This article applies to PRTG Network Monitor 13.x.7 or later

Monitoring Android Devices with the PRTG Mini Probe

The PRTG Mini Probe interface enables you to gather monitoring data from any platform and review this data in your PRTG web interface. You can implement your own Mini Probe specific to your needs. One utilization of the Mini Probe API that we provide is the PRTG Mobile Probe for Android.

The PRTG Mobile Probe for Android enables you to gather local monitoring data with your mobile device. It also demonstrates what you can achieve with the Mini Probe feature of PRTG. You have many options for what you can monitor the mobile probe. Our blog article PRTG Mini Probes — Part 1: The PRTG Mobile Probe for Android illustrates possible application scenarios.

Important information: Note that the PRTG Mini Probes are a proof of concept. We tested them carefully, however, we cannot offer deep technical support for them nor for your own Mini Probe writing. Moreover, we do not further develop the currently available Mini Probe API because we plan major changes to the underlying API in PRTG. All steps and features described in this article are for your information only.

PRTG Mobile Probe for Android

The PRTG Mobile Probe for Android sees your network from the mobile perspective and provides you monitoring data from just this point of view. You can review and analyze monitoring data in the PRTG web interface as well as the most recent results directly on the PRTG Mobile Probe on your Android device.

Get the PRTG Mobile Probe here—for free!

Features

The PRTG Mobile Probe includes various features:

• Monitoring WiFi coverage
• Performing pings to other devices or services from the mobile point of view
• Monitoring loading times of webpages via HTTP from the mobile point of view
• Monitoring environmental data depending on available measurement components on your Android device, for example:
  • light intensity
  • temperature
  • pressure
  • humidity
• Monitoring the battery status of your device
• Showing location and tracking movement of your device in PRTG Geo Maps: How can I track geo data of my Mobile Probe device?

See our blog for detailed descriptions of possible application scenarios.

Requirements

The only requirements to run a PRTG Mobile Probe are:

• PRTG Core Server: version 13.4.7 or later
• A device with Android 2.0 or later. Location monitoring needs at least Android 2.3.
• Configure your Android device to not turn off wireless LAN when it sleeps to avoid gaps in the monitoring data.
• The PRTG core server has to be accessible from the network your Android device is connected to.

Installation and Setup

Please follow the steps below to get the Mobile Probe up and running:

1) Prepare your PRTG server

1. Set your PRTG server to use HTTPS: In the PRTG web interface, navigate to Setup | System Administration | User Interface, section Web Server, and choose Secure HTTPS server in section TCP Port for Web Server.
   Note: Other connection methods are not allowed!
2. In the PRTG web interface, navigate to Setup | System Administration | Core & Probes and define the settings as given in the next steps.
3. Define an Access Key for the Mobile Probe. You can also use an existing one.
4. Add an appropriate IP filter in section Allow IPs. Use, for example, any.
5. Allow Mini Probe connections: Go to section Probe Connection Settings and choose Allow Mini Probes to connect.

2) Prepare the Mobile Probe

1. Download the PRTG Mobile Probe and manually install it.
   Note: To manually install the PRTG Mobile Probe, you need to allow apps from unknown sources in your device's settings. We recommend that you disable this option again once you have installed the app.
2. Enter the address of your PRTG web interface.
   Note: It has to be accessible via HTTPS. See step 1 above.
3. Enter the access key of the PRTG web server for your Mobile Probe.
4. Define the update interval. This might be relevant for limiting battery usage and bandwidth consumption.
5. Start Monitoring!

3) Approve the probe connection

The last thing to do is: Approve the new probe connection in the PRTG web interface! The acknowledgement works like for a new remote probe connection.

Then you can work with the Mobile Probe in the PRTG web interface as usual, e.g., add sensors, review monitoring data, create notifications, etc.

See Also

• Where can I find PRTG Mini Probes which are ready to use?
• How can I monitor Linux systems with a PRTG Mini Probe?
• How can I monitor Java applications via JMX with a PRTG Mini Probe?