PRTG Manual: HTTP Full Web Page 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.

SRP ciphers

This sensor does not support Secure Remote Password (SRP) ciphers.

Smart URL replacement

This sensor supports smart URL replacement.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

Knowledge Base

• Knowledge Base: What to do when I see a CreateUniqueTempDir() error message for my HTTP Full Web Page sensor?
• Knowledge Base: HTTP Full Web Page sensor is unable to navigate. What can I do?
• Knowledge Base: How can I change the size of PhantomJS full web page screenshots?
• Knowledge Base: Why is my HTTP Full Web Page sensor generating so many temporary files?
• Knowledge Base: Which HTTP status code leads to which HTTP sensor status?

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.

Timeout (Sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).

If the reply takes longer than this value, the sensor cancels the request and shows a corresponding error message.

URL

Enter the address of the web page that the sensor loads. If you enter an absolute URL, the sensor uses this address independently of the IP Address/DNS Name setting of the parent device.

The URL must be URL encoded.

PRTG uses a smart URL replacement with which you can use the parent device's IP address or Domain Name System (DNS) name setting as part of the URL. For more information, see section Smart URL Replacement.

Browser Engine

Define which browser engine this sensor uses to load the web page:

• Chromium (default): Use the WebKit engine that is delivered with PRTG to measure the loading time. With each scanning interval, PRTG loads the URL in an instance of Chromium and measures the time it takes to fully load the page. This is the recommended setting.
  Chromium does not support TLS 1.2-only connections. In this case, we recommend that you use the PhantomJS engine or Internet Explorer instead.
• PhantomJS (Headless Webkit): Use the PhantomJS engine. This engine can have a high impact on the probe system's CPU and memory load but additional options for result handling are available.
• Internet Explorer: With each scanning interval, the URL is loaded in the background in an instance of Internet Explorer. PRTG uses the Internet Explorer of the probe system.
  For full functionality, we strongly recommend that you install at least Internet Explorer 11 on the probe system.
  If you select Internet Explorer as browser engine, you might face issues with the creation of temporary files. In this case, we recommend that you use the Chromium or the PhantomJS browser engines. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Why is my HTTP Full Web Page sensor generating so many temporary files?

All browser engines use the proxy settings from the Windows user account that the probe runs under (this is usually the local Windows "system" user account). To use a proxy, adjust the settings accordingly on the probe system (on all cluster nodes, if in a cluster). For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How can I access proxy settings for the HTTP Full Web Page sensor?

Security Context

Define the Windows user account that this sensor uses to run the browser engine:

• Use security context of PRTG probe service (default): Run the browser engine under the same Windows user account that the probe system runs under. By default, this is the local Windows "system" user account.
• Use Windows credentials from parent device: Use the Windows user account from the parent device settings.
  We recommend that you use this setting if you use Chromium (default) as your browser engine.

Result Handling

This setting is only visible if you select PhantomJS (Headless Webkit) above.

Specify how the browser engine handles the web page result:

• Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
• Render and store a screenshot of most recent result as JPG: Render and store the web page result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Fullpage of Sensor (ID).jpg. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites the file with each scanning interval.
• Render and store screenshots of all results as JPGs (requires lots of disk space): Render and store one new screenshot of the web page with each sensor scan, and store the screenshots in the \Screenshots (Fullpage Sensor) subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. You can use this option to create a visual history of the web page.
  Depending on the monitored website and the scanning interval of the sensor, this option can create a very high amount of data. Use this option with care and make sure you set appropriate data purging limits in the Core & Probes settings.

If necessary, you can change the window size of the rendered screenshots. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How can I change the size of PhantomJS full web page screenshots?

In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Authentication

This setting is only visible if you select PhantomJS (Headless Webkit) above.

Define if the monitored web page needs authentication for access:

• Web page does not need authentication: Access to the web page is granted without authentication.
• Web page needs authentication: PRTG automatically tries to use HTTP basic authentication (BA) or Windows NT LAN Manager (NTLM) to access the web page with authentication. Enter the credentials below.
  Basic access authentication forwards the credentials in plain text.

User Name

This setting is only visible if you select PhantomJS (Headless Webkit) above.

Enter the user name for the web page.

Password

This setting is only visible if you select PhantomJS (Headless Webkit) above.

Enter the password for the web page.

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.

Loading Time

The loading time of the full web page

This channel is the primary channel by default.