<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: System Information

With the System Information feature, you can see at a glance what is going on in the systems you have in your network. You get

  • basic system data of your device like BIOS serial number or MAC and IP addresses,
  • all connected hardware types as well as their states and properties,
  • the software you have installed, including version and vendor information,
  • the users connected to your system and their domains,
  • a list of all active or stopped Windows system services plus their properties, and
  • a list of all processes running on your system, including their ID and start time.
System Information Tab on a Windows Device

System Information Tab on a Windows Device

System Information is available for all devices that you add to PRTG and run with an officially supported Windows version. You can also retrieve system information from Linux, Unix, or other devices that have the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) enabled.

icon-i-roundSome of the system information listed earlier may not be available depending on the request method you use (Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) or SNMP). To get all available information, activate both request methods, as far as possible.

Find and Use System Information

Go to the overview page of a device and click the System Information tab to see available information.

Basically, you already meet the main prerequisites for retrieving system information for your device if you already monitor a network device with WMI and SNMP sensors. The PRTG System Information feature uses the same technologies. The data is automatically displayed in the corresponding System Information table and you can directly analyze your system. If you do not use WMI or SNMP sensors yet, see section Prerequisites below that shows in detail what you need to get system information.

icon-i-blueSystem Information is enabled by default. To retrieve the data, PRTG automatically uses the Credentials for Windows Systems and the Credentials for SNMP Devices as defined in the device settings or as inherited from a parent object like the Root group. Consider this when you monitor devices outside the local network, especially when using SNMP v1 or SNMP v2c that do not provide encryption.

icon-i-roundPRTG automatically uses the SNMP Compatibility Options as defined in the device settings or as inherited from a parent object like the Root group.

icon-i-roundSystem information for your devices is for informational purposes only. We cannot guarantee that the data displayed in PRTG Network Monitor fully corresponds to the device parameters.

icon-prtg-on-demandYou cannot use this feature on the Hosted Probe of a PRTG hosted by Paessler instance. You can use this feature on remote probes.

Prerequisites

Fulfill the following requirements to show all available system information data for a device. It is not necessary to meet every single prerequisite, but then, some tables do not show all data or may even remain empty. For example, if you do not configure SNMP on the target device, you get less information for the System table.

  • Valid credentials in the device settings (or inherited): Enter correct settings for the target device in the sections Credentials for Windows Systems and Credentials for SNMP Devices.
  • Remote Registry Windows service: Enable the Remote Registry Windows service on the target computer, for example, via services.msc, and set the start type to automatic.
  • Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Windows service: Enable the RPC Windows service on the target computer, for example, via services.msc, and set the start type to automatic.
  • WMI on probe and target computer: Configure WMI on the target computer and on the probe system with the device. In particular, configure the firewall of the target computer to allow WMI. For more details, see section Monitoring via WMI and the Knowledge Base: General Introduction to WMI and PRTG.
  • SNMP on target computer: Configure SNMP on the target computer. For more details, see section Monitoring via SNMP and the Knowledge Base: General Introduction to SNMP and PRTG.

Usually, you see data coming in after a few minutes, depending on the protocols you use (WMI takes longer than SNMP). A System Information table shows an error message if PRTG cannot get data, for example, because of misconfiguration.

icon-book-bulbFor details about error messages, see the Knowledge Base: How can PRTG get data for System Information tables?

No Data Available: Check the Preconditions

No Data Available: Check the Preconditions

System Information (Device Tab)

Probe, group, device, and sensor pages have tabs that you can use to navigate between the different options. For example, you can view your network's status, view monitoring results, or change settings.

Tabs Bar on Device Level

Tabs Bar on Device Level

On the details page of a device, click the System Information tab.

icon-i-roundIf you do not see a System Information tab for your device, you need to enable System Information in section Advanced Network Monitoring in the device settings (or inherit it from an object higher in the hierarchy). System Information is enabled by default. If System Information is disabled, the System Information tab is not available for the device.

Analyze Your Systems

On the System Information page, PRTG displays a table for each system information category for this device: System, Hardware, Software, Users, Services, and Processes.

Category

System Information

Request Method

System

Show information about the device like BIOS serial number, IP addresses, MAC addresses, and Windows version.

icon-smile-blue WMI

icon-smile-blue SNMP

Hardware

Show hardware that is connected to the device like disk drives, CD/DVD, video controllers, processors, network adapters, sound devices, printers, and memory. You can see Class and Caption of a hardware device. In the Properties column, you get more information about the hardware (for example, the description).

icon-smile-blue WMI

icon-smile-blue SNMP

Software

Show installed software and the Version number on the device. In the Properties column, you get more information about the software (for example, the size).

icon-i-roundPRTG uses Uninstall registry keys to retrieve the list of installed software, so the displayed software might differ from the software that the target Windows system shows under Programs and Features.

icon-i-roundThe System Information scan for software on the probe device uses the credentials that the probe runs with and ignores credentials from the Settings tab.

icon-smile-blue WMI

icon-smile-blue SNMP

Users

Show the user accounts connected to the device and their Domain.

icon-smile-blue WMI

icon-forbidden-blue SNMP

Services

Show the available Windows services on the device. This table shows the State of the service (running, stopped) and the start type (Startmode automatic, manual, or disabled). In the Properties column, you can get more information about a service (for example, the description).

icon-smile-blue WMI

icon-forbidden-blue SNMP

Processes

Show the processes that are currently running on the device as listed on the Processes tab of the Windows Task Manager. You can also see the Start Time (only WMI) and Process ID of a process.

icon-smile-blue WMI

icon-smile-blue SNMP

Click the refresh button in the upper-right corner of a table to retrieve current information for this System Information category. The time stamp shows the time passed since the last table refresh.

Table Refresh

Table Refresh

PRTG automatically retrieves data for all tables once every 24 hours, including System, Hardware, and Software. The tables Users, Services, and Processes refresh each time you open the System Information tab. PRTG also updates all system information tables when the PRTG server is restarted, for example, after an update.

icon-i-roundPRTG can perform up to 24 system information scans simultaneously, so it may take some time until the tables are filled after a server restart.

icon-book-arrowsYou can sort each table by clicking the column headers. See section Working with Table Lists for more information.

icon-i-roundPRTG user accounts with read-only access rights can view system information on the respective device, but they cannot manually refresh tables.

Data Storage

PRTG stores data files with the retrieved system information in the corresponding \System Information Database subfolder of the PRTG Data Folder.

icon-i-roundIf you delete a device in PRTG, the system information files of this device remain in these folders unless you delete them manually.

PRTG uses the following subfolders for System Information data.

System Information Database: Data Folders

hardware

Data for the Hardware table

loggedonusers

Data for the Users table

processes

Data for the Processes table

services

Data for the Services table

software

Data for the Software table

system

Data for the System table

More

Knowledge Base: How can PRTG get data for System Information tables?

Knowledge Base: My WMI sensors don't work. What can I do?

Knowledge Base: My SNMP sensors don't work. What can I do?

Knowledge Base: My HTTP sensors don't work. What can I do?

Knowledge Base: Why do I get DoS Alarms on my QNAP?

Ajax Web Interface—Basic Procedures—Topics

Other Ajax Web Interface Sections

Keywords: