Here you can find answers to the most common questions regarding Paessler PRTG Network Monitor
We define one sensor as one aspect that you can monitor on a device. Such aspects can be, for example, a specific URL, the traffic of a network connection, a port of a switch, or the CPU load of a device. Usually, you need about 5 to 10 sensors per device to fully cover its monitoring.
Each PRTG sensor has individual channels that show the measured or calculated data. The SNMP Traffic sensor, for example, has channels for ingoing traffic, outgoing traffic, and total traffic.
PRTG comes with more than 250 preconfigured sensors. For more information, see our List of Available Sensor Types.
A license of PRTG Network Monitor comes with the following features:
You can find detailed information about new features, sensors, improvements, fixes, and changes in the PRTG release notes.
Yes, it does. You can create high-level or in-depth reports on demand or automatically via schedules on a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis. PRTG comes with several preconfigured report templates that you can choose from, or you create highly customized reports to include only the elements you need for your specific requirements.
What’s more: you can export reports to your system in XML or CSV format, generate PDFs, or show them directly in you web browser in HTML format.
Yes, it does. PRTG comes with preconfigured warning and error thresholds that trigger an alarm if there is an issue in your network and that you can customize according to your needs. You can also define granular alerting rules by setting notification triggers that specify when exactly PRTG should send an alert to which person or team.
There are several notification methods and channels that you can choose from. These include notifications via email, SMS, Microsoft Teams or Slack messages, Syslog or SNMP trap messages, push notifications to our PRTG apps for iOS or Android, and more.
Yes, it does. With the access rights management in PRTG, you can define which user in which user group can access which objects in your PRTG installation.
You can create a nearly unlimited number of users, which you can organize in a nearly unlimited number of user groups. There are read-only users, read/write users, and administrators, as well as user groups with no access, read, write, or full access.
Each user group can have separate access rights for each monitoring object, as well as for libraries, maps, and reports. These settings are automatically inherited according to the object hierarchy so that it is not necessary to edit the access rights of every sensor individually.
Yes, it does. With PRTG, you can get graphical real-time overviews of your IT infrastructure with live status information. You can view your entire monitoring setup in the form of a device tree, in a so-called sunburst view, or in a tile view.
Or you use our built-in drag-and-drop map editor to create your own network topology maps or custom dashboards to visualize your monitoring the way you need it. PRTG offers more than 300 widgets to do so – from traffic charts to device and status icons to custom images.
Yes, it can. PRTG provides comprehensive real-time monitoring of your host hardware, hypervisors, and virtual machines to ensure the reliability and stability of your entire virtual environment. Our software also comes with preconfigured sensors for monitoring VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Nutanix, and more.
Yes, you can. A PRTG cluster consists of two or more PRTG servers that work together to form a high-availability monitoring system. Next to a master node, you can configure up to 4 failover nodes, where each node is a full PRTG installation that can do all monitoring and alerting on its own. For more information, see the PRTG Manual: Failover Cluster.
PRTG offers a single failover cluster (one master node and one failover node) with all licenses, including the Freeware Edition. If you need more failover nodes, additional PRTG licenses are required.
You have different options to get support for PRTG, depending on your use case or issue:
Our Paessler Knowledge Base contains questions and answers about monitoring with PRTG as well as best practices.
Our PRTG Sensor Hub offers native PRTG sensors, scripts from Paessler or PRTG users, and device and notification templates. This site also needs your participation – sensors or templates are created from your experience!
You can also join our reddit community or follow us on LinkedIn to interact with us directly.
There are many parameters that influence the system requirements and sizing recommendations for PRTG. You can find detailed information here: System Requirements for PRTG.
PRTG comes with an easy-to-use installation wizard with which you can install the entire software including database and web server in less than 10 minutes. After installation, the automatic network discovery immediately starts scanning your network to set up the first devices and suitable sensors for you. Our Smart Setup assistant then leads you through the initial setup steps to help you get started with your monitoring.
Yes, there are. We created a comprehensive Get started with PRTG hub page for you where you can find useful video tutorials, how-to guides, and links to the PRTG Manual and the Knowledge Base. Learning modules include installation and configuration, PRTG architecture and components, PRTG sensors, the device tree, notifications and alerts, maps and dashboards, and reports.
PRTG stores the monitoring configuration, monitoring data, logs, tickets, and reports, as well as support and debug data in its built-in database. Other data, for example scripts for your custom sensors, are stored in other locations on your system, as well as in the Windows registry. For more information, see the PRTG Manual: Data storage.
Monitoring data usually consists of very small amounts of data that are collected at regular intervals. Our tests have shown that a classical database is not that well-suited for an efficient storage of this type of data. This is the reason why we developed our own database, which stores data in a flat file format and is optimized for monitoring data.
The integrated database of PRTG has several benefits:
We at Paessler take the responsibility for keeping your network safe, and we put a lot of effort into providing you with the most secure network monitoring solution possible. PRTG includes many security mechanisms to protect against potential attacks. For detailed information, see our Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?
The auto-update in PRTG is available for users of the Freeware and Trial Editions of PRTG, as well as for customers who own an active PRTG Network Monitor subscription. Every PRTG installation regularly connects to our servers to check if a new version of PRTG is available. If there is, PRTG automatically downloads the new version and notifies the administrator who can then install it with just a few clicks.
The process for building new, major versions of software applications requires specification, building, testing, and deploying (or rollout). We at Paessler decided that instead of having a massive release once a year with 500 new features, which also takes a year to build and test, we release new versions of our software in shorter cycles. This means that we aim for a continuous rollout of a new PRTG version every two months.
We provide three release channels of PRTG so that every customer can choose between either maximum stability or earlier access to new features and fixes.
The version numbers of PRTG indicate the year, the quarter, and the number of the release. This means that PRTG 23.3.86 was released in the third quarter of 2023 with the release number 86.
All license sizes are available as subscriptions. They differ by the number of sensors that you can add to your monitoring setup:
** For very large environments, please also refer to our sizing recommendations. If you have more than 1,000 devices, check out Paessler PRTG Enterprise Monitor.
For the 30-day Trial Edition, the number of sensors and devices is not restricted. The Freeware Edition includes up to 100 sensors for about 10 devices.
No, it is not possible to combine different PRTG Network Monitor licenses on one server, for example, buying a license for 500 sensors and a license for 1,000 sensors does not mean that you can use 1,500 sensors in one installation. PRTG only accepts one license key per server. If you need more sensors, you can upgrade to a larger license any time.
If you have a large environment, you have several options, depending on your individual needs and requirements. With our PRTG Network Monitor licenses for large infrastructures, you can set up 5,000 sensors to monitor about 500 devices, or 10,000 sensors to monitor about 1,000 devices.
If you want to monitor more than 1,000 devices, we recommend that you check out Paessler PRTG Enterprise Monitor, our monitoring solution for very large environments.
Yes, you can. Every PRTG license includes an unlimited number of so-called remote probes. These probes are installed in your remote locations and run as a Windows service on the respective systems. They collect your locations’ monitoring data directly on site and send it to your central PRTG installation. For more information, see the PRTG Manual: Remote Probes and Multiple Probes.
Yes, you can keep your complete monitoring configuration. If you purchase one of the commercial PRTG licenses, you can just log in to your existing PRTG installation and enter your new license key. Your monitoring setup as such will not be affected.
If you're looking for the best solution to offer Monitoring as a Service, we have a special Paessler PRTG MSP Edition that is specifically designed to meet the needs of Managed Service Providers (MSPs). This solution allows you to offer scalable monitoring services across multiple customer environments with centralized management and customizable dashboards.
Get started by visiting our Paessler PRTG MSP Edition page and explore how we can help you deliver top-tier monitoring services to your customers.
We offer three different payment options:
To make your purchase of our products as seamless as possible, Paessler partners with software companies from all over the world. This partner network makes it easy for you to find out more about Paessler products and to purchase your license locally. Please find your nearest partner in our worldwide partner network.
If you already have an active PRTG Network Monitor subscription, you can always upgrade to a larger PRTG Network Monitor license. For doing so, please reach out to [email protected].
All PRTG Network Monitor subscriptions give you continued access to the latest version of PRTG including new features and security improvements, as well as email support via our support ticket system.
Yes, you can. Please note that at any given time, you can merge your perpetual licenses into a subscription license. Please contact [email protected] for your individual subscription offer.
If a subscription is cancelled, you won't have access to your installation anymore after your subscription period expired.
You can find our detailed license terms and conditions here.
Unlimited use of PRTG for 30 days. After 30 days PRTG reverts to the freeware edition.
You can upgrade to a paid license at any time.