<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Windows Print Queue Sensor

Performance impact

• This sensor has a high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 200 of this sensor on each probe.

Print Spooler Windows service

• This sensor requires that the Print Spooler Windows service runs on the target device and the probe system.

• To enable the service, log in to the respective system and open the services manager (for example, via services.msc). In the list, find the respective service and set its Start Type to Automatic.

.NET 4.7.2 or later

• This sensor requires .NET 4.7.2 or later from Microsoft on the probe system. In a cluster, install it on every cluster node. If the sensor shows the error PE087, additionally install .NET 3.5 on the probe system.

If the framework is missing, you cannot create this sensor.

For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Which .NET version does PRTG require?

Windows Server

• We recommend Windows Server 2016 on the probe system for best performance of this sensor.

Credentials

• This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems.

• We recommend that you use Windows domain credentials.

If you use local credentials, make sure that the same Windows user accounts (with the same user name and password) exist on both the probe system and the target system.

• Otherwise, the sensor cannot correctly connect.

IPv6

• This sensor supports IPv6.

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.

Print Queue

Select the print queues that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each print queue that you select.

If no print queues are available, you see a corresponding message.

If a printer name changes after sensor creation, you need to add the sensor anew.

You cannot change this value after sensor creation.

Advanced Status Options

Optionally define specific sensor states for several return messages of the printer that this sensor monitors:

• Do not define sensor states for specific return messages: Do not define sensor states for specific return messages.
• Define sensor states for specific return messages: Define sensor states for various messages that the printer reports.

Not all printer types properly support Advanced Status Options, which might lead to false alerts. If the printer does not support a property, this property is always false. This means that the sensor cannot display the state or detect if the printer supports the property. Even if the printer can report a property, it can only do so if a print job is sent to the printer.

Door Open

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Manual Feed Required

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Needs User Intervention

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Offline

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Out of Memory

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Out of Paper

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Paper Jammed

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Paper Problem

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Paused

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Printer Error

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Printer Not Available

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Toner Low

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Toner Out

This setting is only visible if you select Define sensor states for specific return messages above.

For each problem that the printer reports, define the status that the sensor shows:

• Ignore (default): Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
• Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
• Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.

Minimum Print Job Age (Sec.)

Optionally define the age of the print job in seconds. If you define a minimum print job age, the sensor does not regard jobs that are younger than this value. If you leave this field empty, the sensor does not check for the print job age. Enter an integer or leave the field empty.

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\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.

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

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.

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

Execution Time

The execution time

Jobs

The number of jobs in the queue

This channel is the primary channel by default.