Hello,

I would like to share a tip in regards to backing up configuration:

We use an application called Karen's Replicator which syncs directories.

There is a (virtual host) server which is a cold backup for the active prtg server. The relevant directories are scheduled to sync from the active server to the cold backup one every 1 hour.

This way the cold server is ready to be activated at any time, with minimum data loss.

@IB: Thanks for sharing! Edited your post to add the link to the software.

Hi,

I got a question regarding the backup of the PRTG Data.

Once the configurations have been saved (groups, devices, sensors...), can they be copied to a second device with another installation of PRTG so that they can be imported from the second PRTG Core? (I am not interested in Clustering)

Thanks!

Yes, that is possible. This would basically require the same steps as migrating an installation. Please refer to How can I move or migrate my PRTG installation to a different system or server?

Thanks!!

C:\ProgramData\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\Monitoring Database contains GBs of data.

Do we need to take full backup dump of this huge folder as well ?

Raviray, this folder contains the historic sensor data. If you want to create reports, you need this and its contents. So I would recommend to include it in a backup.

As Raviraj says, the Monitoring Database contains GBs of data (in my case, we have a 2-node PRTG-Cluster with about 5600 sensors - after about 4 Weeks it is nearly 19GB), but I backuped that folder by copying it to another location and after that compressed it with 7-Zip (7z, Ultra, LZMA, 64MB, 64, 4GB, 2 CPU-Threads) - it took about 90 mins, but gave me a backup-file with just 976 MB.

Hello, I recently installed a few remote probe servers. Do I need to take a backup of this servers, too? Or is everything important on the local probe server?

Thank you! Michael

Remote Probes actually do not carry any configuration data (apart from the connection settings to the core server) or data files. So usually it is not necessary to include them in backups.

"Please note that the probes will continue to monitor their sensors for a few minutes and will deliver monitoring results to the core as soon as it is back online"

Could you be more specific on "few minutes" please?

Hello Syage,

A Remote Probe stores a maximum of 500,000 sensor results in RAM memory. See also section "How Probes work" here.

Kind regards,

Erhard

Hello all, I'm working on a concept for a active / passive cluter for a PRTG environment with >7000 sensors. I'm copying all Data from the Database folder (excluding Report PDFs, Logs and Autobackup configurations) and everything important from PRTG DIR (webroot, snmplibs, lookups, notifications, devicetemplates and Custom Sensors). For an automated failover I need to move the license to the 2nd Standby Core Server and tell the remote probes to connect to another Core Server. Is there a way to do this via script?

Hello Florian,

That is a nice idea, however PRTG only supports an active/active cluster solution. I myself already thought a script based solution for the cluster but after talking to our developers I figured out that this is not possible, I'm afraid.

If you want to built up a PRTG cluster, please stick to our manual guide.

Everything else is not supported, sorry to say.

Best regards,
Sebastian

Hi Sebastian, thanks for your reply. Unfortunatelly the cluster is not favored by the customer and we estimate a sensor count of >8000. So there is no way to update the core-server entry via API on the remote probes?

Hello Florian,

No, because the relevant information are stored in the Windows Registry of the host system as well, I'm sorry.

Best regards,
Sebastian

what files are needed to migrate to another pc when only want monitoring data only? and can it be when migrating the file the core server is still running?

Hello!

About PRTG Configuration.dat in the data folder \Configuration Auto-Backups. If i use cluster mode with two nodes every node has it's own PRTG Configuration.dat file? Or Master Node has backup for both nodes? If i need to restore this config to cluster if it's fail, first i need to restore both nodes cfg and then make a cluster, or this backup has cluster info inside?

Hello Vasiliy,

The master node is the primary cluster node. Every setting will be changed within the configuration file of the master node and the configuration will be automatically synchronized with the failover nodes.

To restore a failover node please set-up a new client that should be the future failover node and proceed with the regular step by step guide to whoop this machine into the PRTG cluster. The configuration file will be automatically pushed to it.
If you still own the /Monitoring Database directory of the old failover node, you can also restore it on the new failover node to restore the historic data.

Best regards,
Sebastian

"please stop the PRTG core server while running the actual backup process." - this must be done from Windows Services MMC? Or from inside PRTG web-interface? Maybe script is the best way?

Hi Vasiliy,

It does not really matter where you stop the services. You can either stop the services from the Service Start/Stop tab within the PRTG Administration Tool on the PRTG Core Server or you can stop them via Windows Services MMC.
The second option would allow you to stop the services using a script, but this is not mandatory.

Best regards,
Sebastian

Good, but what if i use "Veritas Backup exec" and make Full Backup of all Master Node Server include System State and all other server content, need i stop this service? As far as i understand Veritas can backup all content without service interruption. Can be some trouble with server restore after this?

Hello Vasiliy,

I'm not familiar with Veritas Backup, so this question can't be answered.

I assume it's possible, but I'd recommend to test a Veritas Backup before relying on it.

Best regards,
Sebastian

me too

Hi, is it possible to use PRTG server backup datas on a probe version?

Hi Mohamed,

You can't use any backup data from the Core Server on a Remote Probe, since the configuration is only cached on the Remote Probes and saved on the Core Server. What do you want to do with these backup data?

Kind regards

Felix Wiesneth - Team Tech Support

I know you can copy the configuration.dat file but why hasn't PRTG added a backup and restore command in the interface? This question dates back to 2010. We shouldn't have to come to the forum to figure out how to backup the system. Also, copying the .dat file only works for the exact same version, I followed the directions and it didn't work and I later realized that the version I reinstalled was different then the version I previously had. The online notes should indicate that you should backup the installer along with the .dat file so they match. I only figured this out after re-entering, re-mapping, and re-layout all my sensors. PC's crash, or we move to larger systems, etc.. Considering you have to stop PRTG services to copy the .dat file it makes auto backups a little more difficult. Why not just add a backup scheduler in PRTG to save the configuration to a destination and a restore option that understands previous version formats? From what I read some people have very large systems, a crash could be a disaster.

Sorry for the delayed response on this. PRTG does a backup before every update so you can downgrade with the least amount of effort. Could you perhaps post the issue you've had in more detail so we can see where our process is not really applicable? That'd be great :)

Remember that a GUI for it (apart from creating a config snapshot in the admin tool) is somewhat unfeasible given that PRTG, in 90% of the cases where a configuration restoration is required, won't start properly anymore, hence the GUI would be kind of inaccessible :/

Best,
Stephan Linke, Technical Support Team