The FTP sensor monitors file servers via the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and FTP over SSL (FTPS).
The sensor also shows the response message of the server in the sensor message.
FTP Sensor
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
Sensor in Other Languages
Dutch: FTP
French: FTP
German: FTP
Japanese: FTP
Portuguese: FTP
Russian: FTP
Simplified Chinese: FTP
Spanish: FTP
Remarks
This sensor has a medium performance impact.
This sensor only supports the IPv4 protocol.
Add Sensor
The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the settings that are required to create the sensor. You can change nearly all settings on the sensor's Settings tab after creation.
Basic Sensor Settings
Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
If the name contains angle brackets (<>), PRTG replaces them with braces ({}) for security reasons. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?
This setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.
Tags
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.
It is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).
For performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
ftpsensor
Priority
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority () to the highest priority ().
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address/DNS Name of the parent device. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings.
Sensor Specific
Sensor Specific
Setting
Description
Timeout (Sec.)
Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).
If the reply takes longer than this value, the sensor cancels the request and shows a corresponding error message.
Port
Enter the number of the FTP port that the sensor tries to connect to. Enter an integer.
We recommend that you use the default value.
If the connection is unsuccessful, try a different port number.
FTP Mode
Define the FTP connection mode that the sensor uses for the connection to the FTP server:
Active mode: If you cannot establish a connection, use the passive mode.
Passive mode (default)
We recommend that you use the default value.
Connection Security
Connection Security
Setting
Description
Transport-Level Security
Specify if the sensor uses connection security:
Use transport-level security if available: The sensor tries to connect via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS). It automatically determines whether to connect via the explicit mode or the implicit mode. If the server does not support SSL/TLS, the sensor tries to connect without connection security and shows the Up status if this works.
Enforce transport-level security: The connection must be established via SSL/TLS (in the explicit mode or the implicit mode). Otherwise, the sensor shows the Down status.
Do not use transport-level security: The sensor connects to the FTP server without connection security.
See the sensor logs to see which method the sensor previously used to connect to the FTP server.
Authentication
Authentication
Setting
Description
User Name
Enter a user name for the FTP login. Enter a string or leave the field empty.
The default user name is anonymous. If the sensor cannot log on to the FTP server with this user name (or a different user name that you define), the sensor message shows that the credentials are incorrect but the sensor remains in the Up status.
Password
Enter a password for the FTP login. Enter a string or leave the field empty.
If the sensor cannot log on to the FTP server with this password, the sensor message shows that the credentials are incorrect but the sensor remains in the Up status.
Result Handling
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
Discard result: 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.
This option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.
In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.
Sensor Display
Sensor Display
Setting
Description
Primary Channel
Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed 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 different channels are shown for this sensor:
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 enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked 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.
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 Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.
Access Rights
Access Rights
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
Channel List
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel
Description
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