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PRTG Manual: Script v2 Sensor

The Script v2 sensor runs a script or native executable on the probe system.

The return result of this sensor must comply with the provided JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) schema. For more information, see the Remarks below.

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

Sensor in Other Languages

Dutch: Script v2
French: Script v2
German: Skript v2
Japanese: スクリプト v2
Portuguese: Script v2
Russian: Скрипт v2
Simplified Chinese: Script v2
Spanish: Script v2

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark	Description
File storage	This sensor requires that you store the script or native executable file on the probe system. In a cluster, copy the file to every cluster node. You must store the script or native executable file in the \Custom Sensors\scripts subfolder of the PRTG program directory of the probe system on Windows systems or in the /opt/paessler/share/scripts directory of the probe system on Linux systems.
Python	To run Python scripts, this sensor requires that Python 3 is installed for the Windows user account that the probe runs under.
Executables on Linux	On Linux systems, executables require execute permissions to run.
Channel IDs	This sensor supports the channel IDs 10 to 2,147,483,647.
IPv6	This sensor supports IPv6.
Channels	This sensor supports up to 50 channels.
Placeholders	You can define placeholders in credentials for script sensors settings that are higher in the object hierarchy.
Performance impact	This sensor has a medium performance impact.
Lookups	This sensor uses lookups to determine the status values of one or more channels.
Parameters	This sensor invokes all scripts with the -E parameter as a security measure. This parameter ignores all python* environmental variables when starting the script.
Example scripts	This sensor comes with example scripts. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: I want to use the Script v2 sensor example scripts. What do I need to know?
JSON schema	For more information about the JSON schema that this sensor uses, see the Knowledge Base: Where can I find the JSON schema against which the Script v2 sensor validates my script output?
Scanning interval	The minimum scanning interval of this sensor is 30 seconds. The recommended scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute.
Hosted probe	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.
Multi-platform probe	You can add this sensor to a multi-platform probe.

Basic Sensor Settings

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

exesensor

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

Script Specific

Setting	Description
Name	Select one or more scripts or native executables from the list. PRTG creates one sensor for each file that you select. The sensor executes it with every scanning interval. This list shows all script and native executable files that are available in the \Custom Sensors\scripts subfolder of the PRTG program directory of the probe system on Windows systems or in the /opt/paessler/share/scripts directory of the probe system on Linux systems. To have your scripts and native executables appear in the list, store them in this subfolder. For scripts, use the .py extension, and for native executables, use the appropriate file extension for your system. To show the expected values and sensor status, your scripts and native executables must return the expected JSON format to standard output (stdout). The Script v2 sensor validates the results that the script or native executable returns against the provided JSON schema. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Where can I find the JSON schema against which the Script v2 sensor validates my script output?. If you use custom sensors on the cluster probe, copy your files to every cluster node. You cannot change this value after sensor creation.
Type	The type of the script or executable file.

Setting

Description

Name

Select one or more scripts or native executables from the list. PRTG creates one sensor for each file that you select. The sensor executes it with every scanning interval.

This list shows all script and native executable files that are available in the \Custom Sensors\scripts subfolder of the PRTG program directory of the probe system on Windows systems or in the /opt/paessler/share/scripts directory of the probe system on Linux systems. To have your scripts and native executables appear in the list, store them in this subfolder. For scripts, use the .py extension, and for native executables, use the appropriate file extension for your system.

To show the expected values and sensor status, your scripts and native executables must return the expected JSON format to standard output (stdout). The Script v2 sensor validates the results that the script or native executable returns against the provided JSON schema. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Where can I find the JSON schema against which the Script v2 sensor validates my script output?.

If you use custom sensors on the cluster probe, copy your files to every cluster node.

You cannot change this value after sensor creation.

Type

The type of the script or executable file.

Script Settings

Setting	Description
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.
Parameters	If your script or native executable file uses parameters, you can enter them here. You can use placeholders as well. Enter a string or leave the field empty. You can define placeholders in the credentials for script sensors in the settings of a parent object and use the %host and %sensorid placeholders. The sensor replaces the parameters with their values and passes them to the script or native executable as strings via stdin.

Setting

Description

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.

Parameters

If your script or native executable file uses parameters, you can enter them here. You can use placeholders as well. Enter a string or leave the field empty.

You can define placeholders in the credentials for script sensors in the settings of a parent object and use the %host and %sensorid placeholders. The sensor replaces the parameters with their values and passes them to the script or native executable as strings via stdin.

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. You can set a different primary channel later by clicking 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. 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. 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.

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.

You can set a different primary channel later by clicking 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.
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. 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.

Debug Options

Setting	Description
Result Handling	Define what PRTG does with the sensor result: Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result. Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response 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.

Setting

Description

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response 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.

For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

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 of the script or native executable
Status	The status that the script or native executable returns Up status: OK Warning status: Warning Down status: Error Unknown status: Unknown This channel is the primary channel by default.
[Value]	The values that the script or native executable file returns in several channels