Notifications

"Notifications" are used to send alerts to the user whenever PRTG discovers a defined state, such as slow or failing sensors, or when thresholds are reached. You can define an unlimited number of notifications allowing to use one, or more, of several communication channels like email, pager, SMS messaging, and many more.

Overview

Notifications can be triggered by:

• Sensor status changes (a sensor goes down or up, responses are slow or the sensors show an unusual status).
• When the measured value reaches a specific threshold (e.g. higher than 1,000 ms request time for more than 30 minutes).
• Reaching a specific speed threshold (e.g. more than 1 Mbit/s for more than 5 minutes. Traffic sensors only).
• Reaching a specific data volume threshold (e.g. more than 1 Gbyte transferred in 24 hours. Traffic sensors only).

Notifications can be sent by:

• Send Email: PRTG provides a built-in mail server (uses MX records to deliver emails) or can use an available SMTP relay. Please see "Check Notification Delivery Settings" in this section.
• Add Entry to Event Log: Write an entry into the local system event log.
• Send Network Broadcast (NET SEND): Send a message using Windows' NET SEND command (Note: NetSend is no longer supported on computers running Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7).
• Send Syslog Message: Send a message to a Syslog server.
• Send SNMP Trap: Send a message to a computer running a trap receiver.
• Send ICQ or MSN Message: Send a message via instant messenger. Please see "Check Notification Delivery Settings" in this section.
• Send SMS/Pager Message: Send SMS or pager message through third party services. Please see "Check Notification Delivery Settings" in this section.
• Execute HTTP Action: Send postdata to a URL.
• Execute Program: Run an external program or batch file.
• Play Sound File: Play a sound via external speakers of the system running the PRTG core (sound card required).

Notifications contain valuable sensor information, such as:

• Last error message.
• Last good/failed request.
• Total downtime.
• Total uptime.
• Recent sensor history.

You can use various placeholders in your message. Some are already filled in by default. For a list of all placeholders, please refer to the Knowledge Base article at the end of this section ("More").

Using Notifications

There are three steps to take in order to use notifications with PRTG:

1. In the "System Setup", check the "Notification Delivery Settings".
2. In the "Account Settings", create/edit notifications for later use.
3. In an object's settings, create triggers that invoke your notifications.

Check Notification Delivery Settings

Before using certain notification methods, a general one-time administrator setup is required. Please refer to the section "Notification Delivery Settings" in System Administration - Edit System Setup.

Creating Notifications

To create or edit notifications, choose "Setup | Notifications" from the main menu. Click a name to edit a notification or click on "Add new notification" to create a new one:

You can enable one or more communication types by checking the respective checkboxes. Then, fill out the specific settings for each type. Refer to the help messages next to the form fields for more information. Be sure to enter a meaningful name for the notification to make it easier for you to find it later in the notification trigger settings.

How To Trigger Notifications

A notification is sent by a trigger. These connect sensors and notifications. PRTG supports five different trigger types:

• State Triggers: Trigger a notification when a sensor enters an DOWN, WARNING or UNUSUAL state. For state triggers, there are also escalation notifications available (see below).
• Speed Triggers: Trigger a notifications when a traffic sensor reaches a certain bandwidth limit for a specified time.
• Volume Triggers: Trigger a notification when a traffic sensor has reached a certain volume limit in a specified time.
• Threshold Triggers: Trigger out notifications when certain values are measured by a sensor.
• Change Triggers: Change triggers are triggered by some sensors whenever the content of a file or the event log has changed.

It is recommended to define triggers for notifications on a group or device level. Sensors will then inherit these settings (see Inheritance of Settings). The advantage is that you can change notifications for multiple sensors by merely editing the notification settings on the group level.

Editing of the notification triggers takes place under the "Notifications" tabs of probes, groups, devices and sensors:

You can add as many triggers of each type as desired (e.g. one trigger for "DOWN" events and another one for "UNUSUAL" events). This even includes several triggers for one single sensor  channel (e.g. you can create a bunch of Threshold Triggers for several different thresholds of one sensor channel). Click on Add Trigger, fill out the edit fields and click on Save.

State Trigger(s)

When editing state triggers you will see the following settings:

• Condition: Select the condition under which a notification is triggered (e.g. Down, Warning, Unusual).
• Latency: Latency is used to defer a notification for a specified time, e.g. to give a server or service the chance to recover from failure or to avoid being spammed with notifications just because a data line was offline for three seconds. For example, if you set the latency for a trigger to 60 seconds, the notification will also be sent if the failure situation remains active for 61 seconds.
• On Notification: This notification will be sent when the trigger becomes active (e.g. a sensor goes down for a state trigger with condition "Down").
• Off Notification: This notification will be sent when the trigger becomes inactive (e.g. a sensor goes up for a state trigger with condition "Down").

State Trigger(s) Escalation Notifications

If an error situation remains unsolved for some time, it is a good idea to send additional notifications (e.g. with a more aggressive recipient list) called Escalation Notifications. You can set the latency time to control when escalations are sent and you can also choose to repeat escalation mails every X minutes.

• Esc. Latency: This is the latency time after which escalation notifications will be sent.
• Esc. Notification: The notification that will be sent.
• Repeat Every: If this value is unequal to zero the notification will be re-sent at the specified interval.

Speed Trigger(s)

When editing speed triggers you will see the following settings:

• Channel: Select a channel which is used to compare the given values with (e.g. Primary, Sum, Traffic In, Traffic Out).
• Condition: Select the condition under which a notification is triggered (e.g. Above, Below, Equal, Not Equal).
• Value: The value you want to compare with.
• Scale: The scale for the value entered.
• Time: The time after which the counter is reset (e.g. second, minute, hour, day). Together with "Scale", you can enter notations like "bit per second" or "MByte per day" etc.
• Latency: Latency is used to defer a notification for a specified time, e.g. to give a server or service the chance to recover from failure or to avoid being spammed with notifications just because a data line was low for three seconds. For example, if you set the latency for a trigger to 60 seconds, the notification will also be sent if the failure situation remains active for 61 seconds.

• On Notification: This notification will be sent when the trigger becomes active (e.g. a sensor goes over a specified speed with condition "Above").
• Off Notification: This notification will be sent when the trigger becomes inactive (e.g. a sensor goes back below a specified speed with condition "Above").

Volume Trigger(s)

When editing volume triggers you will see the following settings:

• Channel: Select a channel which is used to compare the given values with (e.g. Primary, Sum, Traffic In, Traffic Out).
• Value: The value you want to compare with.

• Scale: The scale for the value entered.

• Period: The time after which the counter is reset (e.g. Hour, Day, Week, Month). Together with "Scale", you can enter notations like "KByte per Hour" or "GByte per Month" etc.
• On Notification: This notification will be sent when the trigger becomes active (e.g. a sensor goes above a specified volume).

Threshold Trigger(s)

When editing threshold triggers you will see the following settings:

• Channel: Select a channel which is used to compare the given values with (e.g. Primary, Sum).

• Condition: Select the condition under which a notification is triggered (e.g. Above, Below, Equal, Not Equal).

• Value: The value you want to compare with.

• Latency: Latency is used to defer a notification for a specified time, e.g. to give a server or service the chance to recover from failure or to avoid being spammed with notifications just because a data line was low for three seconds. For example, if you set the latency for a trigger to 60 seconds, the notification will also be sent if the failure situation remains active for 61 seconds.

• On Notification: This notification will be sent when the trigger becomes active (e.g. a sensor goes over a specified threshold with condition "Above").
• Off Notification: This notification will be sent when the trigger becomes inactive (e.g. a sensor goes below a specified threshold with condition "Above").

Change Trigger(s)

When editing change triggers you will see the following settings:

• Notification: Only the notification can be selected here. Change triggers are triggered by some sensors themselves.

More

• Section "Notification Delivery Settings" in System Administration - Edit System Setup
• Account Settings - Edit Notifications
• Paessler Knowledge Base: PRTG 7 Placeholder Overview
  http://www.paessler.com/support/kb/prtg7/placeholder_overview/

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