PRTG Manual: SSH SAN Physical Disk Sensor

The SSH SAN Physical Disk sensor monitors a physical disk on a storage area network (SAN) via Secure Shell (SSH).

The SAN must provide a command-line interface (CLI) for this purpose.

SSH SAN Physical Disk Sensor

For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

Dutch: SSH SAN Fysieke Schijf
French: SAN disque physique (SSH)
German: SSH SAN Physikalisches Laufwerk
Japanese: SSH SAN 物理ディスク
Portuguese: Disco físico SAN (SSH)
Russian: Физический диск SAN по SSH
Simplified Chinese: SSH SAN 物理磁盘
Spanish: Disco físico SAN (SSH)

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark	Description
Credentials	This sensor requires credentials for Linux/Solaris/macOS (SSH/WBEM) systems in the settings of the parent device.
SAN support	This sensor does not support every SAN, even if it provides a CLI. This sensor only works with specific devices, for example, the HPE P2000.
Scanning interval	If the controller of the target system breaks down, increase the scanning interval to discharge the controller and try again.
Firmware update	After a firmware update of the target system, this sensor might show incorrect channel values. Add this sensor anew in this case.
Performance impact	This sensor has a medium performance impact.
IPv4	This sensor only supports IPv4.
Lookups	This sensor uses lookups to determine the status values of one or more channels.
Device status	Sometimes the devices you monitor with this sensor return status values that are not officially documented so that the shown sensor status in PRTG differs from the "real" device status. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Why does my SSH SAN sensor show a wrong status?
Knowledge Base	Knowledge Base: Which encryption algorithms do PRTG SSH sensors support?

Basic Sensor Settings

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

physicaldisk
sshsan
sshsanphysicaldisk

For more information about basic sensor settings, see section Sensor Settings.

SSH Specific

Setting	Description
Connection Timeout (Sec.)	Define a timeout in seconds for the connection. This is the time that the sensor waits to establish a connection to the host. Keep this value as low as possible. Enter an integer. This sensor has a fixed timeout of 300 seconds. If you change the value, it does not have an effect on the timeout. Make sure that the connection timeout is a value that is higher than the shell timeout to avoid potential errors.
Shell Timeout (Sec.)	Define a timeout in seconds for the shell response. This is the time in seconds the sensor waits for the shell to return a response after it has sent its specific command (for example, cat /proc/loadavg). The maximum value is 300 seconds (5 minutes). Enter an integer. This sensor has a fixed timeout of 300 seconds. If you change the value, it does not have an effect on the timeout. Make sure that the shell timeout is a value that is lower than the connection timeout to avoid potential errors.
SSH Port Inheritance	Define which port this sensor uses for the SSH connection: Inherit port from parent device (default): Use the port number as defined in the Credentials for Linux/Solaris/macOS (SSH/WBEM) Systems section of the parent device settings. Do not inherit port (enter a custom SSH port): Define a custom port number below and do not use the port number from the parent device settings.
Custom SSH Port	This setting is only visible if you select Do not inherit port (enter a custom SSH port) above. Enter the port number (between 1 and 65535) that this sensor uses for the SSH connection. Enter an integer.
SSH Engine	Select the SSH engine that you want to use to access data with this SSH sensor: Inherit from parent device (default): Use the SSH engine that you defined in the parent device settings or higher up in the object hierarchy. If you have not changed the SSH engine, this is the recommended option. Default: This is the default SSH engine. It provides the best performance and security. It is set by default in objects that are higher up in the hierarchy, so usually you can keep the Inherit from parent device (default) option. Compatibility mode (deprecated): Use this only if the default SSH engine does not work on a target device. The compatibility mode is the SSH engine that PRTG used in previous versions. It is deprecated. We will remove this legacy mode soon, so try to get your SSH sensors to run with the default SSH engine. We strongly recommend that you use the default SSH engine. The option you select here overrides the selection of the SSH engine in a higher object: a parent device, group, probe, or root.
Result Handling	Define what PRTG does with the sensor result: Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result. Store 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, Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt, and Result of Sensor [ID] (SSHv2).txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval. Store result in case of error: Store the last sensor result only if the sensor shows the Down status. 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.

SSH SAN Physical Disk Settings

Setting	Description
Disk	The physical disk that this sensor monitors.
Name	The name of the physical disk that this sensor monitors.
Size	The size of the physical disk that this sensor monitors.
Command Mode	Define the command set that the sensor uses on the device to get monitoring data: Basic (default): Use the basic command set. We recommend that you use the basic command set for best sensor performance. This setting is appropriate for most scenarios. Advanced: Monitor additional data on the target device like IOs and bandwidth. Because this setting results in higher usage of system resources and so might cause sensor instabilities, we strongly recommend that you ony select this option if this data is crucial for the volume that you monitor.
Request Mode	Define the which type of data the sensor requests: Request all historical data (default): Use this mode to possibly deliver better data. Request actual counters: Use this mode if the device does not support Request all historical data (default). This mode might result in incorrect data and spikes in graphs.

Sensor Display

Setting	Description
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.

Setting

Description

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.

Inherited Settings

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.

Channel List

Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel	Description
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.
Health	The disk heath status Up status: Ok Down status: Fault, Not Available This channel is the primary channel by default.
Total IOs	The total number of I/O operations
Transferred	The data transferred