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

How to monitor Traceroute to external destinations?

Votes:

0

I want to set up a traceroute sensor for external destinations like say for example, google.com. In the traceroute sensor settings, there is no option to specify URL.

prtg sensor traceroute

Created on Jun 28, 2013 2:26:46 AM



8 Replies

Votes:

0

Hi,
the traceroute sensor will always use its parent device as target. So you will have to create a device in PRTG which represents google.com and place the sensor on this device.
Best regards

Created on Jun 28, 2013 5:32:53 AM by Konstantin Wolff [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Thanks a lot, Wolff. I have a few questions; 1). So, if I need to create the traceroute sensors for different external websites, I need to create a device for each of them? 2) . I go with the same procedure as adding a new device, only in the IPv4/DNS Name I enter www.google.com? 3). Is there no other way to create traceroute sensors for external websites under one device?

Created on Jun 28, 2013 5:46:33 AM



Votes:

0

Hi, please see my answers below:
1). So, if I need to create the traceroute sensors for different external websites, I need to create a device for each of them?
Yes
2) . I go with the same procedure as adding a new device, only in the IPv4/DNS Name I enter www.google.com?
Yes
3). Is there no other way to create traceroute sensors for external websites under one device?
No I'm afraid this is not possible.

Created on Jun 28, 2013 5:54:02 AM by Konstantin Wolff [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

Perfect! I was able to add a traceroute to google. However, it just shows the number of hops. Is it possible to see the actual hops to determine which hop is having latency issues? Like you see in the tracert?

Created on Jun 28, 2013 6:17:36 AM



Votes:

0

I'm afraid the sensor does only show the hop count and is not able to show the single hops. If you are in need to show the hops, you might use a own script and run the same with an EXE/Script Sensor.
EDIT: An example for a powershell script can be found here but it has to be adjusted.

Created on Jun 28, 2013 6:37:24 AM by Konstantin Wolff [Paessler Support]

Last change on Jun 28, 2013 6:38:30 AM by Konstantin Wolff [Paessler Support]



Votes:

0

I copied the script and saved it as .ps1 and added it to the /Custom Sensors/EXE sub-directory of the probe system's PRTG program directory. But, when I go to add sensor, that file isn't displayed for selection.

Created on Jul 2, 2013 2:03:52 AM



Votes:

0

Was able to add in the custom sensor. But, it throws out the error Handle is invalid (0x6).

Created on Jul 2, 2013 2:55:56 AM



Votes:

0

Please make sure that the Custom Sensor follows the 'rules' for the format of the return value and message

value:message

Further Details can be discerned in your very own PRTG under "Setup"->"PRTG API"->"Custom Sensors".
Please also consider implementing debug log output into the script, so that you can see where it might fail/break.

Created on Jul 2, 2013 12:40:14 PM by Torsten Lindner [Paessler Support]




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.