PRTG Manual: Packet Sniffer Sensor
The Packet Sniffer sensor monitors the headers of data packets that pass a local network card using a built-in packet sniffer. You can choose from predefined channels.
This sensor analyzes only header traffic.
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
- Dutch: Packet Sniffer
- French: Reniflage de paquets
- German: Packet Sniffer
- Japanese: パケットスニファー
- Portuguese: Sniffer de pacotes
- Russian: Анализатор пакетов
- Simplified Chinese: 数据包嗅探程序
- Spanish: Analizador de paquetes
- This sensor has a very high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 50 of this sensor on each probe.
- By default, this sensor works only on a probe device.
- This sensor supports IPv6.
- Using Network Mapper (Nmap) on the parent probe system might cause high CPU load. If you have this issue, restarting the PRTG probe service might help.
- Knowledge Base: How can I change the default groups and channels for flow and Packet Sniffer sensors?
By default, you can only monitor traffic passing the probe system where the probe device with the sensor is set up. To monitor other traffic in your network, you can configure a monitoring port (if available) that the switch sends a copy of all traffic to. You can then physically connect this port to a network card of the probe system (either local probe or remote probe system). This way, PRTG can analyze the complete traffic that passes through the switch. This feature of your hardware might be called Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN), port mirroring, or port monitoring.
You 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.
Known Issues
- The sensor does not support the Simulate Error Status option in the Sensor Context Menu. When you trigger this action, the sensor will not show a simulated Down state.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Sensor Name |
Enter a name to identify the sensor. By default, PRTG shows this name in the device tree, as well as in alarms, logs, notifications, reports, maps, libraries, and tickets. 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? |
Parent Tags |
The tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe. 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:
|
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 (). |
For more information on filters, see section Filter Rules.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Include Filter |
Define if you want to filter any traffic. If you leave this field empty, the sensor includes all traffic. To include specific traffic only, define filters using a special syntax. |
Exclude Filter |
First, the sensor considers the filters in Include Filter. From this subset, you can explicitly exclude traffic, using the same syntax. |
Network Adapters |
Select the network adapters that this sensor monitors. You see a list of all adapters that are available on the probe system. To select an adapter, enable the check box in front of the respective name. You can also select all items or cancel the selection by using the check box in the table header. You cannot change this setting if the probe is not connected. |
Stream Data Handling |
Define what PRTG does with the stream and packet data:
Use with caution. It can create huge data files. We recommend that you only use this setting for a short time. In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node. |
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Channel Selection |
Define the categories that the sensor accounts the traffic to:
For each group, you can select how many channels the sensor uses, that is, how detailed the sensor divides the traffic. For each group, choose from:
You can change the default configuration for groups and channels. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How can I change the default groups and channels for flow and Packet Sniffer sensors? |
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:
|
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. |
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Primary Toplist |
Define which Toplist is the primary Toplist of the sensor:
PRTG shows the primary Toplist in maps when you add a Toplist object. |
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 Inheritance of Settings.
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.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window (default).
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Channel Unit Configuration.
For all Flow (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX) and Packet Sniffer sensors, Toplists are available on the sensor's Overview tab. Using Toplists, you can review traffic data for small time periods in great detail.
For more information, see section Toplists.
The following filter rules apply to all Flow (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX) and Packet Sniffer sensors.
For more information, see section Filter Rules for Flow, IPFIX, and Packet Sniffer Sensors.
Field |
Possible Filter Values |
---|---|
IP |
IP address or DNS name |
Port |
Any number |
SourceIP |
IP address or DNS name |
SourcePort |
Any number |
DestinationIP |
IP address or DNS name |
DestinationPort |
Any number |
Protocol |
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), any number |
ToS |
Type of Service (ToS): any number |
DSCP |
Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP): any number |
The following filter rules apply to Packet Sniffer sensors only.
Field |
Possible Filter Values |
---|---|
MAC |
Physical address |
SourceMAC |
Physical address |
DestinationMAC |
Physical address |
EtherType |
IPV4, ARP, RARP, APPLE, AARP, IPV6, IPXold, IPX, any number |
VlanPCP |
IEEE 802.1Q VLAN Priority Code Point |
VlanID |
IEEE 802.1Q VLAN Identifier |
TrafficClass |
IPv6 Traffic Class: corresponds to TOS used with IPv4 |
FlowLabel |
IPv6 Flow Label |
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel |
Description |
---|---|
Chat |
The traffic from chat and instant messaging (IRC, AIM) |
Citrix |
The traffic from Citrix applications |
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 |
FTP/P2P |
The traffic from file transfer (FTP/P2P) |
Infrastructure |
The traffic from network services (DHCP, DNS, Ident, ICMP, SNMP) |
The internet mail traffic (IMAP, POP3, SMTP) |
|
NetBIOS |
The traffic from NetBIOS communication |
Other |
The traffic from various other protocols (UDP, TCP) |
Remote Control |
The traffic from remote control applications (RDP, SSH, Telnet, VNC) |
Total |
The total traffic This channel is the primary channel by default. |
Various |
The traffic from various other sources |
WWW |
The traffic from the web (HTTP, HTTPS) |
KNOWLEDGE BASE
How can I change the default groups and channels for flow and Packet Sniffer sensors?
What security features does PRTG include?
Where is the volume line in graphs?