Adding New Sensors using the Add Sensor Wizard

Adding new sensors in PRTG Traffic Grapher is easy. Merely click on Click here to add you first sensor: This will show the Add Sensor Wizard:

The Add Sensor Wizard will guide you through the setup of new sensors for monitoring with PRTG Traffic Grapher.

After having read the information on the title screen, press Next to continue on to the Data Acquisition Type Selection screen.

Here you can select which type of sensor you would like to monitor from the choices provided:

·      SNMP

·      Packet Sniffing

·      NetFlow Collector

·      Latency Monitoring

·      Sensor Aggregation

All types are explained in-depth later in this manual.

For this sample, we will create an SNMP sensor since this is the most common option.       

Please select SNMP and click Next.

Here, you can select the type of SNMP sensor you would like to monitor. The options are:

·      Standard Traffic Sensor

·      SNMP Helper Sensor

·      From OID/MIB Library

·      Custom SNMP Sensor

·      Device Template

For this tutorial we will create a Standard Traffic Sensor (you need to have a compatible device in your network). Select the appropriate type of sensor from the list and click Next to continue.

This will launch the Device Selection screen.

Here, you will need to enter a Device Name/Alias for the sensor you would like to set up. Next, you will need to enter the IP Address/DNS Name of the device you would like to monitor.

If you want to use SNMP Version 1 or 2c you may also need to update the SNMP community string, as well as the SNMP port. Usually it should be fine to keep the defaults (“public” for the SNMP Community String and “161” for the SNMP port). Contact your network admin if you are not sure.

If you are using SNMP V3 you also have to enter the SNMP User, Authentication Mode and Password, as well as the optional Data Encryption key.

Click Next to continue. Now PRTG Traffic Grapher tries to contact the device for the first time.

If the connection fails you will get an error message. In this case, please follow the instructions on the screen!

The most common reason for connection problems are incorrect IP addresses, SNMP Port or community string – they all show a connection failed error. The second most common problem are connection issues due to firewalls that block the UDP traffic.

It is important to know that if you select an SNMP version which is not supported by the server or device that you want to monitor you will also receive this error message!

Unfortunately most of the time these error messages are not explicitly telling you about the incorrect SNMP version (they say only something like “cannot connect” or similar). The same situation exists if community string, usernames and passwords are incorrect.

If the connection works you will be shown the Port Selection:

The screen sprovides a list of the ports that PRTG has found and that are available for monitoring. Using the mouse check one or more entries you would like PRTG Traffic Grapher to monitor. You can also use the shortcut buttons All, None and Connected to select the ports. Clicking the Hide ports with existing sensors  checkbox will remove all ports that have already a sensor from the list to prvent dublicate monitoring.

At the bottom of the windows you can select whether you want to monitor the Bandwidth (most common choice), number of Unicast-Packets, Non-Unicast-Packets, or Errors. Then click Next in order to set up the Additional Settings.

Choose a group from the sensor list that you want to add the new sensor(s) to. Optionally you can Create a New Subgroup.

Choose a group name that will help you to keep your sensors organized (e.g. “Firewall” or “LAN”). Also select the desired scanning interval in seconds. In most cases 30 seconds should be fine.

Note: Small intervals create higher network load but will give you a more “current view” of the measured data. Longer intervals will cause smaller network load but the measured data will be more “averaged”.

Finally you can add tags for the new sensors which will help you to categorize your sensors later. A tag can be one or more words, e.g. switch, printer, 1st floor, 2nd floor, remote office, data center 1, data center 2, etc. Use commas to separate tags.

Once you have selected your preferences, click on Finish and PRTG Traffic Grapher will begin monitoring your newly defined sensor(s) in a few seconds.