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PRTG Manual: Architecture and User Interfaces

In this section, you can find an overview of the components of PRTG and how it works.

Overview

You can classify the components of PRTG into three main categories: system parts, user interfaces, and basic system administration tools.

Category	Components
System Parts	PRTG core server This is the central part of a PRTG installation. The PRTG core server includes the data storage, the web server, the report engine, the notification system, and more. The PRTG core server is configured as a Windows service that permanently runs. Probes This is the part of PRTG that performs the actual monitoring. There are local probes, remote probes, and cluster probes in PRTG Network Monitor, and there are hosted probes and remote probes in PRTG Hosted Monitor. Probes forward all monitoring data to the central PRTG core server. Probes are configured as services that permanently run. We assume that all systems on which the PRTG core server with the local probe or any remote probes run are secure. It is every system administrator's responsibility to make sure that only authorized persons can access these systems. For this reason, we highly recommend that you use dedicated machines for your PRTG system parts.
User Interfaces	PRTG web interface With the Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) based PRTG web interface, you can configure devices and sensors, review monitoring results, and configure the system administration and user management. PRTG MultiBoard PRTG MultiBoard is a cross-platform application that you can use as an alternative interface for fast access to data and monitoring management. With PRTG MultiBoard, you can connect to several independent PRTG core servers or PRTG Hosted Monitor instances to display their data and centrally manage your monitoring. PRTG apps for mobile network monitoring With the PRTG apps for iOS and Android, you can monitor your network on the go and receive push notifications in case of alerts.
System Administration Tools	PRTG Administration Tool on PRTG Core Server Systems With the PRTG Administration Tool on the PRTG core server system, you can configure basic PRTG core server settings in PRTG Network Monitor such as the PRTG System Administrator user login, web server IP addresses and the web server port, probe connection settings, the cluster mode, the system language, and more. PRTG Administration Tool on Remote Probe Systems With the PRTG Administration Tool on the remote probe system, you can configure basic remote probe settings such as the name of the remote probe, IP address and server connection settings, and more.

Category

Components

System Parts

PRTG core server
This is the central part of a PRTG installation. The PRTG core server includes the data storage, the web server, the report engine, the notification system, and more. The PRTG core server is configured as a Windows service that permanently runs.

Probes
This is the part of PRTG that performs the actual monitoring. There are local probes, remote probes, and cluster probes in PRTG Network Monitor, and there are hosted probes and remote probes in PRTG Hosted Monitor. Probes forward all monitoring data to the central PRTG core server. Probes are configured as services that permanently run.

We assume that all systems on which the PRTG core server with the local probe or any remote probes run are secure. It is every system administrator's responsibility to make sure that only authorized persons can access these systems. For this reason, we highly recommend that you use dedicated machines for your PRTG system parts.

User Interfaces

PRTG web interface
With the Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) based PRTG web interface, you can configure devices and sensors, review monitoring results, and configure the system administration and user management.

PRTG MultiBoard
PRTG MultiBoard is a cross-platform application that you can use as an alternative interface for fast access to data and monitoring management. With PRTG MultiBoard, you can connect to several independent PRTG core servers or PRTG Hosted Monitor instances to display their data and centrally manage your monitoring.

PRTG apps for mobile network monitoring
With the PRTG apps for iOS and Android, you can monitor your network on the go and receive push notifications in case of alerts.

System Administration Tools

PRTG Administration Tool on PRTG Core Server Systems
With the PRTG Administration Tool on the PRTG core server system, you can configure basic PRTG core server settings in PRTG Network Monitor such as the PRTG System Administrator user login, web server IP addresses and the web server port, probe connection settings, the cluster mode, the system language, and more.

PRTG Administration Tool on Remote Probe Systems
With the PRTG Administration Tool on the remote probe system, you can configure basic remote probe settings such as the name of the remote probe, IP address and server connection settings, and more.

PRTG Core Server

The PRTG core server is the heart of PRTG. It performs the following tasks:

Configuration management for target devices (for example, servers, workstations, printers, switches, routers, or virtual machines (VM))
Management and configuration of connected probes
Cluster management
Database for monitoring results
Notification management including a mail server for email delivery
Report generation and scheduling
User account management
Data purging (for example, deleting data that is older than 365 days)
Web server and application programming interface (API) server

In a cluster, the master node is responsible for all of these tasks.

The built-in and secure web server, for which you require no additional Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) or Apache, supports HTTP as well as HTTPS (secured with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS)). It serves the PRTG web interface when you access it via a browser and also answers PRTG API calls.

The PRTG core server is configured as a Windows service that permanently runs. A logged-in user is not required.

Probes

On the probe, PRTG performs the actual monitoring via the sensors that you created on a device (for example, a computer, a router, a server, a firewall, and more). The probe receives its configuration from the PRTG core server, runs the monitoring processes, and delivers monitoring results back to the PRTG core server.

For PRTG Network Monitor, there is always a local probe that runs on the PRTG core server system.

For PRTG Hosted Monitor instances, there is always a hosted probe that runs on the PRTG core server system that Paessler hosts for you.

PRTG Core Server and Local Probe That Monitors a LAN

The actual monitoring is performed by probe processes that run on one or more systems.

The probes are configured as a Windows service that permanently runs. A logged-in user is not required.

Hosted Probe

On the hosted probe, PRTG performs the actual monitoring via the sensors that you created on a device (for example, a computer, a router, a server, a firewall, and more). The hosted probe receives its configuration from the PRTG core server in the cloud, runs the monitoring processes, and delivers monitoring results back to the PRTG core server.

Hosted_Probe_Monitoring

Probe Type	Description
Local probe	During the installation, PRTG automatically creates the local probe. In a single-probe installation, which is the default setup, the local probe performs all monitoring. For PRTG Network Monitor, the PRTG core server with the local probe inside the corporate LAN can monitor services and servers in the entire LAN.
Hosted probe	When you create a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance, the system automatically creates the hosted probe. The hosted probe shows monitoring values of the hosted instance and can monitor devices, servers, and services that are publicly available in the internet like websites.
Cluster probes	In a cluster, a cluster probe runs on all cluster nodes. All devices that you create on the cluster probe are monitored by all cluster nodes, so data from different perspectives is available and monitoring continues even if one of the cluster nodes fails.
Remote probes	You can create additional remote probes to monitor multiple locations, to monitor a LAN with PRTG Hosted Monitor, or for several other scenarios. Remote probes use SSL/TLS-secured connections to the PRTG core server. With remote probes, you can securely monitor services and systems inside remote networks that are not publicly available or that are secured by firewalls. There are three types of remote probes: classic remote probes, multi-platform probes, and mini probes. For more information, see section Add Remote Probe. For more information, see the video tutorial: Distributed monitoring with PRTG.
Classic remote probes	Classic remote probes extend your monitoring to other Windows systems in your local or remote network. For more information, see section Install a Remote Probe.
Multi-platform probes	You can install multi-platform probes on Linux systems in your local or remote network. The multi-platform probe scans the network and sends monitoring results to the PRTG core server via a NATS server. For more information, see the Multi-Platform Probe for PRTG manual.
Mini probes	Mini probes let you create small probes on any device, not only on Windows systems. For more information, see section Mini Probe API.