You cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.
Detailed Requirements
Requirement
Description
LanmanServer service
To monitor shares on Windows machines, this sensor requires that the LanmanServer service runs on the target system.
The display name of the service is Server.
To enable the service, log in to the respective system and open the services manager (for example, via services.msc). In the list, find the respective service and set its Start Type to Automatic.
Add Sensor
Setting
Description
File Age Check
Specify if the sensor monitors the folder for certain file ages and shows a corresponding status:
Do not check: Do not check the age of the files in the folder:
Show warning status if older: Set the sensor to the Warning status if one of the files in the folder is older than a specific limit unit.
Show down status if older: Set the sensor to the Down status if one of the files in the folder is older than a specific limit unit.
Show warning status if younger: Set the sensor to the Warning status if one of the files in the folder is younger than a specific limit unit.
Show down status if younger: Set the sensor to the Down status if one of the files in the folder is younger than a specific limit unit.
You can change this setting later via the Limits section in the channel settings of Newest File and Oldest File.
File Age Limit
This setting is only visible if you select a file age check above.
Enter the age of a file in the folder that triggers the sensor status change if the age falls below a specific value or if it is exceeded. Enter an integer. Define the limit unit below.
You can change this setting later via the Limits section in the channel settings of Newest File and Oldest File.
File Age Limit Unit
This setting is only visible if you select a file age check above.
Specify the unit for the file age value:
Days: Select this option if the File Age Limit is a number of days.
Hours: Select this option if the File Age Limit is a number of hours.
Minutes: Select this option if the File Age Limit is a number of minutes.
You can change this setting later via the Limits section in the channel settings of Newest File and Oldest File.
If the name contains angle brackets (<>), PRTG replaces them with braces ({}) for security reasons. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?
This setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.
Tags
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the 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.
It is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).
For performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
foldersensor
Priority
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority () to the highest priority ().
Folder Monitor
Folder Monitor
Setting
Description
Folder Name
Enter the full path to the folder this sensor monitors. For example, enter C:\Windows.
If the file is located on a network device, use the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path without the server part (only enter share\folder). The server part (\\server\) is taken from the parent device settings of this sensor. Enter a valid path name.
To monitor Windows shares, the LanmanServer service must run on the target computer.
Recurse Subfolders
Specify if the sensor includes subfolders in the folder monitoring:
Do not recurse subfolders (default): Only monitor the folder. Do not monitor its subfolders.
Monitor the folder and its subfolders (recursive): Monitor the folder and all of its subfolders. If you recurse subfolders in large directories that have a high number of branches, this might cause timeout errors or performance issues.
If Content Changes
Define what the sensor does if the content or file name of the folder changes, or if there are new or deleted files:
Ignore (default): Do nothing.
Trigger 'change' notification: Send an internal message that indicates a change. In combination with a change trigger, you can use this to trigger a notification if a change occurs.
Timeout (Sec.)
Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).
If the reply takes longer than this value, the sensor cancels the request and shows a corresponding error message.
Debug Options
Debug Options
Setting
Description
Result Handling
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
Discard result: Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.
In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.
Sensor Display
Sensor Display
Setting
Description
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 is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.
Graph Type
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
Show channels independently (default): Show a 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 generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).
Stack Unit
This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above.
Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are 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 of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.
Access Rights
Access Rights
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
Channel Unit Configuration
Which channel units are available depends on the sensor type and the available parameters. If no configurable channels are available, this field shows No configurable channels.
Channel Unit Configuration
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Channel Unit Configuration.
Channel List
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel
Description
Downtime
In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status
Execution Time
The execution time
File Count
The number of files in the folder
The sensor counts all files in a folder, including hidden files.
Folder Size
The folder size
This channel is the primary channel by default.
Newest File
The time since the newest modification of a file in the folder (newest file)
The sensor shows a negative value if the date of a modified file is in the future.
Oldest File
The time since the oldest modification of a file in the folder (oldest file)
More
KNOWLEDGE BASE
What can I do if PRTG doesn't succeed with monitoring a share? PE029 PE032