PRTG Server Administrator
In the PRTG Server Administrator program you can define different system-oriented settings that affect your PRTG installation, as well as restart services and view log information. Note: To get familiar with the different components of PRTG, we recommend reading the Architecture section.
Note: All settings made here are only valid for the local installation running on the computer you're opening the program on. In order to change settings for another installation, for example, another cluster node installation, please log in to this computer and open the program there.
From the PRTG Network Monitor group in Windows start menu, please select PRTG Server Administrator to open the application. You can choose from these options in different tabs:
When closing the program using the Ok button, you are asked to restart the core server Windows service in order to save the settings. Please confirm by clicking the Yes button. Otherwise the changes are ignored.
Edit IPs, ports, access methods and language for the Ajax and HTML GUI web interfaces.
Web Server—Select TCP Port for PRTG's Web Server
PRTG is running a web server in order to provide the web and Windows interface. Please specify on which port this web server will run.
HTTPS (Port 443)
- This is the recommended setting.
- Use a secure HTTPS connection that is encrypted via SSL on port 443.
- SSL-secured connections can be established on port 443 only.
- Note: Although the connection is secure, you will see a certificate warning in your browser when logging in to the PRTG web interface, because the default certificate is unknown to your browser. You can install another SSL certificate for PRTG later. Please see the More section below.
- Note: If port 80 is free, PRTG will reserve it as well. When users try to connect on port 80 via HTTP, they will then be redirected to port 443 via HTTPS. You can change this behavior later. Please see the More section below.
HTTP (Port 80)
- This setting is not recommended for WAN connections.
- Use a standard web server without SSL encryption on port 80.
- Note: If used on the Internet, attackers could potentially spy on credentials you enter into PRTG. We strongly recommend using this option in a LAN only.
HTTP using TCP Port
- This setting is not recommended for WAN connections.
- Use a standard web server without SSL encryption on a custom port.
- This option is intended for systems with an existing web server.
- Enter the desired TCP port you want the PRTG web server to run on.
- Note: If used on the Internet, attackers could potentially spy on credentials you enter into PRTG. We strongly recommend using this option in a LAN only.
Web Server—Select IP Address for PRTG's Web Server
PRTG is running a web server in order to provide access via the web and Windows interface. Please specify which IP address this web server will run on. Note: Later, you can log into PRTG by simply pointing your browser to the specified IP address.
Localhost
- Use 127.0.0.1 only.
- PRTG's web and Windows interface will only be accessible from the computer PRTG is installed on.
- Note: Either the selected port or at least one port in the range from 8080 to 8089 has to be available on 127.0.0.1.
All IPs
- Use all IP addresses available on this computer and enable access to the web server for all of these addresses.
- Note: The TCP port selected above must be free on every available IP address.
Specify IPs
- Select specific IP addresses on which the PRTG Web server will run on.
- A list specific to your system is shown.
- Add a check mark in front of every IP address you want the PRTG web server to be available at.
- Note: Either the selected port or at least one port in the range from 8080 to 8089 has to be available on the specified IP address.
Note: Regardless of the selected setting above, one port in the range from 8080 to 8180 has to be available on the specified IP address so PRTG can create reports. The report engine will try to connect to the core server on one of these ports.
Select System Language
- Choose the language for this program from the drop down menu. Default is English. Depending on your installation, you may be able to choose other languages here.
- This setting will influence the language of this program, as well as the Ajax and the HTML GUI web interfaces.
Define settings for the core server.
Core Server—Probe Connection Management
In this section you can define how PRTG handles incoming connections from probes. Choose between several options.
Accept connections from the Local Probe only
- This is the default setting.
- Only local probe connections will be accepted by the PRTG core server.
- You cannot use remote probes with this setting enabled.
Accept connections from remote probes on all IPs
- Incoming connections from remote probes will always be accepted, no matter on which IP address of the core server they come in.
Accept connections from remote probes on selected IPs only
- Incoming connections from remote probes will only be accepted on the selected IP address(es) of the core server.
- In the list, select the IP addresses by adding a check mark in front the IPs.
Core Server—Probe Connections Port
In this section you can define on which TCP port number PRTG listens to for incoming probe connections. Enter a port number. We recommend using the default value.
Core Server—Local Storage of Data Files and Monitoring Database
- Define the data folder to which PRTG will store configuration and monitoring data. Define a path or click on the Revert to default folder to reset to default. Note: Before changing the path, make sure you stop both services and copy all data to the new location.
- When enabling the Use NTFS based file compression option, you will save disk space, but you will experience a higher CPU load on the core system.
In the Cluster tab you can manually change how the current core installation will behave in a cluster. Before changing settings here, please read Install a PRTG Cluster section.
Cluster Mode
Depending on the current installation, you can choose between different cluster modes.
- Standalone: Do not integrate the current core installation in a PRTG cluster, but run a standalone installation only.
- Cluster Node: Master Node: Make this core installation the master node of a cluster. In every cluster there may only exist one master node.
- Cluster Node: Failover Node: Make this core installation a failover node in a cluster. There may be several failover nodes in one cluster. This option is only available on installations that are already configured as a failover node. In order to convert a standalone or master node installation into a failover node, you have to join the cluster. Please see More section below for detailed instructions on how to join an existing cluster.
Cluster Access Key
- This is a unique access key. All nodes in a cluster have to be configured with the same cluster access key in order to join the cluster. Connection attempts with the wrong access key will be rejected.
Own Node ID
- This field is shown for information purposes only. It shows the automatically generated node ID which identifies the current core installation in the cluster.
Join a PRTG cluster...
- Click the Join a PRTG cluster... button to start an assistant that helps you join this installation of PRTG as a failover node into an existing cluster. Please see More section below for detailed instructions on this.
PRTG shows several graphs in the object's detail pages in the web interface. These are saved in RAM memory for fast display. The longer the time frames and the shorter the intervals are, the more memory will be used. You can adapt the details for all four graphs. This setting will also affect the description of the object's tabs in the web interface.
Live
For the live graph, no fixed time span is given, but you can define how many values will be displayed. The actual time span covered by the live graph depends on the scanning interval set for the object you're viewing the graph of. As example, the time span for the default interval of one minute is given. Other intervals will result in different time spans. Choose between:
- 60 Values: This corresponds to a live graph covering a time span of one hour if a 1 minute scanning interval is set.
- 120 Values: This corresponds to a live graph covering a time span of two hours if a 1 minute scanning interval is set.
- 240 Values: This corresponds to a live graph covering a time span of four hours if a 1 minute scanning interval is set.
- 480 Values: This corresponds to a live graph covering a time span of eight hours if a 1 minute scanning interval is set.
- 960 Values: This corresponds to a live graph covering a time span of 16 hours if a 1 minute scanning interval is set.
Graph 1
By default, this is the 2 days graph in the web interface. You can change it to more or less detail by choosing a time span covered and a monitoring interval average associated with it. Choose between:
- 1 day with 1 minute averages
- 1 day with 5 minutes averages
- 1 day with 15 minutes averages
- 2 days with 1 minute averages
- 2 days with 5 minutes averages
- 2 days with 15 minutes averages
- 4 days with 1 hour averages
Graph 2
By default, this is the 30 days graph in the web interface. You can change it to more or less detail by choosing a time span covered and a monitoring interval average associated with it. Choose between:
- 10 days with 1 hour averages
- 20 days with 1 hour averages
- 30 days with 1 hour averages
- 30 days with 6 hour averages
- 40 days with 1 hour averages
- 40 days with 6 hour averages
- 60 days with 1 hour averages
- 60 days with 6 hour averages
Graph 3
By default, this is the 365 days graph in the web interface. You can change it to more or less detail by choosing a time span covered and a monitoring interval average associated with it. Choose between:
- 100 days with 1 day averages
- 200 days with 1 day averages
- 365 days with 1 day averages
- 400 days with 1 day averages
- 750 days with 1 day averages
Enter the administrator's contact email address and define login credentials for PRTG.
Email Address
- Enter a valid administrator's email address.
- By default, PRTG will send notifications and important messages to this address.
Login Name
- Enter a name for the PRTG administrator login; this is your default login.
- It is used when logging in to the PRTG Web- or Windows interface.
- If you do not change this setting, the default login name prtgadmin is used.
Password
- Enter a password for the PRTG administrator login; this is your default login.
- It is used when logging in to the PRTG Web- or Windows interface.
- If you do not change this setting, the default password prtgadmin is used.
Confirm Password
- Re-enter the password for the PRTG administrator login.
- If you do not change this setting, the default password prtgadmin is used.
To use a PRTG license with this installation of PRTG, please enter the license information you have received from Paessler via email. To avoid typing errors, please copy and paste the name and the key from the email.
PRTG Server Administrator License Tab
To make sure your key has been entered correctly please click on the Check Key button. A popup box will either show success or denial of your license information. In the Licensed Edition field you will see an accepted licence key. Please remember to activate your license in the web interface. For more details, please see Activate the Product section.
Note: You have to use the right edition for your license key. For example, the installer for trial and Freeware edition does not accept any commercial keys. For more information, please see Enter a License Key section.
You can stop and start the core server Windows service manually. Click the Stop Core Server button to stop the service, and Start Core Server to start it again. Both actions usually take from a few seconds up to several minutes to complete.
Note: If you want to schedule an automatic restart of Windows services for both core server and probe service, please do so using the PRTG Probe Administrator. For more details see PRTG Probe Administrator (Start/Stop) section.
You can view several logs of your PRTG installation. The following buttons are available:
- View Today's Webserver Log
Directly view the content of the web server log for the current date. - View Core Server System Log
Directly view the content of the core server system log. Depending on the number of entries, it may take a few seconds until the logs are shown. - Open Log Folder...
Open the log file directory on your hard disk drive to access older web log files, etc. - Send Logs to Paessler...
Open an assistant to send log files to the Paessler support team. Please see below.
When opening a support ticket, Paessler support may ask you to send log files for further analysis. Using the Send Logs to Paessler... button, PRTG will automatically collect, compress and send your log files.
Name
- Please enter your name.
- Please enter your valid email address.
Ticket No.
- This field is optional.
- If you have already opened a ticket at Paessler support, please provide the ticket number you received. Your files will then be associated with your ticket automatically.
- Please enter the ticket number starting with PAE followed by four or more digits.
- If you do not have a ticket number, please leave the field empty. Note: You should usually contact the support team before sending any files.
Configuration
- Define if your configuration file will be included in the data. Passwords are usually encrypted, but there may be some passwords stored as plain text.
Click on the Send button to start data upload. Please make sure FTP and HTTP connections are allowed on this machine.
Displays version information for installed PRTG programs. Click on the Open Support Ticket button to ask the Paessler support team for help. This will open a new web browser window.
Knowledge Base: 10 Steps to Set Up a Cluster—Scenario 3: You've Set Up Two PRTG 8 Installations Already
Keywords: Configure PRTG Server