PRTG Monitoring Guidelines

1.) Introduction

PRTG Monitoring is the network monitoring tool used

to track system performance, detect issues, and
ensure uptime. This guide provides step-by-step
instructions for installing, configuring, and setting up
sensors in PRTG.

2.) Installation
Open your browser and search for PRTG network monitor. Click the www.paessler.com.

Inside the page, click on FREE DOWNLOAD. This will open another page which will then
ask for your work email for the free trial. Type your email then click on DOWNLOAD YOUR
TRIAL. This will then download the installation file. Once done downloading, open the file
and start the installation. During the installation process click on accept agreement and
enter your email address then choose express for the installation mode.

3.) Initial set-up

After installation, you can now open the PRTG by either opening through the PRTG Network
Monitor application installed on your computer or by going to through your browser and
type 127.0.0.1 then press enter.
This will lead you to the login page of the PRTG which then ask for your Login Name and
Password. On default it should display prtgadmin on both Login Name and Password.
Once you have login, this will now forward you to the PRTG network monitoring dashboard
which displays all the necessary elements for the monitoring system.

You can change the account access settings later and other configurations for more
security through going in setup>account settings>my account located at the upper right
of the welcome page. You can also setup administrators for the list of allowed account to
access the PRTG system by going to setup>system administration>user accounts.

On the upper right of the page, click on the + button then select for either Add User, Add
Multiple Users, or Add User Group then fill in the required details.

Going back to the main dashboard. Click first on the device then this will display all the
monitoring system registered in the database including all the sensors active in the system.

In some computers these will show a lot of sensors same with the picture above. Delete
the rest aside from Root, Local Probe and PRTG Core Server by right clicking on the other
groups behind the Local Probe click on delete>delete object.

4.) Creating a new group or a sub-group for an existing system.

On the overview page of the Devices, look for the Root. Right click then go to
edit>rename. Name it as “PRTG monitoring”. After that right click on the Local Probe then
rename it as “CNFM Facility Monitoring”. Next is right click on the CNFM Facility
Monitoring then click on Add Group. Input/configure the following base on the table:

Configuration
Group Name: Power System
Tags: Leave empty unless needed
Auto-Discovery Level: No auto-discovery (default)

Once done, click “Ok” below. The Power System group that was created will now show-up
under the CNFM Facility Monitoring. Next is right click on the Power System then click on
Add Group again. Input/configure the following base on the table:

Configuration
Group Name: Name of your area or city (Ex: Davao)
Tags: Leave empty unless needed
Auto-Discovery Level: No auto-discovery (default)

Once done, click “Ok” below. The Davao group that was created will now show-up under
the Power System. Right click on the Davao then click on Add Device or you can just
directly click the Add Device shown on screen. Input/configure the following base on the
table:
 Configuration
Device Name: GENSET # (Ex: GENSET NO.1)
IP Version: IPv4(default)
IPv4 Address/DNS Name: Assigned IP Address (Must be determined)
Tags: Leave empty unless needed
Device Icon: Leave empty unless needed
Auto-Discovery Level: No auto-discovery (default)
Credentials & Access Rights: Leave all at default (check)
The GENSET NO.1 will be created below the Power System.

5.) Adding and Configuring the Sensor Monitoring System

After you have setup the first genset for the power system, you can now start adding in the
sensors for the PRTG monitoring system.

Under the GENSET NO.1, click on Add Sensor or right click on the GENSET NO.1 then Add
Sensor.
On the search bar, type “Modbus” then wait for the Modbus TCP Custom to appear below
the sensor types and then click it. Configure following base on the table below and leave
the others at default:

Common Configuration
Sensor Name: Refer to the Modbus Channel
Configuration Table
Tags: modbus
Port: Must align to your converter port number
(must be checked)
Unit ID: Assigned Genset number (Ex. For GENSET
NO.1 the Unit ID will be 1, For GENSET
NO.3 the Unit ID will be 3) *Note: This may
still vary depending on your physical setup.
Channel #1 Name: Same name with the Sensor Name (Ex:
Genset Status)
Channel #1 Register Type: Holding Register
Channel #1 Register Number: Refer to the Modbus Channel
Configuration Table
Result Handling: Store Result

Modbus Channel Configuration

Sensor Genset Status Channel #1 189 Channel #1 None
Name: Battery Voltage Register Number: 142 Unit: V (Volts)
Temperature 149 °C
Oil Pressure 151 psi
Speed 141 rpm
Frequency 84 Hz (Hertz)
L1 Current 95 A (Amps)
L2 Current 96 A (Amps)
L3 Current 97 A (Amps)
L1 Voltage 78 V (Volts)
L2 Voltage 79 V(Volts)
L3 Voltage 80 V (Volts)
Energy Generation 204 kWh (Watts)
Running Hours 270 H (Hours)
Utilization 93 %
Fuel Level 153 L
Once configuration is done just click on Create. The sensor will appear below the GENSET
NO.1. You can wait for the sensor to appear green, or you can refresh the page by clicking
on the “Scan Now” symbol at the upper right of the page.

After that, you can now add another sensor by clicking again the Add Sensor beside the
newly created sensor. Repeat the same process following the table guide above.

6.) Configuring Sensors Threshold Values

On the Overview page of the devices click on a single sensor, then this will forward you to
another Overview page specifically for that sensor status.

Click on the gauge icon. This will then open the Edit Channel page which allows you for
further configuration such as its maximum and minimum voltage or capacity for example.
You can follow some common threshold configuration on the table below. Leave the rest
that wasn’t included in the configuration at default settings. Note that this might vary
depending on the system specifications or setup.

Genset Status Battery Voltage Temperature Oil Pressure

Unit: Leave empty Unit: V Unit: °C Unit: psi
Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1
Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 10 Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 1
Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable
alerting based on limits alerting based on limits alerting based on limits alerting based on limits
Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: 85 Upper Error Limit: None
Upper Warning Limit: 9 Upper Warning Limit: None Upper Warning Limit: None Upper Warning Limit: 1
Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: 24 Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None
Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: 22 Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None
Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None
Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message:
None None None None
 Speed Frequency L1 Current L2 Current
Unit: rpm Unit: Hz Unit: A Unit: A
Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1
Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 1
Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable
alerting based on limits alerting based on limits alerting based on limits alerting based on limits
Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None
Upper Warning Limit: 1 Upper Warning Limit: 1 Upper Warning Limit: 1 Upper Warning Limit: 1
Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None
Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None
Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None
Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message:
None None None None
L3 Current L1 Voltage L2 Voltage L3 Voltage
Unit: A Unit: V Unit: V Unit: V
Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1
Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 1
Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable
alerting based on limits alerting based on limits alerting based on limits alerting based on limits
Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None
Upper Warning Limit: 1 Upper Warning Limit: 1 Upper Warning Limit: 1 Upper Warning Limit: 1
Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None
Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None
Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None
Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message:
None None None None
Energy Generation Running Hours Utilization Fuel Level
Unit: kWh Unit: h Unit: % Unit: L
Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 1 Scaling Multiplication: 5491
Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 1 Scaling Division: 100
Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable Lookups and Limits: Enable
alerting based on lookups alerting based on lookups alerting based on lookups alerting based on limits
Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None Upper Error Limit: None
Upper Warning Limit: 1 Upper Warning Limit: 1 Upper Warning Limit: 1 Upper Warning Limit: 1
Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None Lower Warning Limit: None
Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None Lower Error Limit: None
Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None Error Limit Message: None
Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message: Warning Limit Message:
None None None None

7.) Rearranging and copying sensors

In case you want to properly arrange your sensors to match the previous genset sensor
arrangement. You can rearrange the sensors within the group by selecting Management
beside the Settings.
This will allow you to drag a sensor to another area to arrange it with your desired order.

When doing a new set of genset, you can also copy existing sensors from the previous
genset to fasten the process by dragging an existing sensor from the first configured genset
to the other genset instead of adding again a sensor 1 by 1 which takes more time. But you
need to change few of the configuration such as the Unit ID manually based on the genset
#.

8.) Monitoring the sensors

Once all the genset are set-up. The sensor might appear in 4 colors base on its status. The
red signifies a down status which either means the PRTG software cannot connect to the
sensor due to slow internet connection or due to misconfiguration in your system. On the
other hand, yellow signifies, that the sensor has a warning which means that the sensor
has reach its minimum or maximum assigned threshold value. While blue signifies that the
Group or the Genset No. device is on paused.

To enable it, you can right click on either the Power System or Davao or the Genset No,
then go to edit>settings then change the Monitoring Status to Started(default) then click
ok. Wait for a few seconds or refresh the page by clicking Scan Now symbol and see if the
sensor change in color.

You can also see the sensor status of the overall system by looking at the upper left of the
Overview page. This is the easiest way to check alarms or sensor problems on the
monitoring system.