<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Core Health Sensor

The Core Health sensor monitors internal PRTG parameters. It shows the status of the PRTG core server.

This sensor type checks various parameters of your PRTG core which have an impact on the stability of the system:

Health: This index value sums up the core state into a value between 100% (healthy) and 0% (failing). Frequent or repeated health values below 100% should be investigated.
CPU Load: This channel shows the current percentage CPU load. Extensive CPU load can lead to false, incomplete, and incorrect monitoring results. This value usually should stay below 50%.
Handles: This is a counter for the data structures of the operating system. It is responsible for internal resource management. Repeated obviously increasing values should be investigated.
Committed Memory: This channel shows the amount of memory committed to the PRTG core server as reported by the memory manager.
Free Page File Memory: This channel shows the amount of free page file memory currently available on the system. Page file memory is aggregated RAM and the size of page file. It is the maximum amount of memory that is available on the system to be used for all currently running processes. If it gets too low the system can crash, at least some applications will throw "Out of memory" errors.
Free Physical Memory: This channel shows the amount of free physical memory currently available on the system. This is the RAM that is physically built-in in the computer. If it gets too low the system will become very slow and PRTG is not usable in a reasonable way anymore. It can happen that some sensors will not be displayed correctly in that case, they will appear disabled (grayed out).
Free Virtual Memory: This channel shows the accessible address space on the system for PRTG. PRTG cannot use more memory than reported here, independently from free page file and physical memory. On a 32bit OS (operating system) the maximum is 2 GB (3 GB with special settings under Windows); on a 64bit OS it is 4 GB if PRTG is running as 32bit version, and unlimited as 64bit version (only Core). If free virtual memory gets too low, PRTG will throw "Out of memory" errors or the message "not enough storage to process this command" (visible in the Core log).
Threads: This channel shows the number of program parts which are currently running simultaneously. This number can increase with heavy load. The number should not exceed 100 in normal operation.
Raw Data Buffer: This channel shows how much raw data is temporarily stored on the physical memory while I/O operations on the disk. Usually, this value should be 0 (or very low). Investigate increasing values.

Core Health Sensor

Click here to enlarge: http://media.paessler.com/prtg-screenshots/core_health.png

Remarks

PRTG creates this sensor automatically and you cannot delete it.
You can set up this sensor only on a Local Probe device!

Sensor Settings

On the details page of a sensor, click on the Settings tab to change its settings.

Note: Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address or DNS Name of the parent device on which you created this sensor. See section Device Settings for details. For some sensor types, you can define the monitoring target explicitly in the sensor settings. Please see below for details about available settings.

Basic Sensor Settings
Sensor Name	Enter a meaningful name to identify the sensor. By default, PRTG shows this name in the device tree, and in alarms, logs, notifications, reports, maps, libraries, and tickets.
Tags	Enter one or more tags, separated by space or comma. You can use tags to group sensors and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case sensitive. We recommend using the default value. You can add additional tags to it, if you like. Other tags are automatically inherited from objects further up in the device tree. Those are not visible here.
Priority	Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines where the sensor is placed in sensor lists. Top priority is at the top of a list. You can choose from one star (low priority) to five stars (top priority).

Sensor Display
Primary Channel	Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel will always be displayed underneath the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor. Note: You can set another primary channel later by clicking on the pin symbol of a channel in the sensor's overview tab.
Chart Type	Define how different channels will be shown for this sensor. Show channels independently (default): Show an own 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 will generate an easy-to-read graph which visualizes the different components of your total traffic. Note: This option cannot be used in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the Sensor Channels Settings settings).
Stack Unit	This setting is only available if stacked graphs are selected above. Choose a unit from the list. All channels with this unit will be stacked 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.

Sensor Display

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel will always be displayed underneath the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor. Note: You can set another primary channel later by clicking on the pin symbol of a channel in the sensor's overview tab.

Chart Type

Define how different channels will be shown for this sensor.

Show channels independently (default): Show an own 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 will generate an easy-to-read graph which visualizes the different components of your total traffic. Note: This option cannot be used in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the Sensor Channels Settings settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only available if stacked graphs are selected above. Choose a unit from the list. All channels with this unit will be stacked 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 following settings are inherited from objects higher in the hierarchy and should be changed there, if necessary. Often, best practice is to change them centrally in the Root group's settings. To change a setting for this object, disable inheritance by clicking on the check mark symbol in front of the respective setting name. You will then see the options described below.

Scanning Interval

Select a scanning interval (seconds, minutes, or hours) from the list. The scanning interval determines the time the sensor waits between two scans. You can change the available intervals in the system administration.

When a Sensor Reports an Error

Define the number of scanning intervals a sensor has to report an error until the sensor will be set to a Down status. The sensor can try reaching a device several times, depending on your setup you can specify here, to help avoid false alarms if the monitored device has only temporary issues. For previous scanning intervals with failed requests, the sensor will show a Warning status. Choose between:

Set sensor to "down" immediately: The sensor will show an error after the first failed request.
Set sensor to "warning" for 1 interval, then set to "down" (recommended): After the first failed request, the sensor will show a yellow warning status. If the following request also fails, the sensor will show an error.
Set sensor to "warning" for 2 intervals, then set to "down": Show an error status only after three failed requests in a row.
Set sensor to "warning" for 3 intervals, then set to "down": Show an error status only after four failed requests in a row.
Set sensor to "warning" for 4 intervals, then set to "down": Show an error status only after five failed requests in a row.
Set sensor to "warning" for 5 intervals, then set to "down": Show an error status only after six failed requests in a row.

Note: Sensors that monitor via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) always wait at least one scanning interval until they show an error. It is not possible to set a WMI sensor "down" immediately, so the first option will not apply to these sensor types (all other options can apply).

Note: If a sensor has defined error limits for channels, this sensor will always be set to a Down status immediately, so no "wait" option will apply.

Note: If a channel uses lookup values, the sensor will always be set to a Down status immediately, so no "wait" options will apply.

Access Rights

User Group Access

Define which user group(s) will have access to the object you're editing. A table with user groups and right is shown; it contains all user groups from your setup. For each user group you can choose from the following access rights:

Inherited: Use the settings of the parent object.
None: Users in this group cannot see or edit the object. The object does not show up in lists and in the device tree. Exception: If a child object is visible to the user, the object is visible in the device tree, though not accessible.
Read: Users in this group can see the object and review its monitoring results.
Write: Users in this group can see the object, review its monitoring results, and edit the object's settings. They cannot edit access rights settings.
Full: Users in this group can see the object, review its monitoring results, edit the object's settings, and edit access rights settings.

You can create new user groups in the System Administration—User Groups settings. To automatically set all objects further down in the hierarchy to inherit this object's access rights, set a check mark for the Revert children's access rights to inherited option.

For more details about access rights, please see section User Access Rights.

Channel Unit Configuration

Channel Unit Types

For each type of sensor channel, define the unit in which data is displayed. If defined on probe, group, or device level, these settings can be inherited to all sensors underneath. You can set units for the following channel types (if available):

Bandwidth
Memory
Disk
File
Custom

Note: Custom channel types can be set on sensor level only.

Edit Sensor Channels

To change display settings, spike filter, and limits, switch to the sensor's Overview tab and click the gear icon of a specific channel. For detailed information, please see Sensor Channels Settings section.

Notifications

Click the Notifications tab to change notification triggers. For detailed information, please see Sensor Notifications Settings section.

Others

For more general information about settings, please see Object Settings section.

Sensor Settings Overview

For information about sensor settings, please see the following sections:

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