<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Syslog Receiver Sensor

Performance impact

• This sensor has a very high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 50 of this sensor on each probe.

UDP

• This sensor only supports the User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

Cluster probe

• This sensor does not support cluster probes. You can only set it up on local probes or remote probes.

IPv6

• This sensor supports IPv6.

Probe device

• Add this sensor to the probe device to receive all messages of the remote probe system.

• If you add the sensor to a device other than a probe device, the IP address or Domain Name System (DNS) name of the parent device must match the proper sender. For example, if you want to receive messages from a storage area network (SAN), you might need to add a device with the IP address of a specific array member that sends the messages. Providing a DNS name that points to the IP address of a whole group might not work for SANs.

Filter options

• You can use the filter options to define which types of messages the sensor considers for monitoring, and which messages it categorizes as warnings or errors.

Specific device

• Add this sensor to a specific device to directly receive all messages from this device. This is faster than using source filters.

Placeholders

• You can use placeholders in email notification templates to see messages when you receive email notifications.

Sensor states

• The sensor states of this sensor persist for one scanning interval only. After showing the Warning or the Down status, and if there is no warning or error message in the next scanning interval, the sensor shows the Up status again. For more information on a workaround, see the Knowledge Base: How can I configure sensors using speed limits to keep the status for more than one interval?

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.

Port

Enter the number of the port on which the sensor listens for Syslog messages. The default port is 514. Enter an integer.

We recommend that you use the default value.

Purge Messages After

Define how long PRTG stores received Syslog messages for analysis. Select a period of time from the dropdown list.

Include Filter

Define if you want to filter Syslog messages. If you leave this field empty or use the keyword any, the sensor processes all data. To only include specific types of messages, define filters using a special syntax.

Exclude Filter

Define which types of Syslog messages the sensor discards and does not process. To exclude specific types of messages, define filters using a special syntax.

Warning Filter

Define which types of Syslog messages count for the Warnings channel. To categorize received messages as warning messages, define filters using a special syntax.

The sensor collects messages until a scanning interval ends. As long as the scanning interval is running, the sensor does not change its status. By default, the sensor changes to the Warning status after a scanning interval finishes and there was at least one warning message (and no error message) during this scanning interval. The sensor shows the Warning at least until the succeeding scanning interval finishes. If the sensor does not receive any warning or error message in this scanning interval, its status changes to the Up status again with the start of the next scanning interval.

Error Filter

Define which types of Syslog messages count for the Errors channel. To categorize received messages as error messages, define filters using a special syntax.

The sensor collects messages until a scanning interval ends. As long as the scanning interval is running, the sensor does not change its status. By default, the sensor changes to the Down status after a scanning interval finishes and there was at least one error message during this scanning interval. The sensor shows the Down status at least until the succeeding scanning interval finishes. If the sensor does not receive any warning or error message in this scanning interval, its status changes to the Up status again with the start of the next scanning interval.

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.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

• Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.

• Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\debug subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Sensor [ID]_[Date].log. This setting is for debugging purposes.
  Use with caution. We recommend that you only use this setting for a short time because it can create huge data files.

source[ip]

Enter an IP address where the messages come from. IP masks and ranges are also possible.

• source[10.0.23.50]
• source[10.0.23.10-50]
• source[10.0.23.10/24]
   

facility[number]

Enter any number or range from 0 to 23 specifying the program type that sends the message.

• facility[2]
• facility[5-7]
• facility[5] OR facility[6]
   

severity[number]

Enter any number or range from 0 (emergency) to 7 (debug) specifying the message type.

• severity[4]
• severity[1-3]
• severity[1] AND severity[2]
   

hostname[text]

Enter any string that specifies the hostname of a device in the message.

• hostname[www.example.com]
   

tag[text]

Enter any string that specifies the tag of a program or process in the message.

• tag[su]
   

appname[text]

Enter any string that specifies the appname part of the message.

• appname[myproc]
• appname[demo] AND msgid[m42]
   

procid[text]

Enter any string that specifies the process identifier part of the message.

• procid[1860]
   

msgid[text]

Enter any string that specifies the message identifier part of the message.

• msgid[ID47]
   

message[parttext]

Enter any string that specifies the message part of the message. (Any substring matches. This value is not case-sensitive.)

• message[Error]
   

data[id,param,value]

This checks the SD-ID block of the message's structured data for a parameter matching the specified value.

• data[exampleSDID@12345,eventSource,Application]
   

data[parttext]

This checks if the specified substring matches structured data as displayed in the corresponding table.

• data[exampleSDID@1234]
   

data[id,param]

This checks if the parameter exists in the specified ID element.

• data[exampleSDID@1234,eventSource]
   

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

Drops

The number of dropped packets on the syslog port

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper warning limit: 0.00000001

Errors

The number of messages categorized as "error"

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper error limit: 0.00000001

Messages

The number of received Syslog messages

This channel is the primary channel by default.

Warnings

The number of messages categorized as "warning"

This channel has a default limit:

• Upper warning limit: 0.00000001