework is missing, you cannot create this sensor.

For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Which .NET version does PRTG require?

Credentials

This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems.

Scanning interval

This sensor has a fixed minimum scanning interval for performance reasons. You cannot use a shorter scanning interval. Consequently, shorter scanning intervals in the Monitoring settings are not available for this sensor.

• The minimum scanning interval of this sensor is 1 hour.
• The recommended scanning interval of this sensor is 12 hours. We recommend this scanning interval to limit the load on the server that this sensor monitors.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

Limits

This sensor has predefined limits for several metrics.

Initial data

In certain cases, it might take some time until the sensor receives data for the first time.

Time Since Last Update channel

If the sensor cannot determine any values for the Time Since Last Update channel (for example, because the list of updates is empty), it shows the value -1s and changes to the Warning status.

Roaming Profiles

When monitoring a Remote Desktop Server (RDS) system with the option Roaming Profiles enabled, this sensor creates a temporary user profile folder for each scanning interval. To minimize this effect, we recommend that you set the sensor's scanning interval to at least 7 days.

Severity

This sensor displays the severity member Unspecified as None. If the severity member is missing, this sensor displays it as None.

Knowledge Base

Knowledge Base: Where can I find more information about PowerShell sensors?

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.

Port

Enter the number of the port to which this sensor connects. Enter an integer. The default port is 5985.

Port in SPN

Define whether to include the port number in the Service Principal Name (SPN) used for Kerberos authentication, for example, on devices where Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) or similar services are installed:

• Exclude port in SPN (default): Do not include the port number in the SPN.
• Include port in SPN: Include the port number in the SPN.

With this option, a client that uses a non-default SPN can authenticate against a remote computer that uses Kerberos authentication.

Authentication Method

Select the authentication method for the connection to the host via PowerShell:

• Kerberos authentication (default): The sensor uses Kerberos authentication.
• Negotiate authentication: The sensor uses Negotiate authentication.
  For more information about Negotiate authentication, see the Knowledge Base: Facing issues with the Windows Updates Status (PowerShell) sensor - can you help me?

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

• Discard result (default): 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 names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt, Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt, and Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. 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.

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

Time Since Last Update

The time passed since the last update

This channel is the primary channel by default.

The sensor always creates the channel Time Since Last Update. All other channels are optional and only show up if the sensor can retrieve respective data.

This channel has default limits:

• Upper warning limit: 2592000
• Lower warning limit: 0

Updates (Severity Critical) Hidden

The number of hidden updates with critical severity

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper error limit: 0.2

Updates (Severity Critical) Installed

The number of installed updates with critical severity

Updates (Severity Critical) Missing

The number of missing updates with critical severity

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper error limit: 0.2

Updates (Severity Important) Hidden

The number of hidden updates with important severity

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper warning limit: 0.2

Updates (Severity Important) Installed

The number of installed updates with important severity

Updates (Severity Important) Missing

The number of missing updates with important severity

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper error limit: 0.2

Updates (Severity Low) Hidden

The number of hidden updates with low severity

Updates (Severity Low) Installed

The number of installed updates with low severity

Updates (Severity Low) Missing

The number of missing updates with low severity

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper warning limit: 0.2

Updates (Severity Moderate) Hidden

The number of hidden updates with moderate severity

Updates (Severity Moderate) Installed

The number of installed updates with moderate severity

Updates (Severity Moderate) Missing

The number of missing updates with moderate severity

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper warning limit: 0.2

Updates (Unclassified) Hidden

The number of hidden updates with unclassified severity

Updates (Unclassified) Installed

The number of installed updates with unclassified severity

Updates (Unclassified) Missing

The number of missing updates with unclassified severity

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper warning limit: 0.2