What is this?

This knowledgebase contains questions and answers about PRTG Network Monitor and network monitoring in general.

Learn more

PRTG Network Monitor

Intuitive to Use. Easy to manage.
More than 500,000 users rely on Paessler PRTG every day. Find out how you can reduce cost, increase QoS and ease planning, as well.

Free Download

Top Tags


View all Tags

What placeholders can I use with PRTG?

Votes:

2

I want to use placeholders (variables) with PRTG when editing Notification Templates (email, SMS text messages, execute program, etc.), or in the Send Email options.

What placeholders are available with PRTG Network Monitor?

help notifications placeholder prtg prtg-desktop variables

Created on Feb 3, 2010 10:03:36 AM by  Daniel Zobel [Product Manager]

Last change on May 9, 2019 5:24:46 AM by  Maike Guba [Paessler Support] (2,404) 2 1



92 Replies

Accepted Answer

Votes:

5

This article applies as of PRTG 20

Important: The following article will no longer be updated. For up-to-date-information, see the PRTG Manual: List of Placeholders for Notifications and the respective section in the PRTG Desktop Manual.

PRTG placeholders overview

You can use the listed placeholders (variables) in different settings fields of a notification. For more details, see PRTG Manual: Account Settings—Notification Templates.

  • Message or Content field of all notifications (where available)
  • Subject field of email and ticket notifications
  • Custom Content field if you send Text with custom content in email notifications
  • Sender Name, Title, and Subtitle fields of Slack notifications
  • Title and Subtitle fields of Microsoft Teams notifications
  • Payload field of Execute HTTP Action notifications
  • Parameters field of Execute Program notifications

Note: Exceptions in usage apply to the placeholders for syslogs and SNMP traps. These can be used in the Custom Content field of Send Email notifications only.

Other settings

  • For a list of placeholders available in the EXE/Script sensor and other custom sensor settings, as well as for command-line parameters, see the More section below.
  • For a list of placeholders available in the deprecated Windows Enterprise Console's tools settings, see the More section below.

Available placeholders for email options and notifications

Notes about placeholders:

  • Placeholders are not case sensitive.
  • Depending on where you use a placeholder in a notification, PRTG may resolve the placeholder differently. A resolved placeholder in the body of a notification, for example, can contain more information compared to when PRTG resolves the same placeholder in the subject of a notification. The reason for this is to save space in the subject.
  • Placeholders in summarized notifications have limited functionality:
    • The placeholders listed in the following table will not be replaced in the subject field of summarized notifications if there was more than one trigger evoked during the summarized time span.
      Exceptions: The placeholders %sitename and %summarycount are always resolved in summarized notifications.
    • If there is only one event triggered during the time span you defined, PRTG will not send a summarized notification, but just a normal notification. A summarized notification requires at least two triggered events.
PlaceholderContainsSynonymVersion/Usage Comment
%colorofstateColor of the current object status (HTML hex code)Might not work in older versions
%companyPaessler's copyright string
%commentsComments entered for the sensor%commentssensorAs of PRTG 15.4.21: resolved placeholders contain the heading Sensor Comments
%commentssensorComments entered for the sensor%commentsAs of PRTG 15.4.21: resolved placeholders contain the heading Sensor Comments
%commentsdeviceComments entered for the parent deviceAs of PRTG 15.4.21: resolved placeholders contain the heading Device Comments
%commentsgroupComments entered for the parent groupAs of PRTG 15.4.21: resolved placeholders contain the heading Group Comments
%commentsprobeComments entered for the parent probeAvailable as of PRTG 12.4;
as of PRTG 15.4.21: resolved placeholders contain the heading Probe Comments
%coverageCovered time spanMight not work in older versions
%cumsinceSince when data has been accumulated
%dateEvent's date, in the PRTG core server system's timezone
%datetimeEvent's date and time, in the PRTG core server system's timezone
%deviceName of the device in which the event was triggered%server
%deviceidID number of the device in which the event was triggeredAs of PRTG 7.3.2
%downTime the item was down
%downtimeAccumulated downtime
%elapsed_lastcheckElapsed time since the sensor's last scanAs of PRTG 20.1.57
%elapsed_lastdownElapsed time since the sensor last showed a Down statusAs of PRTG 20.1.57
%elapsed_lastupElapsed time since the sensor last showed an Up statusAs of PRTG 20.1.57
%groupGroup in which the event was triggered
%groupidID number of the group in which the event was triggeredAs of PRTG 7.3.2
%historyHistory of sensor events
%homePRTG web server URL
%hostIP or DNS name of the device that triggered the eventCan be used as Agent IP in SNMP trap notifications sent by PRTG (as of PRTG 13.x.7)
%iconofstateFilename incl. extension of the icon for the current object statusMight not work in older versions
%lastcheckWhen was the sensor's last scan including time stamp
%lastdownWhen did the sensor last show a Down status, including time stamp
%lastmessageWhat message did the sensor send the last time%message
%laststatusCurrent sensor statusAs of PRTG 20.1.57
%lastupWhen did the sensor last show an Up status, including time stamp
%lastvalueWhat value did the sensor send the last time
%linkprobeURL of the probe that triggered the eventMight not work in older versions
%linkgroupURL of the group that triggered the eventMight not work in older versions
%linkdeviceURL of the device that triggered the eventMight not work in older versions
%linksensorURL of the sensor that triggered the eventMight not work in older versions
%locationLocation of the device/server for which the event was triggered
%messageWhich message did the sensor send the last time%lastmessage
%nameName of the sensor that triggered the event (including sensor type)%sensor
%nodenameName of the node if in a clusterMight not work in older versions
%objecttagsAll tags of a sensorAvailable as of PRTG 20.1.56
%parenttagsAll tags of a sensor's parent objectsAvailable as of PRTG 20.1.56
%prioSensor priority setting%priority
%prioritySensor priority setting%prio
%probeProbe under which the event was triggered
%probeidID number of the probe under which the event was triggeredAs of PRTG 7.3.2
%programnamePRTG official name
%programversionPRTG program version
%sensorName of the sensor that triggered the event (including sensor type)%name
%sensoridID number of the sensor that triggered the eventAs of PRTG 7.3.2
%serverName of the device under which the event was triggered%device
%serviceurlService URL configured for the device under which the event was triggeredAs of PRTG 9.1
%settingsMiscellaneous sensor settings, such as username for Windows, HTTP, POP3 credentials, etc
%shortnameName of the sensor that triggered the eventAs of PRTG 7.1
%sinceSince when the current status is active%statesince
%sitenamePRTG web server (computer) name
%statesinceSince when the current status is active%since
%statusOld sensor status and current sensor status
%summarycountReturns the number of events triggered during the defined time spanFor summarized notifications only!
%syslogerrorsMax. last 20 syslog entries before the notification triggerAs of PRTG 14.x.10;
works with Syslog Receiver sensors; can be used in the "message" part of Send Email notifications only!
%syslogmessagesMax. last 20 syslog entries before the notification triggerAs of PRTG 14.x.12;
works with Syslog Receiver sensors; can be used in the "message" part of Send Email notifications only!
%syslogwarningsMax. last 20 syslog entries before the notification triggerAs of PRTG 14.x.10;
works with Syslog Receiver sensors; can be used in the "message" part of Send Email notifications only!
%systemdatetimeDate and time when the notification was sent, in the PRTG core server system's time zone
%tagsAll tags of a sensor and its parent objectsAvailable as of PRTG 20.1.56
%timeEvent's time, in the PRTG core server system's time zone
%timezonePRTG core server system's time zone name
%toaddressAddress to which the notification was sent
%traperrorsMax. last 20 SNMP trap entries before the notification triggerAs of PRTG 14.x.10;
Works with SNMP Trap Receiver sensors; can be used in the "message" part of Send Email notifications only!
%trapmessagesMax. last 20 SNMP trap entries before the notification triggerAs of PRTG 14.x.12;
works with SNMP Trap Receiver sensors; can be used in the "message" part of Send Email notifications only!
%trapwarningsMax. last 20 SNMP trap entries before the notification triggerAs of PRTG 14.x.10;
works with SNMP Trap Receiver sensors; can be used in the "message" part of Send Email notifications only!
%uptimeAccumulated uptime

Example (with placeholders):

Date/Time: %datetime

Time zone: %timezone

================================================================

Sensor: %name

Priority: %priority

================================================================

Probe: %probe

Group: %group

Device: %device

Example (placeholders have been replaced):

Date/Time: 25.09.2018 08:57

Time zone: W. Europe Standard Time

================================================================

Sensor: PING 48 (PING)

Priority: *****

================================================================

Probe: Local probe

Group: Paessler Network

Device: Device 1 [Windows ]

Placeholders in PRTG Desktop

PlaceholderContains
%idThe object's ID as shown in the page header on the object's details page
%nameThe object's Name
%hostThe sensor's or device's IP Address/DNS Name
%messageThe sensor's Last Message
%valueThe sensor's Last Result value
%typeThe sensor's Type

More


Notes

  • In PRTG versions previous to 15.4.21, you could edit Email Options in the Notification Delivery settings ("System & Website" settings in previous versions). This option has been removed for the ease of use. PRTG uses default content in HTML email notifications as of version 15.4.21. You can still change the content of plain text emails in the email notification settings and also use placeholders here.
  • The placeholder %state is deprecated as of PRTG version 16.x.24. Use %status instead, which has the same functionality.

Created on Feb 3, 2010 10:07:35 AM by  Daniel Zobel [Product Manager]

Last change on Jan 21, 2021 2:00:42 PM by  Florian Weik (1,927) 2 2



Votes:

0

Is there an LOV for the placeholders? Looking for the options for the %message placeholder. Writing rules for another application that PRTG is interfacing to.

Created on Mar 7, 2013 4:41:46 PM



Votes:

0

Dear minigts, %message is ,just as mentioned above, the Message the Sensor returned last. This could be an error Message, Error Code, Message from the used Exe in Case of an exe Sensor and so on. There are no options for the %message Placeholder.

Created on Mar 8, 2013 6:20:28 AM by  Mathias Hengl [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Will it be possible to use these placeholders in sensor settings as well? For example I want to use your "Backup monitoring with PRTG via IMAP" example. I'd be using the same sensor over and over again for many backup checks, so I just want to copy and pase without editing the sensors every time.

So if in the IMAP sensor I could just use %sensor in the "search expression" field it would be ideal. I've had the same thoughts several times with custom sensors as well.

Any chance?

Created on Aug 1, 2014 9:33:07 AM



Votes:

0

Dear Christian,

thank you for your feature request.

We understand your need well. However, I'm sorry I have to say 'no' here. The usage of placeholders in sensor settings would evoke too much side effects, so we voted against this feature.

Created on Aug 4, 2014 9:35:23 AM by  Daniel Zobel [Product Manager]



Votes:

0

Hi,

I don't see a placeholder for Severity. Is there a placeholder for severity?

Created on Apr 8, 2015 2:58:28 PM



Votes:

0

There is no placeholder for severity sorry. You could look into the %prio placeholder which shows the priority of a sensor, which could work as replacement for severity.

Created on Apr 9, 2015 7:58:33 AM by  Torsten Lindner [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Is there a placeholder to show only the sensorname (without the desciption)

When I use de WMIuptimesensor and send an alert when this sensor failed and give this sensor the name "System Up" the description "windows System uptime" can be confusing for some recipients of notifications.

Created on Apr 28, 2015 9:38:28 AM



Votes:

0

Yes, there are two placeholders for a Sensor's Name, below both placeholders with an example representation:

%name: Memory: Physical Memory (SNMP Memory)
%shortname: Memory: Physical Memory


Within PRTG the sensor's name is Memory: Physical Memory and it is an SNMP Memory sensor Type.

Created on Jun 26, 2015 7:11:30 AM by  Luciano Lingnau [Paessler]

Last change on Jun 26, 2015 7:11:44 AM by  Luciano Lingnau [Paessler]



Votes:

0

how can i use the placeholder "%settings"? I need "%windowspassword" and "%windowsuser" in a "Custom Notification" to start a Powershell Script! But the placeholder are not resolved!?

Created on Jul 20, 2015 8:16:12 AM



Votes:

0

Do you call them in the parameter field? With single quotes? -UserName '%windowsdomain\%windowsuser' -Password '%windowspassword'

Created on Jul 20, 2015 8:38:30 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]

Last change on Jul 20, 2015 10:30:17 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

yes, this is my parameterbox with the placeholders in single quotes in the order of their evaluation:

'%host' '%windowsdomain' '%windowsuser' '%windowspassword' '[email protected]'

the placeholder %host' is evaluated, the rest are ignored!?

Created on Jul 20, 2015 9:30:29 AM

Last change on Jul 20, 2015 9:30:29 AM



Votes:

0

What are you trying to do with the username and password in the notification? Can you post it here?

Created on Jul 20, 2015 10:31:24 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]

Last change on Jul 20, 2015 10:31:34 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

When the threshold value of a primary channel of (e.g.: CPU load) sensor has been reached, the PS script use these credentials for the PS-Remote Session, to query some information (e.g.: WMI) and sent this information by email.

Created on Jul 20, 2015 11:06:23 AM



Votes:

0

Can you try to write the credentials to a text file? Any special characters within the password?

Created on Jul 20, 2015 12:46:54 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

No, this sensor is one of a summary in a library of sonsors and i need this placeholder, because the credentials of the devices are different. The library starts the notification (the ps script including the parameters from above).

Created on Jul 20, 2015 1:21:45 PM



Votes:

0

It's just about the correct handling of the parameters, not changing the entire notification :)

Created on Jul 20, 2015 1:37:39 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

The same i thought, and i write down a simple ps script, that starts from "custom notification" and parse through all the parameters and send it by email. All i get is the same i write above:

the placeholder %host' is evaluated, the rest are ignored!? (except the emailadress - that is processed correctly) (Article above)

This shows me, the placeholders '%windowsdomain' '%windowsuser' '%windowspassword' are not correctly resolved!

Created on Jul 20, 2015 2:12:15 PM



Votes:

0

Update Turns out that those placeholders can only be used for custom sensors, not notifications to prevent cross scripting attacks. You can simply use the credential field within the execute program section to execute it as different user. The notification will then be executed in that user context.

Created on Jul 21, 2015 7:19:53 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]

Last change on Jul 21, 2015 7:28:28 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

I tested it with Adminuser, but the user context you described above, still not use the placeholders (like winuser, -domain, -password)! The same result as above - only "%host" and my emailadress is evaluated.

Please remember, that i've a library with a summary of sensors with different credential to start a custom notification with ps script.(Article)

So, i think there is no way to use this placeholders in Custom Notifications?! No plan to realize it in future versions? IMHO, the placeholder option is safer than to put the single credentials per sensor in clear text parameters, isn't it? ;) But in that way, the custom notification works correctly in my plan - but not in a library - this must use the placeholders :(

Created on Jul 21, 2015 10:08:34 AM



Votes:

0

The script doesn't get the variables, even if you enter a user. The powershell simply gets executed with a credential object created from the user data. Talked to the dev and it's gonna stay like that :) Maybe this article will help you out :)

Created on Jul 21, 2015 8:03:09 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

1

Would it be possible to add a placeholder for tags? We would like to have the placeholder for HTTP actions.

Created on Jul 21, 2015 8:19:47 PM



Votes:

0

Would be possible, but this won't happen anytime soon (at least 2-3 month) since it has to be implemented, if it gets considered. Have you tried to use the sensor comments?

Created on Jul 22, 2015 5:25:46 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

^^Thanks for that Link above (Link), but i know that already ;).

So, if i understand correctly, i've to write down for all my sensors in that library a custom notification per Sensor? Is there no other way?

Created on Jul 22, 2015 7:45:15 AM



Votes:

0

Sorry for the late reply, we had a major outage yesterday and the KB was down.

If you don't want to use the comments to store the variables, yes; then there is no other way around that I'm afraid.

Created on Jul 23, 2015 9:07:59 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

1

and another positive voice to adding a %tags placeholder. we make extensive use of them in the webinterface so it would be quite handy to show them in alert mails.

Created on Sep 18, 2015 1:10:01 PM



Votes:

0

Consider your voice counted :)

Created on Sep 21, 2015 6:45:24 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Is there any placehoder which contains a unique ID of the alert himself? Not Sensor ID, or Device ID....

Created on Oct 8, 2015 1:33:03 PM



Votes:

0

Alerts do not have IDs in PRTG, so sorry, that is not possible, so there is no such placeholder.

Created on Oct 8, 2015 1:57:21 PM by  Torsten Lindner [Paessler Support]



Votes:

3

Here is another vote for the option to use a placeholder for %tags.

To better explain why, here is my use case: I have different teams in VictorOps (Pagerduty competitor), and my PS script that sends the API call to VictorOps needs a way to route intelligently to different teams via a tag on the sensor. This %tag translates in routing keys that I define in VictorOps... like "Ops_NOC" or "Ops_Network" or "Ops_Devops". These routing keys translate directly to different teams... these teams then have different members with unique schedules and escalation policies, etc. Anyway, I digress.

If you are building PRTG to be able to monitor a ton of different stuff (which you are), you need to provide the ability to alert to different teams programmatically so that one script can have the intelligence to route alerts. As a work around, I am going to have to build one script for each team with routing keys (%tag) hard-coded. This is not best practice.

Thank you for your consideration of this feature request.

-Tim Kidd, Frontline Technologies Group, LLC

Created on Nov 16, 2015 3:24:00 PM



Votes:

0

I myself would like to have two additional placeholders created: %WarningHigh and %WarningLow. In my case I am using this program to monitor Room Temperature and Humidity Sensors located in different Labs. I am forced to use %sensorcomments to show what the threshold value is for both upper and lower warning values and call %sensorcomments out in the email body of text. I do get people who go in and change the warning values but don't change the sensor comments section so it looks pretty stupid when the alarm goes off and the sensor comments says you still within threshold. Hardcoding %WarningHigh and %WarningLow into the email body of text would allow for correct values to be displayed every time.

Created on Jan 26, 2016 4:23:02 PM



Votes:

0

Hi iengel, we can put this on the wish list of course. Please be aware though, currently there are no plans to implement further placeholders.

Created on Jan 27, 2016 11:21:04 AM by  Torsten Lindner [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Is there a placeholder for sub-groups? It appears there is only a way to have the top level group show in the notification.

Created on Feb 10, 2016 1:58:26 PM



Votes:

0

Sensors only know their direct parent group as a property. Then they also know their parent Probe. Any group levels between these two are not known to sensors, and are not iterated through for performance reasons, when notifications are triggered. Which is why there are no according placeholders for this.

Created on Feb 11, 2016 8:52:39 AM by  Torsten Lindner [Paessler Support]



Votes:

2

And another upvote for %tags please add it, because we use tagging extensively. Another placeholder that would be great is %sensorType or %objectType. To contain the information what triggered the Notification (Ping Sensor, Snmp Sensor,...).

Created on Mar 11, 2016 8:52:10 AM



Votes:

4

another upvote for %tags - this is such a great feature in the Web Frontend and used excessive would be very great to have this also in the notifications

Created on Mar 22, 2016 8:02:41 AM



Votes:

0

I am finding that %probe does not work in the subject of an email. Is there anything I need to do after changing the subject?

Created on Mar 30, 2016 2:44:42 PM



Votes:

0

Hello Mark, thank you for your post.

I've just tested the functionality of %probe and %probeid and both placeholders were replaced correctly in my test (PRTG Network Monitor 16.1.22.2658). Please note that the behavior may change when using summarized notifications with multiple involved remote probes. You can disable summarization by setting the "Summarization \ Method" to "Always notify ASAP".

Best Regards,

Created on Mar 31, 2016 5:04:54 PM by  Luciano Lingnau [Paessler]



Votes:

0

Hello. Please help me to understand what the differences between two placeholders by prtg: "%sensor" and "%name". To send the SMS I use a placeholder "%sensor", but I think that prtg uses the placeholder "%name", because in sms including sensor type, which I do not need. Еxample SMS: "server_room1 220V (SNMP Library) Down". Words (SNMP Library) should be absent when using the placeholder "%sensor". Why it is not?

Created on Apr 7, 2016 1:33:38 PM



Votes:

0

Sventlana, both placeholders deliver the same result, the name of the sensor and the sensor type. I'm afraid this cannot be changed. Sorry.

Created on Apr 8, 2016 1:42:19 PM by  Torsten Lindner [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

When using text with custom content option and putting %statesince as a placeholder, the resulting notifications show the value of the %state placeholder plus the word "since" instead of the %statesince value.

I started using the %since placeholder instead, but wanted to give you a heads up.

Created on Apr 13, 2016 4:57:43 PM



Votes:

0

Dear coderoman, I apologize this indeed was a bug. To clear things up, we'll remove the %state placeholder and will only have the %status one.

Created on Apr 15, 2016 7:49:57 AM by  Torsten Lindner [Paessler Support]



Votes:

5

We REALLY need %tags as a placeholder, so that custom alerts can do "skills based routing" based on Tags.

From the outside, this seems like quite a trivial modification and will have a big impact on the usability of PRTG.

Created on Oct 25, 2016 1:16:24 AM



Votes:

0

Currently there are no plans to implement tags as placeholders. Please consider using Comments instead. Comments can be set on group and / or device level as well, and then accessed with placeholders just as well (from higher levels than the sensor just triggering the notification: %commentsdevice. %commentsgroup, %commentsprobe).

Created on Oct 26, 2016 10:14:39 AM by  Torsten Lindner [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Hello Torsten,

What if i have a group structure with more than one level of many nested groups ? Do you suggest i place comments on all groups individually ? In complex group designs this could be a major hassle as there's a lot of administrative overhead and a higher chance of making mistakes.

The power of tags is that i can maintain the tags at toplevel and i never have to worry about a childitem not having the tag.

A workaround for me will be to place tags on the toplevel group and to send %deviceid as a parameter to my powershell notification script. My PS script can then do an PRTG API call back to the PRTG server to check if a certain tag is present on the device.

Created on Nov 9, 2016 10:04:32 AM



Votes:

0

Dear Mickael

If you have many nested groups, an external solution like your powershell script is currently the best way.

Created on Nov 9, 2016 1:38:11 PM by  Arne Seifert [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

I'm trying to use the placeholder %comments in my automatic notification. But i wrote in the comment this way: Rua da Quitanda

And at the mensage returned:

Device Comments

Rua da Quitanda

How do i take off this header "Device comments" and get only the "Rua da Quitanda"? Is there any HTML archive i could make some changes?

Created on Dec 23, 2016 12:25:25 PM

Last change on Dec 23, 2016 1:02:07 PM by  Luciano Lingnau [Paessler]



Votes:

0

Hello Marlon, we appreciate your contact.

The described behavior is known/expected. There's currently no plan to change this.

Please beware that modifying the content of HTML based notifications is no longer supported as of PRTG's Version 15.4.21.

Best Regards,
Luciano Lingnau [Paessler Support]

Created on Dec 23, 2016 1:05:19 PM by  Luciano Lingnau [Paessler]



Votes:

5

Add my vote for a %tag place holder.

Example use:

We create libraries based on tag filters. With several staff members on different teams using PRTG, some people have assigned tags which can cause duplicate alerts or ticket notifications.

Being able to use %tag allows you to place this within the ticket notification so you can track which tag is associated with the notification.

Created on Jan 24, 2017 12:46:16 PM



Votes:

0

Hi,

Is there a placeholder for the community ?

Thanks

Created on Apr 24, 2017 2:06:14 PM



Votes:

0

Hi reseau_siera,

In case you refer to SNMP community string, there is no placeholder for it. Theoretically it can be pulled by PRTG's API, but not in plain text, since it's defined as "credential type" and credentials are only stored encrypted, see also here.

Depending on what you're up to, maybe this might be also of interest to you.

Kind regards,

Erhard

Created on Apr 24, 2017 2:30:17 PM by  Erhard Mikulik [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Hi, Is there a placeholder for line break ? Thanks

Created on Jun 30, 2017 2:24:05 AM



Votes:

0

Hi there,

What kind of notification are we talking about? HTTP notifications can use %0A
in their URL which translates into a line break.


Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Created on Jun 30, 2017 10:45:27 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Hi! How can I use snmp trap body or a part of it for e-mail? And how to get this just for the last trap and not last 20 traps?

Created on Aug 24, 2017 9:13:15 AM



Votes:

0

Hi Vitaliy,

You can only use %trapmessages to retrieve the last 20 messages before the notification was triggered. Other than that, there are no trap related placeholders.


Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Created on Aug 24, 2017 10:12:27 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]

Last change on Aug 24, 2017 10:46:13 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

1

Thanks Stephan!

I've almost done it by creating several sensors with a single filter rule. The idea was to have sensors that handle their own kinds of messages and send different alarms. Next I thought PRTG can limit message count that are stored before being purged, but limit is all messages received 2 hours ago... There may be hundreds, thousands messages. I love PRTG because of it's convenience and power, it is a rare kind of production systems that can be used without any manuals reading. And I believe PRTG will continue to power up and give us snmp traps message parcing and other features.

How can I make feature request for this? Thanks!


Vitaliy

Created on Aug 24, 2017 10:32:12 AM



Votes:

0

Unfortunately, the popular demand for this is rather low, hence it probably won't be implemented :( Sorry!


Kind regards
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Created on Aug 24, 2017 3:33:11 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Are %sitename and %summarycount the only variables availabe for summarized notifications or will others work? Is there a definitive list?

Created on Dec 28, 2017 9:36:26 PM



Votes:

0

Hi Daric,

Unfortunately, these are the only placeholders referring to the summary of notifications. We listed all available placeholders above.

Best regards.

Created on Dec 29, 2017 10:02:39 AM by  Dariusz Gorka [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Hi,

I was expecting to have a %SQLPassword placeholder. Is there an exhaustive list, not only for notificaiton with:

'%windowsdomain' '%windowsuser' '%windowspassword' and same for Linux and maybe more?

Created on Feb 19, 2018 9:18:42 AM



Votes:

0

Hi Yann,

Unfortunately, the only placeholders available for credentials are the one for Windows. Additionally, there are currently no plans to implement further placeholders for other credentials due to security concerns.

Best regards.

Created on Feb 19, 2018 11:51:11 AM by  Dariusz Gorka [Paessler Support]



Votes:

7

+1 for %tags

This provides a very neat way to route tickets and alerts to different skill groups.

Created on May 8, 2018 11:55:11 PM



Votes:

2

Hi,

Unfortunately the %status placeholder contains a long message like "Down ended (now: Up)". Is there a placeholder that only contains the new status of the sensor? In my example this would be "Up".

Thanks!

Best regards, Chris

Created on Aug 23, 2018 7:18:10 AM



Votes:

0

Hi Christoph,

I am afraid that is not possible. The status "Down ended (now: Up)" only is sent when the error got cleared by a different status.

Best regards.

Created on Aug 23, 2018 8:02:41 AM by  Dariusz Gorka [Paessler Support]



Votes:

1

Hi,

%status had the text "Up" until latest version 18.3.43. Somebody has decided that "Down ended (now: Up)" is better than just "Up". I hope that this will be changed back in next releases, because this is unusable ...

Best regards, Davor

Created on Sep 11, 2018 4:25:26 PM



Votes:

0

Hi turki,

This feature was implemented and wished by many customers. Currently we have only two requests that want to change this back to the old version, therefore the chance is not really high that we actually want to change it back.

Best regards.

Created on Sep 11, 2018 7:25:39 PM by  Dariusz Gorka [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Hi.

Is there a way to send livegraph photo in placeholders?

For example: %image or %photo or something like that.

Thanks.

Created on Sep 21, 2018 1:30:28 AM



Votes:

0

DDHung,

No, but you can fill out the URL from your API, and instead of the sensor ID number, you can put in the placeholder for that.

That way, it will generate the only part of the URL that is dependent on the sensor that kicks off the notification.

Does that make sense?

Benjamin Day
Paessler Support

Created on Sep 21, 2018 2:17:58 AM by  Benjamin Day [Paessler Support] (1,441) 2 1



Votes:

2

Hi,

regarding new values of %status placeholder,it will be interesting to see what users are really asking, because implementation is (epic) fail.

But I understand that, you don't plan to change that back. End of story.

Can we ask instead to implement new placeholder (e.g. %realstatus, %actualstatus, %sensorstatus ...) which will contain actual current status of sensor, as defined in https://www.paessler.com/manuals/prtg/sensor_states ?

It will be usefull to implement previous status (e.g %statusbefore) which contain status of sensor before the current one.

best regards, Davor

Created on Sep 26, 2018 1:22:28 PM



Votes:

2

The current status of the %status placeholder is a joke and needs to be either changed back or a new %shortstatus placeholder (up,down,unknown) implemented for me to consider renewing my subscription. Damian Halloran
IT Manager
St Mary’s College and Newman College
St Mary's Newman Academic Centre
887 Swanston Street Parkville Victoria 3052
Phone: +61 3 9342 1708

Created on Nov 7, 2018 5:07:53 AM

Last change on Nov 16, 2018 8:25:09 AM by  Luciano Lingnau [Paessler]



Votes:

7

+1 for %tags here too.

We're also finding that we'd benefit from being able to add %tags to notices. Yes, I can see where we might be limited to NNN number of tags (instead of showing all of them).

But as others have said, this provides a very neat way to route tickets and alerts to different skill groups.

Created on Nov 15, 2018 10:37:25 PM



Votes:

8

I created a new feature request thread for that: Add %tags Placeholder For Notifications

There are roughly 17 votes in here for that, I'll mimic them accordingly tomorrow :)


PRTG Scheduler | PRTGapi | Feature Requests | WMI Issues | SNMP Issues

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Created on Nov 19, 2018 2:18:00 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Hi, everyone frustrated with "improved" %status, please vote on Simplified %status placeholder feature request.

Dear Paessler Support, you need to correct description of %status placeholder under this topics, because it does not contain sensor status, but notification status !

Most probably it's all related to change in 18.3.43 marked as "You can now use Up and Unknown states with the State Trigger." under Notifications section.

Created on Nov 27, 2018 7:49:43 AM



Votes:

0

We've updated the placeholders page accordingly, thanks for the hint. Note that posts in Feature Requests threads are not published to avoid dilution of the same (I want this, please add that as well!). If an idea is suited for the request, the request will be updated accordingly. Just in case you're wondering why the post is not published in the thread :)


PRTG Scheduler | PRTGapi | Feature Requests | WMI Issues | SNMP Issues

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Created on Nov 27, 2018 12:57:13 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Hi support,

I noticed the change, but new description is not quite true!
%status does not show the "old sensor status and current sensor status", instead it's a little more complicated.

I check it, make some test and practically confirmed that %status placeholder consist of:

  • Trigger state status: <state> or <state> ended
  • when trigger status is <state> ended additional info of current sensor state: (now: <state>) is added
  • when trigger status is <state> in some rare cases additional info of previous sensor state is added (before: <state>)

Trigger state status is related with sensor status but still different, so we can't assume it's equal.

For test I create:

  • notification template Notify_Turki with email subject:
    %status - Device %device %down.
  • ping sensor to monitor my laptop every 15 sec. and with extended Warning (set from Warning to Down after 5 tests).
  • Notification triggers on sensor as follows:

State Trigger
When sensor state is Down for at least 15 seconds, perform Notify_Turki
When sensor state is Down for at least 300 seconds, perform no notification and repeat every 0 minutes
When sensor leaves Down state after a notification was triggered, perform Notify_Turki

State Trigger
When sensor state is Up for at least 15 seconds, perform Notify_Turki
When sensor state is Up for at least 300 seconds, perform no notification and repeat every 0 minutes
When sensor leaves Up state after a notification was triggered, perform Notify_Turki

State Trigger
When sensor state is Warning for at least 15 seconds, perform Notify_Turki
When sensor state is Warning for at least 300 seconds, perform no notification and repeat every 0 minutes
When sensor leaves Warning state after a notification was triggered, perform Notify_Turki

Then I disconnect my laptop for 3 min. and then connect it again. Here is result subjects received in my mail:

Up - Device Test_device . Down ended (now: Up) - Device Test_device (Downtime: 180 s). Down - Device Test_device . Warning ended (now: Down) - Device Test_device . Warning - Device Test_device . Up ended (now: Warning) - Device Test_device .

In one specific situation (let's say by pure coincidence) I received subject: Down (before: Warning) - Device Test_device .

That pretty much confirms my theory about true content of %status placeholder, but also that this change is byproduct of another change documented in official PRTG change-log, as I mentioned in previous post.

Check with your development team is that true.

Created on Nov 27, 2018 1:53:40 PM



Votes:

0

Thanks for the testing and thanks for your vote on the feature request. We'll discuss the issue again in our next support meeting due in two weeks. Thanks for your patience.


PRTG Scheduler | PRTGapi | Feature Requests | WMI Issues | SNMP Issues

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Created on Nov 28, 2018 2:25:31 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

+1 I need %windowsdomain... On notification :'(

Created on Jan 15, 2019 2:16:14 PM



Votes:

0

What for, exactly? We didn't implement this for security reasons.


PRTG Scheduler | PRTGapi | Feature Requests | WMI Issues | SNMP Issues

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Created on Jan 17, 2019 6:58:32 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Hi, is there any chance that will be implemented placeholder with sensor status/state, but I mean "real status" as defined in PRTG manual - Sensor states.

Created on Jan 17, 2019 7:55:54 AM



Votes:

0

@turki I just created a ticket for it ;)


PRTG Scheduler | PRTGapi | Feature Requests | WMI Issues | SNMP Issues

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Created on Jan 17, 2019 12:32:26 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

1

Can i get just sensor state not "previous + current"? I need current state "Down" or "Up" not "Down ended (Now Up)", is there any placeholder for this?

Created on Apr 18, 2019 11:09:14 AM



Votes:

3

We're working on that, as mentioned ;)


PRTGapi | Feature Requests | WMI Issues | SNMP Issues

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Created on Apr 18, 2019 11:29:25 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

How do I get the average value for a sensor channel? I'm using %lastvalue on a CPU Load sensor, but that is literally giving me the last value for the primary channel (total). I want the average value for that channel. I set the Value Mode for that channel to Average too, but it that placeholder still gives me only the last value measured. Any thoughts?

Created on Aug 2, 2019 1:59:57 PM



Votes:

0

Average is always calculated within the Sensor and unfortunately, there's no placeholder for it. Note that in all modes, the value is always the actual value of the last scan. More details on that can be found here.

Created on Aug 5, 2019 6:59:01 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]

Last change on Aug 5, 2019 6:59:21 AM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Interesting. So I can change the calculation of %lastvalue for the chart's minimum interval, but I can't get an average of the chart's entire duration. Is there any other way to do this? Would I have to build a custom sensor that queries the PRTG API? Or is there an easier way? I would love to show the average CPU utilization of a server over the past 24 hours. Thanks!

Created on Aug 5, 2019 3:08:00 PM



Votes:

0

Check out PRTGapi's Historic Data functions. You can retrieve the values like that, using the average parameter. Note that historic data queries are limited to 5 per minute.

Created on Aug 5, 2019 7:06:31 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

So it sounds like the only way is via the PRTG API. I would like to put in a feature request to be able to more easily pull average values over a time duration so that it can be used in maps.

Thanks for your help.

Created on Aug 5, 2019 7:15:35 PM



Votes:

0

Which is what we define as historic data, unfortunately. We're already working on an improved API, but that will take its time I'm afraid :(

Created on Aug 5, 2019 7:39:32 PM by  Stephan Linke [Paessler Support]



Votes:

2

+1 for %tags

Created on Nov 11, 2019 8:10:34 AM



Votes:

0

are there some placeholder to see SYSTEM INFORMATION like

System Description System Name Serial Number ObjectID

Created on Nov 11, 2019 11:42:41 PM



Votes:

0

Hi Emilio,

No, System Description, System Name or Serial Number are no PRTG metrics and the ObjectID of an certain PRTG object can be exported using PRTG's API. For example the following API query:

/api/table.xml?content=sensors&output=xml&columns=objid,probe,group,device,sensor

Best,
Sebastian

Created on Nov 12, 2019 7:04:16 AM by  Sebastian Kniege [Paessler Support]



Votes:

1

Celebrate everybody, after almost two years STATUS is BACK !!!

With new version of PRTG (20.1.57) they introduced %laststatus placeholder which finally returns true, actual, simple and only status of sensor.

Thank you for that Paessler !!!

Created on May 7, 2020 7:43:41 AM




Disclaimer: The information in the Paessler Knowledge Base comes without warranty of any kind. Use at your own risk. Before applying any instructions please exercise proper system administrator housekeeping. You must make sure that a proper backup of all your data is available.