PRTG Manual: Port Sensor

The Port sensor monitors a network service by connecting to its port. It tries to connect to the specified TCP/IP port number of a device and waits for the request to be accepted.

i_round_blueDepending on your settings, the sensor can alert you either when the monitored port is open or when it is closed.

Port Sensor

Port Sensor

i_square_cyanFor a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

  • Dutch: Poort
  • French: Port
  • German: Port
  • Japanese: ポート
  • Portuguese: Porta
  • Russian: Порт
  • Simplified Chinese: 端口
  • Spanish: Puerto

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark

Description

SRP ciphers

This sensor does not support Secure Remote Password (SRP) ciphers.

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

Performance impact

This sensor has a very low performance impact.

Hosted probe

i_podYou 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.

Basic Sensor Settings

Basic Sensor Settings

Basic Sensor Settings

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

  • portsensor

i_square_cyanFor more information about basic sensor settings, see section Sensor Settings.

Port Specific

Port Specific

Port Specific

Setting

Description

Timeout (Sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).

i_round_blueIf the reply takes longer than this value, the sensor cancels the request and shows a corresponding error message.

Port

Enter the number of the port to which this sensor connects. Enter an integer.

Connection Security

Connection Security

Connection Security

Setting

Description

Transport-Level Security

Define the security of the connection:

  • Do not use transport-level security (default): Establish the connection without connection security.
  • Use transport-level security: Establish the connection with the strongest Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) method that the target device provides.

Advanced Sensor Settings

Advanced Sensor Settings

Advanced Sensor Settings

Setting

Description

Goal

Define how the sensor reports on the port:

  • Open: Show the Up status if the port is open, and the Down status if the port is closed.
  • Closed: Show the Up status if the port is closed, and the Down status if the port is open.

Command Handling

This setting is only visible if you select Open above.

Define whether the sensor sends a command after it opens the port:

  • Do not send a command (default): Only check if a connection to the port is possible.
  • Send a command: Open a Telnet session to the respective port and send a command.
    i_round_blueYou cannot use this option if the target device is a web server.

Command

This setting is only visible if you select Send a command above.

Enter the command that the sensor sends to the respective port in a Telnet session. Enter a string.

i_round_redYou cannot use line breaks. You can only use a simple Telnet command in a single line.

Response

Define if the sensor further processes the response:

  • Ignore (default): Do not check the response.
  • Check response code (integer): Check if the response matches a defined response code. Define the response code below.
  • Check response text: Check if the response matches a defined response text. Define the response text below.

Allowed Response Code

This setting is only visible if you select Check response code (integer) above.

Enter the code that the target device must return. If the target device does not return this code, the sensor shows the Down status. Enter an integer.

Check for Keywords (positive)

This setting is only visible if you select Check response text above.

Check if the response contains a specific keyword:

  • Disable: Do not check for positive keywords.
  • Enable keyword check (positive): Check if a specific keyword exists in the received value. Define the keyword below. If the response does not contain the keyword, the sensor shows the Down status.

Response Must Include (Down Status if Not Included)

This setting is only visible if you select Enable keyword check (positive) above.

Define the search string that the response must contain. You can enter a simple string in plain text or a regular expression (regex).

i_round_redThe search string must be case-sensitive.

i_round_blueIf the data does not include the search pattern, the sensor shows the Down status.

Search Method

Define the method with which you want to provide the search string:

  • Simple string search (default): Search for a simple string in plain text.

i_round_blueThe characters * and ? work as placeholders. * stands for no number or any number of characters and ? stands for exactly one character. You cannot change this behavior. The literal search for these characters is only possible with a regex.

  • Regular expression: Search with a regex.

i_round_bluePRTG supports Perl Compatible Regular Expression (PCRE) regex. For more information, see section Regular Expressions.

Check for Keywords (negative)

This setting is only visible if you select Simple string search (default) above.

Check if the response does not contain a specific keyword:

  • Disable: Do not check for negative keywords.
  • Enable keyword check (negative): Check if a specific keyword does not exist in the received value. Define the keyword below. If the response does contain the keyword, the sensor shows the Down status.

Response Must Not Include (Down Status if Included)

This setting is only visible if you select Enable keyword check (negative) above.

Define the search string that the response must not contain. You can enter a simple string in plain text or a regex.

i_round_redThe search string must be case-sensitive.

i_round_blueIf the data does include the search pattern, the sensor shows the Down status.

Search Method

Define the method with which you want to provide the search string:

  • Simple string search (default): Search for a simple string in plain text.

i_round_blueThe characters * and ? work as placeholders. * stands for no number or any number of characters and ? stands for exactly one character. You cannot change this behavior. The literal search for these characters is only possible with a regex.

  • Regular expression: Search with a regex.

i_round_bluePRTG supports Perl Compatible Regular Expression (PCRE) regex. For more information, see section Regular Expressions.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

  • Discard result (default): 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.

i_round_blueIn a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Sensor Display

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, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.

i_round_blueYou can set a different primary channel later by clicking b_channel_primary below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.

Graph Type

Define how this sensor shows different channels:

  • 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.
    i_round_redYou 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. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit 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 b_inherited_enabled under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

Channel List

i_round_blueWhich channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel

Description

Available

The time until a request to a port is accepted

i_round_blueThis channel is the primary channel by default.

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

More

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