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  1. Home>
  2. Resources>
  3. Getting Started

Get started with PRTG

Quick overview

Module 1: Before you get started

There are some important first steps before you start monitoring your network with PRTG. This e-learning module provides a quick overview of the main features of PRTG and a few important PRTG concepts, such as "sensors" and "sensor states", as well as an explanation of PRTG licensing. It then includes a discussion of how to get your IT infrastructure ready to be monitored, and recommendations for your PRTG system hardware and operating system.

Quick overview of PRTG (Video)

PRTG main features (Website)

What is a "sensor" in PRTG? (Knowledge Base)

What is a sensor? (Video)

Sensor States (Manual)

Sensor states (Video)

PRTG licensing (Website)

System requirements (Website)

Installation and initial configuration with smart setup

Module 2: Installation, configuration and administration

Everything you ever wanted to know about administering PRTG: in this module you'll learn how to install PRTG and activate the software. You'll also learn how to update the PRTG software, make backups of your PRTG installation or migrate to a new server.  

Auto-Update (Manual)

Auto-Update (Video)

Data Storage (Manual)

How to back up PRTG (Knowledge Base)

How to migrate PRTG to a different system (Website)

Access Rights Management (Manual)

PRTG Administration Tool (Manual)

PRTG Administration Tool (Video)

Quick Start Guide (Manual)

Installation and initial configuration with smart setup (Video)

Activate the Product (Manual)

Distributed monitoring with remote probes

Module 3: PRTG architecture and components

What's a core server? What's a remote probe? This module explains the PRTG components and user interfaces, and gives an overview of the layout of the user interface. It then covers remote probes, and scenarios where remote probes are helpful. For those who require high-availability for their monitoring, this module also includes optional details about clustering in PRTG. 

Architecture and User Interfaces (Manual) 

PRTG apps for iOS or Android (Website)

PRTG MultiBoard (Website)

General Layout (Manual)

Main Menu Structure (Manual)

Remote Probes and Multiple Probes (Manual)

Distributed monitoring with PRTG (Video)

How to install a remote probe (Website)

Cluster in PRTG – This is how it works (Video)

Failover Cluster (Manual)

What is the clustering feature in PRTG? (Knowledge Base)

How to set up a PRTG cluster (Video)

How to set up a failover cluster in PRTG (Website)

Auto-Discovery (Manual)

Auto-Discovery (Manual)

Module 4: Working with the device tree

In this module, you'll learn how to structure your device tree, to arrange PRTG exactly the way you'd like. You'll learn about the PRTG object hierarchy and inheritance, and how to arrange the device tree to take advantage of inheritance. This e-learning module covers manual changes to the device tree, auto-discovery, libraries (alternative views of the tree), and device templates.

What options do I have to review my monitoring data in detail? (Knowledge Base)

Object Hierarchy (Manual)

Inheritance of Settings (Manual)

How to edit the device tree (Video)

Manage Device Tree (Manual)

Auto-Discovery (Manual)

Device and Sensor Setup (Manual)

How to use libraries in PRTG (Website)

Libraries in PRTG (Video)

Create Device Templates (Manual)

Dependencies (Manual)

Scheduling (Manual)

Priorities and Favorites (Manual)

Creating SNMP sensors

Module 5: Basic sensor technologies

Now that you know how to structure your device tree, it's time to learn about sensors. This module covers the most common protocols used by PRTG sensors, and how to configure basic sensors. It covers SNMP sensors and bandwidth sensors in detail, so you'll learn how to set up the most important PRTG sensor types.

What is a sensor? (Video)

List of Available Sensor Types (Manual)

Add a Sensor (Manual)

How to add sensor manually (Video)

When does a sensor change state? (Video)

Monitoring via SNMP (Manual)

SNMP basics (Video)

Monitoring via WMI (Manual)

Monitoring via SSH (Manual)

Bandwidth Monitoring Comparison (Manual)

Bandwidth monitoring methods (Video)

Bandwidth monitoring with SNMP and WMI (Video)

Bandwidth monitoring with flow and packet sniffing (Video)

Monitoring Bandwidth via Flows (Manual)

Monitoring Bandwidth via Packet Sniffing (Manual)

Flow and Packet Sniffer sensors

Module 6: Advanced sensor technologies

This module covers some of the more advanced PRTG sensors, such as custom sensors, receiver sensors and aggregate sensors. By the end of this module, you'll be able to set up your own custom SNMP sensors, custom script sensors and flow sensors. This module also includes discussion of how to monitor specific areas of your infrastructure, such as virtualization environments or VoIP.

List of Custom Sensors (Manual)

SNMP Custom and SNMP Library Custom sensors (Video)

Receiver sensors:

Bandwidth monitoring with flow and packet sniffing (Video)

List of Web Server (HTTP) Sensors (Manual)

SNMP Trap receiver and syslog receiver sensors (Video)

Composite sensors:

Sensor Factory sensor (Video)

How can I use the Business Process sensor? (Knowledge Base)

Monitoring specific areas of your
IT infrastructure:

Web server monitoring (Video)

Monitoring Databases (Manual)

Monitoring Virtual Environments (Manual)

Application Monitoring (White Paper)

Monitoring Quality of Service (Manual)

Introduction to notifications

Module 7: Limits, triggers and notifications

This module shows you how to set up thresholds for your sensors, so you can see immediately when there's a problem in your network. In this module, you'll learn how and where to set up sensor limits, how to set up notifications, and how to trigger those notifications. 

When does a sensor change its status? (Video)

How to set channel limits (Video)

Notifications (Video)

Notifications (Manual)

Notification Delivery (Manual)

Notification Contacts (Manual)

Notification Templates (Manual)

How to set up notifications via the PRTG web interface (Website)

Channel Settings (Manual)

Notification Triggers Settings (Manual)

Use cases for notifications (Video)

What placeholders can I use for PRTG? (Knowledge Base)

Creating maps

Module 8: Maps (dashboards) and reports

This module covers methods to see the results of your monitoring: real-time dashboards, geographical maps, and historical reports. By the end of this module, you'll be able to create your own graphical dashboards, be able to display your devices on a geographical map, and be able to generate custom reports. 

Maps and Geo Maps:

Maps (Manual)

Map Designer (Manual)

Creating maps (Video)

Geo Maps (Manual)

Which domains and ports does the Geo Maps feature use? (Knowledge Base)

How to create dashboards in PRTG with the Maps feature (Website)

Reporting in PRTG:

Reports (Manual)

Report Settings (Manual)

Historic Data Reports (Manual)

How to set up reports in PRTG (Website)

Knowledge Base overview

Paessler Knowledge Base

Module 9: Resources and debugging

What to do, when you don't know what to do? This e-learning module introduces the most important resources for learning more about PRTG: the manual, the knowledge base, and the video tutorials. It then covers the free tools Paessler offers to help you debug problems, and links to the most common issues with PRTG, including tips on how to fix them.

General resources:

PRTG Manual

Paessler Knowledge Base

Video tutorials

Free network tools from Paessler

Common issues:

My SNMP sensors don't work (Knowledge Base)

My WMI sensors don't work (Knowledge Base)

Frequent Questions about Flow (NetFlow, sFlow), Packet Sniffing, Traffic Monitoring and Cisco (Knowledge Base)

How to open a support ticket (Video)

Logs (Manual)

Products

  • Paessler PRTG
    Paessler PRTGMonitor your whole IT infrastructure
    • PRTG Network Monitor
    • PRTG Enterprise Monitor
    • PRTG Hosted Monitor
    • PRTG extensions
      Extensions for Paessler PRTGExtend your monitoring to a new level
  • Icon Features
    FeaturesExplore all monitoring features

Monitoring with PRTG

  • Network monitoring
  • Bandwidth monitoring
  • SNMP monitoring
  • Network mapping
  • Wi-Fi monitoring
  • Server monitoring
  • Network traffic analyzer
  • NetFlow monitoring
  • Syslog server

Useful Links

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  • PRTG Consulting

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Paessler GmbH
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Germany

info@paessler.com

+49 911 93775-0

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