The SSH Remote Ping sensor remotely monitors the connectivity between a system running Linux/macOS X and another device, using Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo requests ("ping") and Secure Shell (SSH).
SSH Remote Ping Sensor
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
Sensor in Other Languages
Dutch: SSH Remote Ping
French: Ping distant (SSH)
German: SSH Remote Ping
Japanese: SSH リモート Ping 実行
Portuguese: Ping remoto (SSH)
Russian: Удаленный пинг по SSH
Simplified Chinese: SSH 远程 Ping
Spanish: Ping remoto (SSH)
Remarks
This sensor has a high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 200 of this sensor on each probe.
This sensor requires credentials for Linux/Solaris/macOS (SSH/WBEM) systems in the settings of the parent device.
This sensor does not support all Linux/Unix and macOS distributions.
If the name contains angle brackets (<>), PRTG replaces them with braces ({}) for security reasons. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?
This setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.
Tags
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.
It is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).
For performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
pingsensor
remotepingsensor
sshremotepingsensor
Priority
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority () to the highest priority ().
SSH Remote Ping Configuration
SSH Remote Ping Configuration
Setting
Description
Target
Enter the Domain Name System (DNS) name or IP address of the target device the ping is sent to. The sensor remotely connects to the parent device it is created on via SSH, then performs a ping request from this remote device to the target device or server. Enter a string.
Packet Size (Bytes)
Enter the packet size for the ping in bytes. You can enter any value between 1 and 10000. Enter an integer.
We recommend that you use the default value.
Packet Count
Enter the number of packets that the sensor sends with each scanning interval.
Custom Parameter
Optionally, enter additional parameters that the sensor adds at the end of the ping command. Enter a string or leave the field empty.
Do not use parameters that change the output format of the result to make sure that it can still be parsed. You cannot enter an additional command.
SSH Specific
SSH Specific
Setting
Description
Connection Timeout (Sec.)
Define a timeout in seconds for the connection. This is the time that the sensor waits to establish a connection to the host. Keep this value as low as possible. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).
Make sure that the connection timeout is a value that is higher than the shell timeout to avoid potential errors.
Shell Timeout (Sec.)
Define a timeout in seconds for the shell response. This is the time in seconds the sensor waits for the shell to return a response after it has sent its specific command (for example, cat /proc/loadavg). The maximum value is 300 seconds (5 minutes). Enter an integer.
Make sure that the shell timeout is a value that is lower than the connection timeout to avoid potential errors.
SSH Port
Define which port this sensor uses for the SSH connection:
Inherit from parent device (default): Use the SSH engine that you defined in the parent device settings or higher up in the object hierarchy. If you have not changed the SSH engine, this is the recommended option.
Default: This is the default SSH engine. It provides the best performance and security. It is set by default in objects that are higher up in the hierarchy, so usually you can keep the Inherit from parent device (default) option.
Compatibility mode (deprecated): Use this only if the default SSH engine does not work on a target device. The compatibility mode is the SSH engine that PRTG used in previous versions. It is deprecated. We will remove this legacy mode soon, so try to get your SSH sensors to run with the default SSH engine.
We strongly recommend that you use the default SSH engine.
The option you select here overrides the selection of the SSH engine in a higher object: a parent device, group, probe, or root.
Result Handling
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt, Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt, and Result of Sensor [ID] (SSHv2).txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.
Store result in case of error: Store the last sensor result only if the sensor shows the Down status.
This option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.
In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.
Sensor Display
Sensor Display
Setting
Description
Primary Channel
Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.
Graph Type
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).
Stack Unit
This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above.
Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.
Inherited Settings
By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window (default).
Access Rights
Access Rights
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
Channel List
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel
Description
Avg. Response
The average response time measured from the remote device
Downtime
In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status
Max Response
The maximum response time measured from the remote device
Min Response
The minimum response time measured from the remote device
Packet Loss
The packet loss (%)
This channel is the primary channel by default.
More
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Which encryption algorithms do PRTG SSH sensors support?