<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: System Administration—Notification Delivery

To open the system administration, select Setup | System Administration from the main menu bar. Select the various tabs to change the different settings.

System Administration Bar

System Administration Bar

You can define the following aspects of your PRTG system setup:

In the Notification Delivery settings, you can define and test global settings for notification delivery. If you do not want to use a specific notification method, just leave the respective fields empty.

icon-prtg-on-premisesIf you use PRTG on premises and open the system administration page from another administration page, PRTG asks you to enter your credentials again for security reasons if 15 minutes (900 seconds) have passed since your last credential-based login. A dialog box appears. Enter your Login Name and Password for PRTG in the corresponding fields and confirm to continue.

Note

This section describes one of four steps to set up the notification system in PRTG. To complete your notification setup, go through all of the following steps:

  1. Check and set up the Notification Delivery settings to define how and to which recipient PRTG sends messages.
    For detailed information, see section System Administration—Notification Delivery.
  2. Check and set up Notification Contacts for PRTG users so that you can define them as recipients of notifications.
    For detailed information, see section Account Settings—Notification Contacts.
  3. Check and set up Notification Templates to define the notification methods and their content.
    For detailed information, see section Account Settings—Notification Templates.
    icon-i-roundYou can also check or edit notification templates via the Notification Triggers tab. For more information, see section Sensor Notification Triggers Settings.
  4. Check and set up Notification Triggers for objects to define when notification messages are sent.
    For detailed information, see section Sensor Notification Triggers Settings.

icon-i-roundWe recommend that you always set up at least two notifications with different delivery methods for a notification trigger, for example, one email notification and one SMS notification. If delivery via email fails (because of an email server failure or other reasons), PRTG can still notify you via your smartphone. Set your latency setting to a state trigger and a notification via a different delivery method than the one for the first trigger. Or set up a second trigger with another notification for the corresponding object.

icon-book-arrowsFor background information, see section Notifications.

Notification Delivery Settings

icon-i-roundThis documentation refers to the PRTG System Administrator user accessing the PRTG web interface on a master node. If you use other user accounts, interfaces, or nodes, you might not see all of the options in the way described here. If you use a cluster installation, note that failover nodes are read-only by default.

SMTP Delivery

SMTP Delivery Mechanism

Define how PRTG sends emails using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP):

  • Direct delivery using built-in email relay server (default): Use the SMTP relay server built into PRTG. This server manages its own email queue. For each email, it looks up the target SMTP server via the MX record of the target domain, and sends the email.
  • Use SMTP relay server (recommended in LANs/NATs): Set up your own SMTP relay server to send emails. Enter data below.
  • Use two SMTP relay servers (primary and fallback server): Set up two SMTP relay servers—one as primary and one as fallback server. Enter data below.

icon-i-roundIf you monitor the IT infrastructure in your network address translation (NAT) or LAN, using your own LAN-based relay server ensures faster delivery of notification emails.

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

Sender Email

Enter an email address to use as sender of all emails. This setting is global and applies to all email notifications by default. You can override the sender email in the settings of individual Notifications.

Sender Name

Enter a name to use as sender of all emails. This setting is global and applies to all email notifications by default. You can override the sender name in the settings of individual Notifications.

HELO Ident

Enter the HELO Ident for SMTP. This must be a unique name, preferably the Domain Name System (DNS) name of the machine running PRTG. See SMTP RFC 2821: The sender-SMTP must ensure that the domain parameter in a HELO command is a valid principal host domain name for the client host.

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

SMTP Relay Server

This field is only visible if you enable SMTP relay server above. Enter the IP address or DNS name of the SMTP relay server.

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

SMTP Relay SMTP Port

This field is only visible if you enable SMTP relay server above. Enter the port number that the SMTP relay server runs on. The standard port is 25.

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

SMTP Relay Authentication

This field is only visible if you enable SMTP relay server above. Select the kind of authentication required for the SMTP server:

  • No authentication is required: Use SMTP without authentication.
  • Use standard SMTP authentication: Use standard authentication.
  • SASL authentication is required: Use secure authentication via Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL).

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

SMTP Relay User

This field is only visible if you enable Use standard SMTP authentication above. Enter a valid username.

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

SMTP Relay Password

This field is only visible if you enable Use standard SMTP authentication above. Enter a valid password.

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

Encrypt Connection

This field is only visible if you enable SMTP relay server above. Define the security level for SMTP connections:

  • If supported by the server (default): Use a secure connection (default).
  • Never: Use a connection that is not secure with plain text transfer.

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

Encryption Method

This setting is only visible if you enable SMTP relay server and encryption above. It is only relevant for secure connections. Select the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) version that your SMTP device supports.We recommend that you use the default value. If you do not get a connection, try with another setting. Choose from:

  • SSL V2 or V3 (default)
  • SSL V3
  • TLS 1.0
  • TLS 1.1
  • TLS 1.2

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

SMTP Relay Server (Fallback)

These fields are only visible if you enable the option for two SMTP relay servers above. See also the settings that you made for your primary SMTP relay server.

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

SMTP Relay SMTP Port (Fallback)

SMTP Relay Authentication (Fallback)

Encrypt Connection (Fallback)

Encryption Method (Fallback)

SMTP Relay User (Fallback)

SSL Method (Fallback)

SMTP Relay User (Fallback)

SMTP Relay Password (Fallback)

Test SMTP Settings

Click Test SMTP Settings to test your SMTP notification delivery configuration.

  • Email Address: Enter an email address to send the test email notification to.
  • Subject: Enter a subject for the test email notification.

icon-prtg-on-demandThis option is not available in PRTG hosted by Paessler.

SMS Delivery

icon-i-roundAlthough PRTG has built-in support for the application programming interface (API) of some SMS providers, we cannot officially provide support regarding these SMS service providers. If you have technical questions about SMS delivery beyond PRTG, contact your SMS provider directly.

icon-i-roundInstead of using a preconfigured provider, you can always use a custom URL that enables you to use extended parameters (this is also an alternative when using providers for which we offer preconfigured options).

You need an internet connection to send text messages via the HTTP API.

icon-book-bulbFor information about sending SMS via separate hardware using third-party software, see the Knowledge Base: How can I send SMS text message notifications via a modem or a mobile phone with PRTG?

Configuration Mode

Define how you want to select an SMS provider:

  • Select an SMS provider from a list of providers: Select a provider from a list below.
  • Enter a custom URL for a provider not listed: Use another provider and enter the service URL manually below.

Service Provider

This field is only visible if you enable Select an SMS provider from a list of providers above. Select a service provider from the list. PRTG offers a small, incomplete list of providers.

icon-book-bulbSome providers might require a port configuration in your firewall. For details, see the Knowledge Base: Which URLs does PRTG use for its preconfigured SMS providers?

User

This field is only visible if you enable Select an SMS provider from a list of providers above. Enter a username for the service provider account.

Password

This field is only visible if you enable Select an SMS provider from a list of providers above. Enter a password for the service provider account.

API ID / Account

This field is only visible if you enable Select an SMS provider from a list of providers above. Some providers need an additional API ID or account information. If provided, enter it here. Enter a string or leave the field empty.

Custom URL

This field is only visible if you enable Enter a custom URL for a provider not listed above. From the documentation of your SMS provider, enter the service URL that is used to send SMS messages.

Use the following placeholders for the recipient phone number and the text message:

  • %SMSNUMBER
  • %SMSTEXT

icon-i-roundUse the GET method to request the custom URL. POST requests are not supported.

Custom SNI

Select if PRTG sends the Server Name Identification (SNI) extension to the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol along with the HTTP request:

  • Do not send SNI (default): PRTG does not send the SNI when executing the HTTP action.
  • Send SNI: PRTG sends the SNI when calling the target URL. Specify the SNI below.

Virtual Host (SNI)

This field is only visible if you enable Send SNI above. Enter the SNI name that your endpoint configuration requires. Usually, this is the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the virtual host.

Encoding for SMS

Define the encoding of the URL string that PRTG sends to your provider:

  • UTF-8
  • UTF-16

Maximum Length of Text

Some SMS providers do not allow SMS messages that exceed a certain amount of characters. PRTG restricts the number of characters according to the length specified in this field. A value of 0 means the SMS is sent at its full length.

Test SMS Settings

Click Test SMS Settings to test your SMS notification delivery configuration.

  • Number: Enter a phone number to send the test SMS notification to.
  • Message: Enter a message for the test SMS notification.

icon-i-roundThe notification methods Send SMS/Pager Message and Execute HTTP Action use the central proxy settings defined for your PRTG core server. For details, see section System Administration—Core & Probes (section Proxy Configuration).

icon-i-round-redSave your settings. If you change tabs or use the main menu, all changes to the settings are lost.

More

Knowledge Base: How can I send SMS text message notifications via a modem or a mobile phone with PRTG?

Knowledge Base: Why do I get a connection timeout message when sending SMS via bulksms?

Knowledge Base: Which URLs does PRTG use for its preconfigured SMS providers?

Knowledge Base: How can PRTG send instant messages to Jabber, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, etc., using external software?

Knowledge Base: Can Gmail / Google Apps / G-Suite be used for SMTP relay?

Knowledge Base: How can I enable Notification Delivery Logging?

Knowledge Base: Can I use Microsoft Office 365 as SMTP relay server for PRTG email delivery?

Others

There are some settings that you must make in the PRTG Administration Tool, available as native Windows application. For more details, see the sections:

Keywords: Configure,Configure Notification Delivery,HTTP Proxy,Notification,Notification Delivery,SMS Delivery,SMTP Delivery