PRTG Manual: Data flow
The multi-platform probe begins to send monitoring data to PRTG through the NATS server as soon as you configure sensors. Like the classic remote probe, the multi-platform probe monitors its remote probe system autonomously and sends the monitoring results back to the PRTG core server with each scan.
Interrupted data flow
If the connections between the multi-platform probe, the NATS server, and the PRTG core server fail for any reason, the remote probe continues to monitor as long as it is still active. Depending on which of the components is disconnected, either the multi-platform probe or the NATS server create a buffer until the connection is reestablished and normal Data flow resumes.
The multi-platform probe and NATS server can only create a buffer if you enable NATS JetStream. NATS JetStream is enabled by default. You can change this setting in the NATS server configuration file.
Possible causes of communication loss:
▪Unstable network connection
▪Loss of power or other environmental factors
▪Component failure
▪Network configuration issues
Data buffering scenarios
The multi-platform probe is down.
If a multi-platform probe is down, it cannot generate monitoring data.
Check the status of the multi-platform probe:
systemctl status prtg.mpprobe.service
If the status is not active (running), you might need to restart the remote probe. Check the multi-platform probe logs for more information on why the remote probe is down.
The status of the multi-platform probe does not affect the connection between the NATS server and the PRTG core server.
The NATS server is down or there is no connection between the NATS server and the multi-platform probe.
If the NATS server is down or the connection between the NATS server and the multi-platform probe fails, the multi-platform probe buffers data until it can reconnect to the NATS server. Once the buffer reaches the configured limit, the remote probe stops monitoring until there is space available again.
Do not restart the multi-platform probe while the NATS server is down or disconnected if you want to preserve monitoring data. The data buffer on the multi-platform probe is lost every time you restart the multi-platform probe.
You can configure the limit of the multi-platform probe buffer. The buffer limit depends on the monitoring workload of the multi-platform probe.
As soon as the NATS server reestablishes a connection to the multi-platform probe, the multi-platform probe begins to transmit the monitoring data that it stored during the connection loss and resumes normal operation.
The PRTG core server is down or there is no connection between the NATS server and the PRTG core server.
When the PRTG core server is disconnected, the multi-platform probe continues to send monitoring data to the NATS server. The NATS server buffers data until it can reconnect to the PRTG core server. Once the buffer on the NATS server reaches the configured limit, the remote probe starts to buffer data. If the buffer on the remote probe reaches its configured limit, the remote probe stops monitoring until there is space available again.
Do not restart the NATS server while the PRTG core server is down or disconnected if you want to preserve monitoring data. The data buffer on the NATS server is lost every time you restart the NATS server.
We recommend that you do not restart the multi-platform probe while the PRTG core server is down or disconnected. If you restart the multi-platform probe during this time, the remote probe does not resume monitoring until the PRTG core server reconnects.
Use the Multi-Platform Probe Connection Health (Autonomous) sensor to check the status of the connection between the NATS server and the PRTG core server.
The NATS server saves a buffer of 1 GB of RAM by default.
As soon as the PRTG core server reestablishes a connection, the NATS server begins to transmit the monitoring data that it stored during the connection loss and resumes normal operation.
Notes
▪The time is takes for a buffer to reach the configured limit is dependent on the number of sensors, scanning intervals, the number of channels, etc. For example, while the buffer of a multi-platform probe with 100 sensors and 1-minute scanning intervals might store the monitoring data of about 7 days, the buffer of a multi-platform probe with 10,000 sensors and 1-minute scanning intervals might only store the monitoring data of about 100 minutes.
▪The buffer preserves the oldest monitoring data and does not overwrite it with new monitoring data.
▪If you want to change the default limits of the data buffer, contact the Paessler support team to find a configuration that works best with your system.
▪If a connection fails or a component goes down, you might experience some minor losses in monitoring data. This can happen, for example, when a data package was already on its way to the next component when the connection fails or the component goes down.
