<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: System Health Sensor
The System Health sensor monitors internal PRTG parameters. It shows the status of the system on which a probe runs. PRTG creates this sensor type automatically and cannot be deleted.
It checks various parameters of your PRTG system which can affect the quality of the monitoring results:
- Health: This index value sums up the probe state into a value between 100% (healthy) and 0% (failing). Frequent or repeated health values below 100% should be investigated.
- Available Memory: This channel shows the amount of free memory available on the system. This value should not fall below 500 MB. This way PRTG still can request resources during report generation, auto-discoveries, and other issues.
- Available Memory Percent: This channel shows the free memory available on the system in percent.
- System CPU Load: This channel shows the current percentage CPU load on the system with the probe. Extensive CPU load can lead to false, incomplete, and incorrect monitoring results. This value usually should stay below 50%.

System Health Sensor
Click here to enlarge: http://media.paessler.com/prtg-screenshots/system_health.png
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 the Device Settings for details. For some sensor types, you can define the monitoring target explicitly in the sensor settings. Please see below for details on available settings.
Basic Sensor Settings |
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Sensor Name |
Enter a meaningful name to identify the sensor. By default, PRTG shows this name in the device tree, as well as in alarms, logs, notifications, reports, maps, libraries, and tickets. |
Parent Tags |
Shows Tags that this sensor inherits from its parent device, group, and probe. This setting is shown for your information only and cannot be changed here. |
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 that you use 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. These are visible above as Parent Tags. |
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. Choose from one star (low priority) to five stars (top priority). |
Sensor Display |
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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 below 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.
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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. |
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 only for this object, disable inheritance by clicking on the check mark before the corresponding setting name. You will then see the options described below.
Scanning Interval |
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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 that a sensor has time to report an error before the sensor will be set to a Down status. The sensor can try to reach a device several times, depending on the 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:
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 |
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User Group Access |
Define which user group(s) will have access to the object you're editing. A table with user groups and types of access rights is shown: It contains all user groups from your setup. For each user group you can choose from the following access rights:
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 on access rights, please see the section User Access Rights. |
Channel Unit Configuration |
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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):
Note: Custom channel types can be set on sensor level only. |
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 the Sensor Channels Settings section.
Click the Notifications tab to change notification triggers. For detailed information, please see the Sensor Notifications Settings section.
For more general information about settings, please see the Object Settings section.
For information about sensor settings, please see the following sections:
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