This article applies to PRTG Network Monitor 14 and later


What are the main reasons for notification problems? How to check my configuration if I want to debug a notifications problem in case I do not get any notifications?

Top 5 reasons for notification problems

Although we have tried to make it as easy as possible, configuring notifications in PRTG Network Monitor can be quite complex due to the many parameters a user can change. Here are some aspects you should check if you do not get the notifications from PRTG that you would expect.


Check the manual

In general, there are four steps to take in the PRTG web interface in order to use notifications with PRTG:

  1. In System Administration, check the Notification Delivery Settings.
  2. In Account Settings, define Notification Contacts.
  3. In Account Settings, create/edit Notifications for later use.
  4. In the object settings, create triggers that evoke your notifications.

Please consider the following:


Top 1: Misconfigured notification settings

Log in to the PRTG web interface, choose Setup | Account Settings | Notifications from the main menu and click on the Test link of each notification you have trouble with. Do you get all messages? Check your mailbox, pager, mobile phone etc. if all the messages that you have expected actually have arrived.

If they do not, please check the configuration of the affected notifications.


Top 2: SMTP server issues

To send out emails, PRTG Network Monitor requires an SMTP relay server which accepts emails from PRTG and forwards them to the appropriate mailbox. The IP address or host name of this server and all other SMTP Delivery settings are set in the Notification Delivery settings: select Setup | System Administration | Notification Delivery from the main menu.

A common problem are SMTP servers that deny relaying for the server running PRTG. You must synchronize your mail server settings with the settings you have made in PRTG.

When debugging keep an eye on the messages in the System Log (select Logs | System Events | Notifications from main menu). When trying to send an email, PRTG logs whether sending was successful or not.

Also, keep in mind that, for example, while you reboot the server that runs the SMTP server you can not get any mail notifications!

Furthermore, please check the following:

  • Correct spelling of email address
  • There are available DNS servers. Available DNS servers must have an MX resource record entry for the email address domain. Check your Windows DNS settings.
  • TCP/IP connections to the target SMTP server can be established. Check your firewall and proxy settings, as well as your policies for internet access.
  • Ensure a working SMTP communication: Check your SMTP delivery settings in the PRTG System Administration.

Top 3: Misconfigured dependencies

Using "dependencies" you can pause the monitoring of sensors or the sending of notifications based on the status of another sensor to avoid false alarms and incorrect recording of downtimes (see manual section Dependencies for more details).

For example, if you monitor servers over a leased line then it makes no sense to send monitoring requests to the servers if the leased line is down since PRTG cannot even reach the servers. The idea is to monitor the availability of the leased line and then pause monitoring of these servers if the leased line is not available at all.

It is important that you double check your dependency settings. Dependencies are edited on each object's settings page (for example, on the settings page of a group or sensor in section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window). Also remember that dependencies can be inherited from objects higher in the hierarchy (see manual section Inheritance of Settings for more details).


Top 4: Misconfigured schedules

Using schedules you can enable and disable monitoring (for groups, servers, sensors) or the delivery of notifications based on the time of day and/or the day of the week. You can use schedules, for example, to pause monitoring during the night or maintenance, or to avoid receiving notifications on the weekend.

You can choose a schedules for each object (for example, a sensor or a group) on its settings page. To configure schedules, select Setup | Account Settings | Schedules from the main menu.


Top 5: Overlooked latencies

An often overlooked feature is the latency setting. To avoid receiving too many notifications for only very short failures or delays you can set so-called latencies for every notification trigger. When latencies are set (a value in seconds) a notification is only sent if the failure state takes longer than the latency.

Latencies delay the delivery of a notification. If the sensors comes back up before the latency expires no notification will be sent. PRTG's default values are 60 seconds for latency and 300 seconds for escalation latency. Latencies are configured per notification trigger in the notification trigger settings (select Notifications tab in an object's settings).


Additional Note: Security Software

We also have seen few cases where Security Software (for example, Symantec Endpoint Protection installed on the PRTG host machine) did block the SMTP-Connection of the PRTG Core Service to a mail/SMTP-Relay-Server. Thus, it was necessary to add an exception in the Security Software for the "PRTG Server.exe" to enable email delivery.


Disclaimer:
The information in the Paessler Knowledge Base comes without warranty of any kind. Use at your own risk. Before applying any instructions please exercise proper system administrator housekeeping. You must make sure that a proper backup of all your data is available.