We have noticed that some devices appear in PRTG without a hostname after an Auto-Disocvery. For example, switches in our own network appear in PRTG with their name and IP-address, but some switches in the networks of our customers do not appear with their hostname after an Auto-Discovery. These devices only display their IP-address after an Auto-Discovery

Is there something specific that causes this? It can be solved by adding the name via snmp to a template, but this creates an unnecessary sensor on every switch/device.

We have already looked into DNS settings and this should not be part of the problem, as switches can also appear with their hostname without having an entry in a DNS-server.

Article Comments

Hello there,

If a device is created with DNS name or IP address mainly depends on the settings of the auto-discovery before the sensor creation. Once the device is created, there are only approaches that require manual work to change the device name. Please note if PRTG was not able to get the DNS name during the auto discovery, it will also add the device with its IP address.

Kind regards,
Birk Guttmann, Tech Support Team


Apr, 2019 - Permalink

Thank you for the reply,

The point is that we have noticed similar problems with access points so we added an SNMP string sensor to a template to make sure we would automatically get the name, otherwise they would only show up with an IP-address. I am not sure if it has something to do with the specific model of the switch (or whatever it could be), but I would prefer if Auto-Discovery always automaticlly gets the name of a device without the need of an extra sensor.

It looks like it works with specific brands/models of devices, but other devices only show up with some basic info and only an IP-address, no hostname.


Apr, 2019 - Permalink