The SNMP Traffic v2 sensor monitors bandwidth and traffic on a device via the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).
This sensor is in beta status. The operating methods and the available settings are still subject to change. Do not expect that all functions work properly, or that this sensor works as expected at all.
SNMP Traffic v2 Sensor
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
Sensor in Other Languages
Dutch: SNMP Traffic v2
French: SNMP Traffic v2
German: SNMP Traffic v2
Japanese: SNMP Traffic v2
Portuguese: SNMP Traffic v2
Russian: SNMP Traffic v2
Simplified Chinese: SNMP Traffic v2
Spanish: SNMP Traffic v2
Remarks
We recommend that you select SNMP v2c (most common) or SNMP v3 in the credentials for SNMP devices of the parent device (if supported by the target device). SNMP v1 does not support 64-bit counters, which might result in invalid data. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: SNMP Traffic sensor suddenly drops at 610Mbps
It might not work to query data from a probe device via SNMP (querying localhost, 127.0.0.1, or ::1). Add this device with the IP address that it has in your network and create the sensor on this device instead.
This sensor supports IPv6.
This sensor has a very low performance impact.
This sensor is not affected by the following SNMP compatibility options set in the parent device: Port Name Template, Port Name Update, Port Identification, Start Interface Index, and End Interface Index.
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:
bandwidthsensor
snmptrafficsensor
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 ().
SNMP Interface
SNMP Interface
Setting
Description
Description
The description of the interface in the physical device that this sensor monitors. The internal name is found in the ifTable under ifDescr.
PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if the Paessler support team explicitly asks you to do so. Wrong usage can result in incorrect monitoring data.
64-Bit
If the interface that this sensor monitors uses 64-bit counters.
PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if the Paessler support team explicitly asks you to do so. Wrong usage can result in incorrect monitoring data.
SNMP Traffic Specific
SNMP Traffic Specific
Setting
Description
Additional Channels
By default, each SNMP Traffic v2 sensor creates the channels Traffic In, Traffic Out, and Traffic Total. Select additional channels for all interfaces. Click the respective channel names to mark the channels and to monitor their data.
You can choose between the following additional channels:
Errors in and errors out: The number of incoming and outgoing packets that could not be delivered because of errors.
Discards in and discards out: The number of discarded incoming and outgoing packets even though no errors have been detected.
Unicasts in and unicasts out: The number of unicast packets that have been delivered.
Non-unicasts in and non-unicasts out: The number of non-unicast packets that have been delivered. These channels might not function properly with 64-bit interfaces.
Multicasts in and multicasts out (64-bit only): The number of delivered packets that were addressed to a multicast address.
Broadcasts in and broadcasts out (64-bit only): The number of delivered packets that were addressed to a broadcast address.
Unknown protocols in: The number of received packets that were discarded because of an unknown or unsupported protocol.
You cannot delete additional channels later. You can only disable them.
If the sensor shows the Warningstatus with the message Channels not available, you can disable the affected channels to remove the warning.
Connection Status Handling
Define how PRTG reacts when an interface is operational. An interface that is not operational is, for example, an Ethernet port on a switch with no cable plugged in. This setting is valid for all selected interfaces.
Show the 'Down' status anytime ifOperStatus is not 'Up': Show the Down status for a disconnected interface. This applies if the ifOperStatus of the interface is not 'up'.
Show the 'Down' status when ifAdminStatus is 'Up' but ifOperStatus is not: Show the Down status for a disconnected interface only if it is not deliberately deactivated in the configuration. This applies if the ifAdminStatus is 'up' and the ifOperStatus of the interface is not 'up'. The sensor stays in the Up status when the interface has been deactivated.
Ignore all disconnected states (default): Show the Up status. Monitoring is discontinued without notice.
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).
Show in and out traffic as positive and negative area graph: Show channels for incoming and outgoing traffic as positive and negative area graph. This visualizes your traffic in a clear way. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings). Manual scaling is not possible if you choose this option. You cannot show a positive/negative graph for a channel if you choose to display its data in percent of maximum (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.
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 name is Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval.
If you select Store result, the sensor writes the standard error (stderr) streams in clear text to the last sensor result file. Do not return sensitive information via the scripts that you run with this sensor.
In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.
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.
The minimum scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute.
The recommended scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute.
Scanning Interval
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
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
Broadcasts In
The number of incoming broadcast packets
Broadcasts Out
The number of outgoing broadcast packets
Discards In
The number of incoming discards
Discards Out
The number of outgoing discards
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