<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Hyper-V Virtual Machine Sensor
The Hyper-V Virtual Machine sensor monitors a virtual machine (VM) that runs on a Microsoft Hyper-V host server via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) or Windows performance counters, as configured in the Windows Compatibility Options of the parent device.
Hyper-V Virtual Machine Sensor
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
Sensor in Other Languages
- Dutch: Virtuele Hyper-V-Machine
- French: Hyper-V machine virtuelle
- German: Hyper-V Virtuelle Maschine
- Japanese: Hyper-V 仮想マシン
- Portuguese: Máquina virtual Hyper-V
- Russian: Виртуальная машина Hyper-V
- Simplified Chinese: Hyper-V 虚拟机
- Spanish: Máquina virtual Hyper-V
Remarks
- Live Migration
- DownThe virtual machine is not running or is powered off
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.
Detailed Requirements
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Windows credentials
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This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems in the settings of the parent device. Preferably, 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 computer. Otherwise, a connection via performance counters is not possible. However, WMI connections might still work.
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Windows version
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For this sensor to work with Windows performance counters, make sure that Windows Server 2008 R2 or later is installed on the probe system (on every cluster node, if on a cluster probe).
WoW64 must be installed on target systems that run Windows Server 2016. This allows 32-bit applications to be run on 64-bit systems. This is necessary because the PRTG probe service only runs with 32-bit support. Without it, WMI sensors do not work.
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Remote Registry Windows service
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For this sensor to work with Windows performance counters, make sure that the Remote Registry Windows service runs on the target computer. If this service does not run, a connection via performance counters is not possible. However, WMI connections might still work.
To enable the service, log in to the respective computer and open the services manager (for example, via services.msc). In the list, find the respective service and set its Start Type to Automatic.
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Hybrid Approach: Performance Counters and WMI
By default, this sensor uses WMI to request monitoring data. You can change the default behavior to a hybrid approach in the Windows Compatibility Options of the parent device's settings on which you create this sensor: if you choose this option, the sensor first tries to query data via Windows performance counters and uses WMI as a fallback if performance counters are not available. When running in fallback mode, the sensor tries to connect via performance counters again after 24 hours.
Sensors that use the WMI protocol have a high impact on the system performance. Try to stay below 200 WMI sensors per probe. Above this number, consider using multiple remote probes for load balancing.
For a general introduction to the technology behind WMI, see section Monitoring via WMI.
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.
The settings that you select in the Add Sensor dialog are valid for all sensors that you create when you finish the dialog.
Virtual Machine Settings
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Virtual Machines
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Select the VMs that you want to monitor, including the ones that do not run. PRTG creates one sensor for each VM that you select.
Enable check boxes in front of the respective lines to select the items. Use the check box in the table header to select all items or to cancel the selection. In large tables, use the search function in the upper-right corner.
Make sure that the names of your VMs do not contain unsupported characters, especially avoid the number sign (#). We recommend that you not rename VMs once you have set up monitoring. For detailed information, see the Knowledge Base: Why don't my Hyper-V sensors work after changing names?
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Basic Sensor Settings
Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
Basic Sensor Settings
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Sensor Name
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Enter a name to identify the sensor.
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Parent Tags
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Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.
This setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.
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Tags
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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:
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Priority
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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 ().
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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.
Virtual Machine Settings
Virtual Machine Settings
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GUID
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Shows the globally unique identifier (GUID) of the VM that this sensor monitors.
PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.
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Virtual Machine Name
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Shows the name of the VM that this sensor monitors.
PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.
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Description
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Shows the description of the VM that this sensor monitors.
PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.
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Powered-Off VM Handling
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Define how the sensor reacts to VMs that are powered off:
- Alarm when VM is powered off (default): Change to the Down status if the VM is powered off.
If the sensor is in the Down status, it does not record any data in any of its channels.
- Ignore powered-off state: Do not change to the Down status if the VM is powered off. The sensor reports zero values instead.
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Result Handling
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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.
In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.
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Sensor Display
Sensor Display
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Primary Channel
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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.
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Graph Type
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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).
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Stack Unit
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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.
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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.
Scanning Interval
Scanning Interval
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.
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CPU Usage Guest
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The CPU usage of the guests in percent
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CPU Usage Hypervisor
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The CPU usage of the hypervisor in percent
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CPU Usage Total
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The total CPU usage in percent
This channel is the primary channel by default.
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Downtime
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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 in percent.
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IDE: Read Bytes/Sec
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The disk read speed of the integrated development environment (IDE) in bytes per second
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IDE: Write Bytes/Sec
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The disk write speed of the IDE in bytes per second
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More
Knowledge Base
Why don't my Hyper-V sensors work after changing names?
What security features does PRTG include?