PRTG Manual: Cloud HTTP Sensor
Important Notice |
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This sensor type is deprecated. The sensor still works but you cannot add it anew as of PRTG 22.x.78. |
Alternative Sensor Type |
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Use the Cloud HTTP v2 sensor instead. |
The Cloud HTTP sensor monitors the loading time of a web server via HTTP from different locations worldwide via the PRTG Cloud. The locations are distributed among five continents around the globe.
Cloud HTTP Sensor
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
- Dutch: Cloud HTTP
- French: Cloud (HTTP)
- German: Cloud HTTP
- Japanese: クラウド HTTP
- Portuguese: HTTP da nuvem
- Russian: Облако HTTP
- Simplified Chinese: 云 HTTP
- Spanish: HTTP de nube
- The probe system must have access to the internet and must be able to reach https://api.prtgcloud.com:443 to communicate with the PRTG Cloud.
- The address that you define in the settings of the parent device must be reachable over the internet. You cannot use this sensor to monitor localhost (127.0.0.1).
- This sensor inherits proxy settings for HTTP sensors from the parent device.
- This sensor has predefined limits for several metrics. You can individually change these limits in the channel settings. For detailed information about channel limits, see section Channel Settings.
- This sensor supports smart URL replacement.
- This sensor has a low performance impact.
- This sensor uses lookups to determine the status values of one or more channels. This means that possible states are defined in a lookup file. You can change the behavior of a channel by editing the lookup file that the channel uses. For details, see section Define Lookups.
- In rare cases, this sensor may result in false timeouts and show the error message The returned JSON does not match the expected structure (Invalid JSON.). (code: PE231). In this case, set the If a Sensor Query Fails option to up to five scanning intervals to not receive false alerts.
- This sensor only supports the IPv4 protocol.
- See the Knowledge Base: Are there any limits for using Cloud Ping and Cloud HTTP sensors?
- See the Knowledge Base: What is the PRTG Cloud Bot?
The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the settings that are required to create the sensor. You can change nearly all settings on the sensor's Settings tab after creation.
Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
Basic Sensor Settings
Setting |
Description |
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Sensor Name |
Enter a name to identify the sensor. |
Parent Tags |
Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.
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Tags |
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
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Priority |
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority ( |
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address/DNS Name of the parent device. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings.
HTTP Settings
Settings |
Description |
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URL |
Enter the URL that the sensor connects to. If you enter an absolute URL, the sensor uses this address independently of the IP Address/DNS Name setting of the parent device.
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Request Method |
Select an HTTP request method to determine how the sensor requests the URL:
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Postdata |
This option is only visible if you select POST as Request Method above. Enter the data part for the POST request.
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Timeout (Sec.) |
Enter a timeout in seconds for the server request. If the reply takes longer than this value, PRTG cancels the request and shows an error message. The maximum timeout value is 5 seconds. |
Sensor Display
Setting |
Description |
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Primary Channel |
Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
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Graph Type |
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
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Stack Unit |
This setting is only visible if you enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked 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. |
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.
Scanning Interval
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.
Access Rights
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
Instead of entering a complete address in the URL field of an HTTP sensor, you can only enter the protocol followed by a colon and three forward slashes (this means that you can enter either http:/// or https:///, or even a simple forward slash / as the equivalent for http:///). PRTG automatically fills in the parent device's IP Address/DNS Name in front of the third forward slash.
Whether this results in a valid URL or not depends on the IP address a DNS name of the parent device. In combination with cloning devices, you can use smart URL replacement to create many similar devices.
For example, if you create a device with the DNS name www.mycompany.com and you add an HTTP sensor to it, you can provide values in the following ways:
- If you enter https:/// in the URL field, PRTG automatically creates the URL https://www.mycompany.com/
- If you enter /help in the URL field, PRTG automatically creates and monitor the URL http://www.mycompany.com/help
- It is also possible to provide a port number in the URL field. It is taken over by the device's DNS name and is internally added, for example, http://:8080/
Smart URL replacement does not work for sensors that run on the probe device.
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel |
Description |
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Asia Pacific (Singapore) - Response Code |
The response code of the target server at the location
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Asia Pacific (Singapore) - Response Time |
The response time of the target server at the location in msec |
Asia Pacific (Sydney) - Response Code |
The response code of the target server at the location
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Asia Pacific (Sydney) - Response Time |
The response time of the target server at the location in msec |
Asia Pacific (Tokyo) - Response Code |
The response code of the target server at the location
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Asia Pacific (Tokyo) - Response Time |
The response time of the target server at the location in msec |
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 in percent. |
EU Central (Frankfurt) - Response Code |
The response code of the target server at the location
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EU Central (Frankfurt) - Response Time |
The response time of the target server at the location in msec |
EU West (Ireland) - Response Code |
The response code of the target server at the location
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EU West (Ireland) - Response Time |
The response time of the target server at the location in msec |
Global Average - Response Time |
The global average response time in msec
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South America (São Paulo) - Response Code |
The response code of the target server at the location
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South America (São Paulo) - Response Time |
The response time of the target server at the location in msec |
US East (Northern Virginia) - Response Code |
The response code of the target server at the location
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US East (Northern Virginia) - Response Time |
The response time of the target server at the location in msec |
US West (Northern California) - Response Code |
The response code of the target server at the location
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US West (Northern California) - Response Time |
The response time of the target server at the location in msec |
US West (Oregon) - Response Code |
The response code of the target server at the location
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US West (Oregon) - Response Time |
The response time of the target server at the location in msec |
Knowledge Base
Are there any limits for using Cloud Ping and Cloud HTTP sensors?
What is the PRTG Cloud Bot?
What security features does PRTG include?
