General Layout

After logging into the web interface, you will see PRTG's welcome page as default. This page helps you to add sensors manually, perform an automatic network search, review results, download the Windows-GUI or iPhone application, and get further help and support.

Tree View Layout

Click on the Review Results option to display the tree-like device view which will be a starting point for everyday use.

From top to bottom, the main layout consists of:

• The global header area with the main menu at the top, the global status bar, and a quick search box.
• The page header bar with the page heading containing the name of the current object, the tabs bar which leads to the content of the current object, and the object's status bar.
• The page content with information about the current object and all other objects underneath in the tree hierarchy.

Simply click on an object to see more details about it. In the page heading of the page header bar you always see which object you're looking at.

When you navigate through PRTG's web interface you will always use one of the following five navigational paths:

• The main menu provides access to all important aspects of the software.
• The quick search is often the fastest way to navigate to an object.
• Using the page's tabs, you can switch between various sub-pages for an object.
• Many objects offer a context menu that will pop up when you right-click them.
• Many objects offer a quick-info menu that will pop up when hovering an object
• And, finally, you are able to drill down into the object hierarchy of probes, groups, devices, and sensors in the object tree by merely clicking an sub-object of the currently displayed object (for example, a sensor on the device page).

 

These six navigation paths put PRTG's complete functionality at your fingertips. Quite likely you are already familiar with these techniques from many other websites and web-based user interfaces.

In the following, the different areas of the web interface are described.

Global Header Area

The header area of the web interface is both base for the most important information of your installation and starting point for all actions. You can view the global status and navigate through the web interface using the main menu.

Note: This documentation refers to the PRTG System Administrator user using the Ajax interface on a master node. For other users, interfaces, or nodes, not all of the options might be available as described. When using a cluster installation, failover nodes are read-only by default.

The global header area consists of the following parts:

• Blue Cluster Information Bar
  This element is only visible when running PRTG in a cluster. It shows the name of the node you are logged in and displays whether this is a master or a failover node. Click the bar to show the Cluster Status. In a failover node, you can review all data, but changes in the settings will not be saved. In order to change settings, please log into the master node of your cluster.

• Grey Main Menu Bar
  Navigating through the web interface is performed using the main menu. Please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with all menu items and sub-items. A detailed description can be found in the Main Menu Structure section.

• Icons Refresh, Help Center, Logout
  With the icons on the right you can reload the current page, open the help center or log the current user out.

• 'Breadcrumbs'
  Below the main menu, there is always a path shown, leading to the homepage. Use it to go back to where you came from. It can also help you to orient yourself in case you get lost.

• White Search Box
  To search for any monitoring object, simply enter the name, part of the name, an IP address, a DNS name or a tag in the search box on the right and hit the enter key. A web page with all items that fit the search term will be returned—even displaying online help articles.

• Yellow Help Box
  A context sensitive help text for every page is displayed in the yellow help box on the right. Click on the x symbol to close and on the question mark ? symbol to open it.

• Buttons New Log Entries, ToDo(s)
  These fields show the number of new log entries since last user login and the number of ToDo(s) that wait to be acknowledged. Click on the respective entry to view the Logs or ToDos.

• Global Sensor State Symbols
  It shows the aggregated status of all sensors you have configured for monitoring, divided into different sensor states. Depending on the sensors' status you will see colored boxes with numbers which symbolize the sensors. For example, you can see how many sensors are in Up, Down, or Warning state. Click on a box to view a list of all sensors in the respective status. For a detailed description, please see Sensor States section.

Page Header Bar

In the page header under the global header area, you see the name of the current object and the page content underneath. When displaying a group, aggregated sensor states are shown in a sensor bar and there is an option to change the tree view.

Note: This documentation refers to the PRTG System Administrator user using the Ajax interface on a master node. For other users, interfaces, or nodes, not all of the options might be available as described. When using a cluster installation, failover nodes are read-only by default.

The page header and tabs area consists of the following parts:

• Page Heading
  The first line displays the kind of the current object and the name as page heading. In the screenshot above, it is the Probe named Local probe (which contains all objects on the local system). Next to the name, there are icons to pause or delete this object, or to add another object. By clicking on the arrow, you can open the context menu for this object with even more options. For more information, please see Context Menus section.

• Tabs
  Using the tabs you can navigate to various sub-pages of an object, showing monitoring data or providing setting options. For more information, please see sections Review Sensor Data and Change Device and Sensor Settings.

• Sensor status bar
  This element is only visible when viewing a probe or group. It is not available when viewing a device's or sensor's details. The sensor status bar shows the aggregated status of all sensors for the current object, divided into different sensor states. Depending on the sensors' status you will see colored squares with numbers which symbolize the sensors. For example, you can see how many sensors are in Up, Down, or Warning state. For a detailed description, please see Sensor States section. You can hide sensors that are in a certain state by removing the check mark symbol in front of the respective sensor symbol. To show them again, re-add the check mark.

• Tree view selection
  This element is only visible when viewing a probe or group tree. It is not available when viewing a device's or sensor's details. You can select how much space is used to show devices and sensors. Switch between S (very condensed view), M, L or XL (extra large view).

Page Content

The page content of the general layout varies dependent on the selected object. It shows information about the current object and all other objects underneath in the tree hierarchy. The deeper down in the hierarchy you select an object, the more detailed is the displayed information.

By default, a Probe Device is created in the device tree on the local probe. It represents the probe system running with your PRTG installation. PRTG automatically monitors the system health of the core server and each probe in order to discover overloading situations that may distort monitoring results. To monitor the system status of the probe computer, PRTG automatically creates a few sensors. These include a Probe Health Sensor, a WMI sensor that measures disk usage, and a bandwidth sensor for all installed network cards. It is recommended to keep these sensors, but you can optionally remove all except for the Probe Health sensor. In a cluster installation, PRTG also creates a Cluster Probe Device with a Cluster Probe Health Sensor that monitors the cluster's system health.

For more details about page contents, please see the following sections:

• Review Monitoring Data
• Historic Data Reports
• Change Object Settings
• Compare Sensors
   

 

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