<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: SSH SAN Physical Disk Sensor

The SSH SAN Physical Disk sensor monitors a physical disk on a storage area network (SAN) via Secure Shell (SSH).

i_round_redThe SAN must provide a command-line interface (CLI) for this purpose.

SSH SAN Physical Disk Sensor

SSH SAN Physical Disk Sensor

i_square_cyanFor a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

  • Dutch: SSH SAN Fysieke Schijf
  • French: SAN disque physique (SSH)
  • German: SSH SAN Physikalisches Laufwerk
  • Japanese: SSH SAN 物理ディスク
  • Portuguese: Disco físico SAN (SSH)
  • Russian: Физический диск SAN по SSH
  • Simplified Chinese: SSH SAN 物理磁盘
  • Spanish: Disco físico SAN (SSH)

Remarks

  • This sensor requires credentials for Linux/Solaris/macOS (SSH/WBEM) systems in the settings of the parent device.
  • This sensor does not support every SAN, even if it provides a CLI. The sensor only works with specific devices, for example, the HPE P2000.
  • It might happen that the controller of your target device breaks down. Experience shows that this issue strongly depends on the hardware model you monitor. Increase the scanning interval to discharge the controller and try again.
  • After a firmware update of the target device, this sensor might show incorrect channel values. Add this sensor anew in this case.
  • This sensor has a medium performance impact.
  • This sensor only supports the IPv4 protocol.
  • This sensor uses lookups to determine the status values of one or more channels. This means that possible states are defined in a lookup file. You can change the behavior of a channel by editing the lookup file that the channel uses. For details, see section Define Lookups.
  • Sometimes the devices you monitor with this SSH SAN sensor return status values that are not officially documented so that the shown sensor status in PRTG differs from the "real" device status. For more information on this issue, see the Knowledge Base: Why does my SSH SAN sensor show a wrong status?

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.

i_round_blueThe settings that you select in the Add Sensor dialog are valid for all sensors that you create when you finish the dialog.

SSH SAN Physical Disk Settings

Setting

Description

Disk

Select the physical disks that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each physical disk that you select.

i_round_blueEnable 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.

Basic Sensor Settings

Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.

Basic Sensor Settings

Basic Sensor Settings

Setting

Description

Sensor Name

Enter a name to identify the sensor.

Parent Tags

Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.

i_round_blueThis 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.

i_round_blueIt is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).

i_round_blueFor 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:

  • sshsanphysicaldisk
  • sshsan
  • physicaldisk

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 (i_priority_1) to the highest priority (i_priority_5).

i_round_blueUsually, 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.

SSH Specific

SSH Specific

SSH Specific

Setting

Description

Connection Timeout (Sec.)

Define a timeout in seconds for the connection. This is the time that the sensor waits to establish a connection to the host. Keep this value as low as possible. Enter an integer.

i_round_blueThis sensor has a fixed timeout of 300 seconds. If you change the value, it does not have an effect on the timeout.

i_round_blueEnsure that the connection timeout is a value that is higher than the shell timeout to avoid potential errors.

Shell Timeout (Sec.)

Define a timeout in seconds for the shell response. This is the time in seconds the sensor waits for the shell to return a response after it has sent its specific command (for example, cat /proc/loadavg). The maximum value is 300 seconds (5 minutes). Enter an integer.

i_round_blueThis sensor has a fixed timeout of 300 seconds. If you change the value, it does not have an effect on the timeout.

i_round_blueEnsure that the shell timeout is a value that is lower than the connection timeout to avoid potential errors.

SSH Port

Define which port this sensor uses for the SSH connection:

  • Inherit port number from parent device (default): Use the port number as defined in the Credentials for Linux/Solaris/macOS (SSH/WBEM) Systems section of the parent device settings.
  • Enter custom port number: Define a custom port number below and do not use the port number from the parent device settings.

Use Port Number

This setting is only visible if you select Enter custom port number above. Enter the port number (between 1 and 65535) that this sensor uses for the SSH connection. Enter an integer.

SSH Engine

Select the method that you want to use to access data with this SSH sensor. We strongly recommend that you use the default engine. You can still use the legacy mode for some time to ensure compatibility with your target systems. Choose between:

  • Inherit from parent device (default): Use the SSH engine that you defined in the parent device settings or higher up in the object hierarchy. If you have not changed the SSH engine, this is the recommended default engine.
  • Default: This is the default monitoring method for SSH sensors. It provides the best performance and security. It is set by default in objects that are higher up in the hierarchy, so usually you can keep the Inherit from parent device (default) option.
  • Compatibility mode (deprecated): Try this legacy method only if the default mode does not work on a target device. The compatibility mode is the SSH engine that PRTG used in previous versions. It is deprecated. We will remove this legacy mode soon, so try to get your SSH sensors running with the default SSH engine.

i_round_redThe option you select here overrides the selection of the SSH engine in a higher object: a parent device, group, probe, or root.

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, Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt, and Result of Sensor [ID] (SSHv2).txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.
  • Store result in case of error: Store the last sensor result only if the sensor shows the Down status.

i_podThis option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.

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

SSH SAN Physical Disk Settings

SSH SAN Physical Disk Settings

SSH SAN Physical Disk Settings

Setting

Description

Disk

Shows the physical disk that this sensor monitors.

i_round_bluePRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.

Name

Shows the name of the physical disk that this sensor monitors.

i_round_bluePRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.

Size

Shows the size of the physical disk that this sensor monitors.

i_round_bluePRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.

Command Mode

Define the command set that the sensor uses on the device to get monitoring data:

  • Basic (recommended): Use the basic command set. We recommend that you use the basic command set for best sensor performance. This setting is appropriate for most scenarios.
  • Advanced: Monitor additional data on the target device like IOs and bandwidth.
    i_round_redBecause this setting results in higher usage of system resources and so might cause sensor instabilities, we strongly recommend that you ony select this option if this data is crucial for the volume that you monitor.

Request Mode

Define the which type of data the sensor requests:

  • Request all historical data: Use this mode to possibly deliver better data.
  • Request actual counters: Use this mode if the device does not support Request all historical data. This mode might result in incorrect data and spikes in graphs.

Sensor Display

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.

i_round_blueYou can set a different primary channel later by clicking b_channel_primary 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.
    i_round_redYou 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 b_inherited_enabled under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

Scanning Interval

Scanning Interval

Scanning Interval

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.

Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window

i_round_blueYou 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

Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.

Access Rights

Access Rights

Access Rights

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.

Channel Unit Configuration

i_round_blueWhich channel units are available depends on the sensor type and the available parameters. If no configurable channels are available, this field shows No configurable channels.

Channel Unit Configuration

Channel Unit Configuration

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Channel Unit Configuration.

Channel List

i_round_blueWhich 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 in percent.

Health

The health status of the disk

  • Up status: Ok
  • Down status: Fault, Not Available

i_round_blueThis channel is the primary channel by default.

Total IOs

The total number of input/output (I/O) operations per second

Transferred

The data transferred per second

More

i_square_blueKnowledge Base

Why does my SSH SAN sensor show a wrong status?

What security features does PRTG include?