Content Previous Next

PRTG Manual: WMI Network Card v2 Sensor

<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: WMI Network Card v2 Sensor

The WMI Network Card v2 sensor monitors bandwidth usage and traffic statistics of a Windows network adapter via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and the WSMan protocol.

The sensor supports both physical and virtual network adapters.

For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

Dutch: WMI Network Card v2
French: WMI Network Card v2
German: WMI Network Card v2
Japanese: WMI Network Card v2
Portuguese: WMI Network Card v2
Russian: WMI Network Card v2
Simplified Chinese: WMI Network Card v2
Spanish: WMI Network Card v2

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark	Description
Credentials	This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems.
WSMan	This sensor requires that the parent probe uses WSMan for WMI connections.
Access rights	The user account must be a member of the Remote Management Users group on the target system. The user account must have the following permissions for the WMI namespace CIMv2 and its sub-namespaces on the target system: Enable Account and Remote Enable.
Windows Compatibility Options	This sensor uses only WSMan Port and Connection Security from the Windows Compatibility Options.
Meta-scan	This sensor uses the meta-scan feature. After sensor creation, some settings might appear for reference purposes only.
Hosted probe	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.
IPv6	This sensor supports IPv6.
Performance impact	This sensor has a low performance impact.
Knowledge Base	For more information on how to set up the necessary access rights, see the Knowledge Base: How can I use a non-administrator Windows account for WMI monitoring via the WSMan protocol?.

Basic Sensor Settings

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

bandwidthsensor
wmibandwidthsensor

For more information about basic sensor settings, see section Sensor Settings.

Specific Sensor Settings

During sensor creation, PRTG performs a meta-scan of the target device. The meta-scan finds all the objects that this sensor can monitor and displays them in a table. Select the checkbox next to the objects that you want to monitor from the meta-scan table. PRTG creates one sensor for each object that you select.

You cannot change the network adapter that this sensor monitors after sensor creation. If you want to monitor a different network adapter, create the sensor again.

Some columns in the meta-scan table are only visible during sensor creation.

Setting	Description
Name	Shows the name of the network adapter that this sensor monitors.
IP Addresses	Shows the IP addresses of the network adapter at the time of discovery.
MAC Address	Shows the MAC address of the network adapter at the time of discovery.

Sensor Display

Setting	Description
Primary Channel	Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel 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 this sensor shows different channels: Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel. Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).
Stack Unit	This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above. Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit 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 Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel 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 this sensor shows different channels:

Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic.
You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above.

Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit 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.

Debug Options

Setting	Description
Result Handling	Define what PRTG does with the sensor result: Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result. Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval. In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Setting

Description

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval.

In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Inherited Settings

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.

Channel List

Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel	Description
Discards In	The number of incoming discards
Discards Out	The number of outgoing discards
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.
Errors In	The number of incoming errors
Errors Out	The number of outgoing errors
Non-Unicast In	The number of incoming non-unicast packets
Non-Unicast Out	The number of outgoing non-unicast packets
Packets Received	The number of packets received
Packets Sent	The number of packets sent
Total Packets	The total number of packets
Total Traffic	The total traffic This channel is the primary channel by default.
Traffic In	The incoming traffic
Traffic Out	The outgoing traffic
Unicast In	The number of incoming unicast packets
Unicast Out	The number of outgoing unicast packets
Unknown Protocols In	The number of incoming packets with an unknown protocol

KNOWLEDGE BASE

My WMI sensors don't work. What can I do?

https://helpdesk.paessler.com/en/support/solutions/articles/76000062954

What security features does PRTG include?

https://helpdesk.paessler.com/en/support/solutions/articles/76000062446