PRTG Manual: Add a Group

Group Name

Enter a meaningful name to identify the group. The name will be shown by default in the devices tree and in all alarms.

Tags

Enter one or more tags; confirm each tag by hitting the space, comma, or enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.

Domain or Computer Name

Define the authority for Windows access. This is used for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and other Windows sensors. If you want to use a Windows local user account on the target device, please enter the computer name here. If you want to use a Windows domain user account (recommended), please enter the (Active Directory) domain name here. If not explicitly defined, PRTG will automatically add a prefix in order to use the NT LAN Manager (NTLM) protocol. Please do not leave this field empty.

Username

Enter the username for Windows access. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Password

Enter the password for Windows access. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Username

Enter a login name for the access via SSH and WBEM. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Login

Define which authentication method will be used for login. Choose between:

• Login via Password: Provide a password for login. Enter below.

• Login via Private Key: Provide a private key for authentication. Note: PRTG can only handle keys in OpenSSH format which are not encrypted. You cannot use password protected keys here. In the text field, please paste the entire private key, including the "BEGIN" and "END" lines. Please make sure the according public key is provided on the target machine. For details, please see Monitoring via SSH.

Password

This field is only visible if password login is selected above. Enter a password for the Linux access via SSH and WBEM. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Private Key

This field is only visible if private key login is selected above. Paste a private key into the field (OpenSSH format, unencrypted). Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges. Note: If you do not insert a private key for the first time, but change the private key, you need to restart your PRTG core server service in order for the private key change to take effect! For details, please see Monitoring via SSH.

For WBEM Use Protocol

Define the protocol that will be used for WBEM. This setting is only relevant when using WBEM sensors. Choose between:

• HTTP: Use an unencrypted connection for WBEM.
• HTTPS: Use an SSL-encrypted connection for WBEM.

For WBEM Use Port

Define the port that will be used for WBEM. This setting is only relevant when using WBEM sensors. Choose between:

• Set automatically (port 5988 or 5989): Use one of the standard ports, depending on whether unencrypted or encrypted connection is chosen above.
• Set manually: Use a custom port. Define below.

WBEM Port

This setting is only visible if manual port selection is enabled above. Enter the WBEM port number.

SSH Port

Define the port number which will be used for SSH connections. Note: By default, this setting is automatically used for all SSH sensors, unless you define a different port number in the sensor settings.

SSH Rights Elevation

Define with which rights the command will be executed on the target system. Choose between:

• Run the command as the user connecting (default): Use the rights of the user who establishes the SSH connection.
• Run the command as another user using 'sudo': Use the rights of another user, for example, the administrator.
• Run the command as another user using 'su': Use the rights of another target user.

Target Username

This field is only visible if sudo or su is enabled above. Enter a username to run the specified command as another user than root. If you leave this field empty, the command will be run as root. Ensure that you set the Linux password even you use a public/private key for authentication.  This is not necessary if the user is allowed to execute the command without a password.

Password Target User

This field is only visible if su is enabled above. Enter the password for the specified target user.

User

Enter a login name for access to VMware and XEN servers. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

Password

Enter a password for access to VMware and XEN servers. Usually, you will use credentials with administrator privileges.

VMware Protocol

Define the protocol used for the connection to VMware and XenServer. Choose between:

• HTTPS (recommended): Use an SSL-encrypted connection to VMware and XenServers.
• HTTP: Use an unencrypted connection to VMware and XenServers.

SNMP Version

Select the SNMP version that will be used for device connection. Choose between:

• v1: Use the simple standard v1 protocol for SNMP connections. This protocol only offers clear-text data transmission, but it is usually supported by all devices.
• v2c: Use the more advanced v2c protocol for SNMP connections. Data is still transferred as clear-text, but it supports 64-bit counters.
• v3: Use the latest v3 protocol for SNMP connections. It provides secure authentication and data encryption.

Note for SNMP v3: Due to internal limitations you can only monitor a limited number of sensors per second using SNMP v3. The limit is somewhere between 1 and 50 sensors per second (depending on the SNMP latency of your network). This means that using an interval of 60 seconds you are limited to between 60 and 3000 SNMP v3 sensors for each probe. If you experience an increased "Interval Delay" or "Open Requests" reading of the probe health sensor, you need to distribute the load over multiple probes. SNMP v1 and v2 do not have this limitation.

Community String

This setting is only visible if SNMP version v1 or v2c are enabled above. Enter the community string of your devices. This is a kind of "clear-text password" used for simple authentication. We recommend using the default value.

Authentication Type

This setting is only visible if SNMP version v3 is enabled above. Choose between:

• MD5: Use Message-Digest Algorithm 5 (MD5) for authentication.
• SHA: Use Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) for authentication.

The chosen type has to match the authentication type of your device.

Note: If you do not want to use authentication, but you need SNMP v3, for example, because your device requires context, you can leave the field password empty. In this case, SNMP_SEC_LEVEL_NOAUTH will be used and authentication will be deactivated entirely.

User

This setting is only visible if SNMP version v3 is enabled above. Enter a username for secure authentication. This value has to match the username of your device.

Password

This setting is only visible if SNMP version v3 is enabled above. Enter a password for secure authentication. This value has to match the password of your device.

Encryption Type

This setting is only visible if SNMP version v3 is enabled above. Select an encryption type. Choose between:

• DES: Use Data Encryption Standard (DES) as encryption algorithm.
• AES: Use Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as encryption algorithm.

The chosen type has to match the encryption type of your device.

Data Encryption Key

This setting is only visible if SNMP version v3 is enabled above. Enter an encryption key here. If you provide a key in this field, SNMP data packets will be encrypted using the encryption algorithm selected above, providing increased security. The provided key here has to match the encryption key of your device. Note: If the key entered in this field does not match the key configured in the target SNMP device, you will not get an error message! Please enter a string or leave the field empty.

Context Name

This setting is only visible if SNMP version v3 is enabled above. Enter a context name only if it is required by the configuration of the device. Context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP device. Please enter a string.

SNMP Port

Enter the port used for SNMP communication. We recommend using the default value.

SNMP Timeout (sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. If the reply takes longer than this value the request is aborted and an error message is triggered.

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.
• Read: Users in this group can see the object and review its settings.
• Write: Users in this group can see the object, as well as review and edit its settings. However, they cannot edit access rights settings.
• Full: Users in this group can see the object, as well as review and edit its settings and edit access rights settings.

You can create new user groups in the System Administration—User Groups settings.