<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: WMI Service Sensor

The WMI Service sensor monitors a Windows service via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).

WMI Service Sensor

WMI Service Sensor

i_square_cyanFor a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

  • Dutch: WMI Service
  • French: Service (WMI)
  • German: WMI Dienst
  • Japanese: WMI サービス
  • Portuguese: Serviço (WMI)
  • Russian: Служба WMI
  • Simplified Chinese: WMI 服务
  • Spanish: Servicio (WMI)

Remarks

  • This sensor has a high performance impact. Try to stay below 200 WMI sensors in total per probe. Above this number, consider using multiple remote probes for load balancing.
  • This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems in the settings of the parent device.
  • This sensor requires WoW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) for target systems that run Windows Server 2016.
  • This sensor supports the IPv6 protocol.

i_podYou cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.

Add Sensor

The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the settings that are required to create the sensor. You can change nearly all settings on the sensor's Settings tab after creation.

WMI Service Monitor

Setting

Description

services

Select the services that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each service that you select.

i_round_blueEnable check boxes in front of the respective lines to select the items. Use the check box in the table header to select all items or to cancel the selection. In large tables, use the search function in the upper-right corner.

i_round_blueThe name and description appear in the language of the device's Windows installation.

i_round_blueAfter creation, the sensor shows the Down status if the service does not run.

Basic Sensor Settings

Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.

Basic Sensor Settings

Basic Sensor Settings

Setting

Description

Sensor Name

Enter a name to identify the sensor.

Parent Tags

Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.

i_round_blueThis 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.

i_round_blueIt is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).

i_round_blueFor 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:

  • wmiservicesensor
  • servicesensor

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 (i_priority_1) to the highest priority (i_priority_5).

i_round_blueUsually, a sensor connects to the IP Address/DNS Name of the parent device. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings.

WMI Service Monitor

WMI Service Monitor

WMI Service Monitor

Setting

Description

If Service is Not Running

Select whether you want PRTG to start or restart the service if it is stopped or paused:

  • Start/Restart service: PRTG tries to start the service if it is not running when the device is scanned. In combination with a change trigger, you can use this mechanism to trigger a notification whenever PRTG (re)starts the service.
  • Do not start/restart service: PRTG does not automatically start any service on the device.

i_round_blueIf you select the Start/Restart service option and the sensor detects that the service does not run, PRTG tries to restart the service during this scan and postpones the next sensor scan for one interval. With the following scan, the sensor checks if the service runs now. If starting the service was not successful or if the service fails again, the sensor shows the Down status and does not try to start the service again. If the service runs after a (re)start attempt, the sensor continues monitoring as usual.

If Service is Restarted

This setting is only visible if you select Start/Restart service above. Define what to do if PRTG restarts the service:

  • Ignore changes: No action is taken on change.
  • Trigger 'change' notification: The sensor sends an internal message indicating that its value has changed. In combination with a change trigger, you can use this mechanism to trigger a notification whenever the sensor value changes.

Extended Monitoring

Select whether you want to monitor CPU usage and other performance counters:

  • Only check if the service is running: PRTG only monitors the channel Sensor Execution Time.
  • Monitor other performance counters: PRTG also monitors other performance counters.

i_round_blueExtended monitoring might cause a class not found error on some Windows systems.

Service

Shows the Windows service that this sensor monitors.

i_round_bluePRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.

Description

Shows the description of the Windows service that this sensor monitors.

i_round_bluePRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

  • Discard result: Do not store the sensor result.
  • Store result: Store the last result of the requested data 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]-A.txt, and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes, especially in combination with content checks. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.

i_round_blueIn a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Sensor Display

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.

i_round_blueYou can set a different primary channel later by clicking b_channel_primary 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.
    i_round_redYou 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 enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. 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 b_inherited_enabled under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

Scanning Interval

Scanning Interval

Scanning Interval

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.

Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window

i_round_blueYou 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

Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.

Access Rights

Access Rights

Access Rights

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.

Channel List

i_round_blueWhich channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel

Description

CPU Usage

The CPU usage in percent

i_round_blueEnable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.

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 in percent.

Handles

The number of handles

i_round_blueEnable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.

Pagefile Usage

The pagefile usage in bytes

i_round_blueEnable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.

Sensor Execution Time

The execution time of the monitoring request

i_round_blueThis channel is the primary channel by default.

Threads

The number of threads

i_round_blueEnable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.

Working Set

The working set in bytes

i_round_blueEnable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.

More

i_square_blueKnowledge Base

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