PRTG Manual: FTP Server File Count Sensor

Performance impact

This sensor has a high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 200 of this sensor on each probe.

.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 sensor shows the error PE087, additionally install .NET 3.5 on the probe system.

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

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

Windows Server

We recommend Windows Server 2016 on the probe system for best performance of this sensor.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

FTP Mode

Define the FTP connection mode that the sensor uses for the connection to the FTP server:

• Active mode: If you cannot establish a connection, use the passive mode.

We recommend that you use the default value.

• Passive mode

Check Method

Define how to access the FTP server directory that this sensor monitors:

• URL: This sensor uses a URL of an FTP server to access the target directory. Define the URL below.
• Folder on parent device: This sensor uses the IP address or Domain Name System (DNS) name of the parent device and monitors a folder on this device. Define the folder below.

FTP URL

This setting is only visible if you select URL above.

Enter the URL that this sensor checks. The URL can look like this: ftp://10.0.0.1/upload

If you use this method, this sensor does not use the IP Address/DNS Name of the parent device.

You can add a port number to the URL by using a colon, for example ftp://10.0.0.1/upload:21.

FTP Port

This setting is only visible if you select Folder on parent device above.

Enter the number of the port to which this sensor connects. The default port is 21.

FTP Folder

This setting is only visible if you select Folder on parent device above.

Enter the name of the folder on the parent device that this sensor monitors, for example upload.

Recurse Subfolders

This setting is only visible if you select Folder on parent device above.

Define if the sensor additionally monitors the subfolders of the FTP folder:

• Do not recurse subfolders (default): Only monitor the folder. Do not monitor its subfolders.
• Monitor the folder and its subfolders (recursive): Monitor the folder and all of its subfolders.
  If you recurse subfolders in large directories that have a high number of branches, this might cause timeout errors or performance issues.

User Name

Enter the user name for the FTP server login. Enter a string.

Password

Define the password for the FTP server login. Enter a string.

File Count

Define which files the sensor counts:

• Total number of files: Always show the total number of all files in the folder.
• Only new files: Only show the number of new files since the last scanning interval. You can define the frequency of sensor scans in section Scanning Interval.
  With every scanning interval, the sensor considers any new files from the previous scanning interval to be old.

Connection Security

Define the security of the connection:

• Do not use transport-level security (default): The sensor connects without connection security.
• Enforce transport-level security: The sensor establishes the connection to the FTP server via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) in explicit mode.

This sensor only supports SSL/TLS in explicit mode.

If Value Changes

Define what the sensor does when its value changes:

• Ignore (default): Do nothing.
• Trigger 'change' notification: Send an internal message that indicates a change.
  In combination with a change trigger, you can use this to trigger a notification if a change occurs.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

• Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.

Store the sensor result and the last response in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.

This option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.

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.

Execution Time

The execution time

Files

The number of files that are available in the directory listing

This channel is the primary channel by default.