Here you can find answers to the most common questions regardingPaessler PRTG Network Monitor
Licensing
FAQ about product & features
1. What is a sensor in PRTG?
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.
2. What features does PRTG Network Monitor include?
A license of PRTG Network Monitor comes with the following features:
- Integrated support of the most popular manufacturers without vendor lock-in
- Integrated support of all important technologies and protocols
- Automatic network discovery
- Network mapping and custom dashboards
- Real-time alerts via custom notifications
- Highly customizable reports
- Distributed monitoring across an unlimited number of remote locations
- Granular access rights management
- Multiple user interfaces for web, desktop, and mobile
- Failover cluster for high-availability monitoring
- Preconfigured PRTG sensors and device templates
3. How can I find out about new features and improvements of PRTG?
You can find detailed information about new features, sensors, improvements, fixes, and changes in the PRTG release notes.
4. Does PRTG support reporting?
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.
5. Does PRTG support notifications and alarms?
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.
6. Does PRTG support multiple user accounts and access rights management?
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.
7. Does PRTG support network mapping?
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.
8. Can PRTG monitor virtualized environments as well?
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.
9. Can I set up a cluster with PRTG Network Monitor?
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.
10. Where can I get support for PRTG?
You have different options to get support for PRTG, depending on your use case or issue:
- The PRTG Manual: In our online manual, you find detailed information about installing, configuring, and using PRTG.
- The Paessler Knowledge Base: In our Knowledge Base, you find a huge collection of valuable questions and information shared by our Technical Support team and the PRTG community.
- Customer Service: Here you can ask questions about pricing, new licenses, maintenance, and upgrades. Our team aims to respond within one business day (Mon-Fri).
- Technical Support: If you experience technical issues with PRTG or need support, you can contact our Technical Support team. We offer our support globally to ensure the fastest and most constructive assistance possible. You will usually receive an answer within 24 hours on business days (Mon-Fri).
11. Is there a PRTG community out there?
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 tointeract with us directly.
FAQ about installation & configuration
1. What are the system requirements for PRTG Network Monitor?
There are many parameters that influence the system requirements and sizing recommendations for PRTG. You can find detailed information here: System Requirements for PRTG.
2. How long does it take to install 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.
3. Are there any online resources to help me get started with PRTG?
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.
4. How does PRTG Network Monitor store its data?
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.
5. Why does PRTG Network Monitor not use an SQL server for 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:
- Performance: Our database is much faster than other databases. This way, we can analyze and show historic data in near real time.
- Network load: As the database is integrated into the main server installation of PRTG, additional data transfer through your network is not necessary.
- Configuration and maintenance: Our integrated database does not need any extra configuration or maintenance. Updates are deployed automatically with the usual PRTG updates.
- Easy backup: You can simply back up the database by copying the data files.
- Licensing: The database is included in all PRTG licenses. No other database license is required.
- Data export: In case you need your data for other applications or statistics, you can export monitoring data from PRTG at any time via the integrated API.
6. How do you keep my passwords and data secure?
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?
7. How does the automatic update work in PRTG Network Monitor?
The auto-update in PRTG is available for users of the Freeware and Trial Editions of PRTG, as well as for customers who own a commercial license of PRTG and have an active maintenance plan. 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.
8. What does continuous rollout of PRTG mean?
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.
9. What do the PRTG release channels mean?
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 Stable channel is the most conservative, best tested version of PRTG. It is updated every two months.
- The Preview channel is updated monthly and includes the latest features and fixes that we already tested successfully.
- The Canary channel provides nightly builds and is updated every day without thorough testing. We highly recommend that you do not use this channel on live systems.
10. What do the PRTG version numbers mean?
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.
FAQ about licensing
1. What is the difference between the PRTG Network Monitor licenses?
All PRTG Network Monitor licenses are indefinitely valid. Each license is perpetual while maintenance plans need to be renewed. You can use one PRTG license per server. If you use the cluster functionality in PRTG, an additional server installation that acts as the failover node is included.
PRTG licenses differ by the number of sensors that you can add to your monitoring setup:
| Environment size | Number of sensors | Number of devices |
|---|---|---|
| Small | Up to 500 | About 50 |
| Small & medium | Up to 1,000 | About 100 |
| Medium | Up to 2,500 | About 250 |
| Large | Up to 5,000 | About 500 |
| Very large** | Up to 10,000 | About 1,000 |
** 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.
2. Which PRTG license is best for larger environments?
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.
3. Can I monitor multiple locations with one PRTG Network Monitor license?
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.
4. Can I keep my monitoring configuration if I upgrade from the Trial Edition to one of the commercial PRTG Network Monitor licenses?
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.
5. I want to use PRTG Network Monitor as an MSP solution. How do I go about it?
The remote probe feature in PRTG helps Managed Service Providers, or MSPs, to easily offer Monitoring-as-a Service to their customers. As the MSP, you manage the central PRTG installation and set up remote probes in each customer’s infrastructure.
The probes collect the customer’s monitoring data directly on site and send it to your central PRTG installation. Here, you can analyze and visualize the data, manage alerts and notifications, and create customized reports for each client.
6. How can I order Paessler products by credit card?
We recommend ordering online and paying with your credit card because this is the fastest option. To do so please visit the Paessler Shop, choose a product and click the "Add To Cart" button. Fill out the upcoming form, choose payment method "credit card" and follow the instructions. Your card will be charged immediately and you will then receive an invoice and your license key by email in a few minutes.
7. How can I order if I cannot or do not want to pay with a credit card?
If you want to order online and pay by bank transfer, visit thePaessler Shop, choose a product, and click the Add To Cart button. Fill out the form, choose the desired payment method, and follow the instructions. You will receive a payment document via email to transfer the amount of your purchase to the Paessler bank account.
Alternatively, you can also send us your purchase order by email to:[emailprotected]
8. How can I order from a reseller in my country?
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 ourWorldwide Partner Network.
9. How can I upgrade from an older version to the current version of a product?
In ourSupport Centerwe explain how we handle upgrades and updates.
You can also visit theOnline Shopand login with your email address you used during the purchase to receive all promotional offers and upgrades which apply to you.
10. If I buy one edition (e.g. PRTG Network Monitor 500) now, can I upgrade to a higher edition
(e.g. PRTG Network Monitor 1000) later?
Yes, you can always upgrade to higher edition licenses within one product family at the price difference of the two licenses (at the time of the new purchase). For doing so, please login to ourOnline Shopor write to[emailprotected]stating the license you are using now, which license you want to upgrade to, and, if available, the order number of your original purchase.
11. Can I combine different licenses if I need more sensors?
No, it is not possible to combine different licenses on one server, i.e. buying a PRTG 500 and a PRTG 1000 license does not mean that you can use 1500 sensors in one installation. PRTG will only accept one license key. If you need more sensors, you can upgrade to a license with more sensors by paying the list price difference.
12. Is there a money-back guarantee?
We are so confident that you'll be delighted with our software that we make ordering our software totally risk-free, with our 30-day risk-free unconditional money-back guarantee! That's right – if you should not be satisfied with our software for any reason whatsoever, just let us know within 30 days of purchase and we will refund your order in full.
13. Are maintenance, support, and updates included in the list price?
When purchasing a license you receive 12 months of software maintenance.
During the time of this software maintenance...
- ...you canlog into download the latest version for free at any time (this includes all bugfixes and all new versions of the product that you have purchased).
- ...you are entitled to receive priority email support via oursupport ticket system.
The software maintenance can be renewed after one year. The price will be 25% of the current list price of the original license, in effect when the renewal is ordered. For your convenience, we will give you advance notification by e-mail before your maintenance plan expires.
We offer our support directly from our headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, working closely with our development department and our support team is actively involved in the Knowledge Base community. That way we guarantee the fastest and most constructive assistance possible. Our office is staffed Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. (UTC+1). You will receive an answer within 24 hours on business days.
Please note that after expiration, you will no longer be able to download the software or new versions from our website. When you extend your Software Maintenance plan we sum up the total maintenance packages and calculate the duration from the time of the initial purchase of the license on. In the case of support issues, priority is always given to customers with maintenance contracts.
14. How do I receive the software?
We deliver electronically (ESD). That means that you will receive an e-mail with your license key(s) and the download URL(s).
15. Where can I find the license terms and conditions?
You can find ourdetailed license terms and conditions here.
free Download
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.
