I am trying to setup GPS tracking services for a mobile VSAT (very small aperture terminal), which is traveling around the globe. I have an ACU (antenna control unit) which has GPS sentences coming off of the device. SNMP is enabled on the device and I was able to load the MIB file into PRTG for monitoring. However the SNMP Location OID is only showing the UP/DOWN time for the device.

I am needing to get the GPS to reflect into PRTG so if our technical staff/client is needing to troubleshoot/monitor, once they click on a device this would display their last GEO Location.

I will need the GPS to update every 3-5mins.

Article Comments

Dear Cameron

This is not directly possible with PRTG. In principle, you could to this:

  • On the device settings tab, deselect the inheritance setting for the location
  • Use the proper SNMP library or custom sensor on that device to extract the GPS coordinates
  • Enable the "If Value Changes" / "Trigger 'change' notification" sensor option
  • Add an according notification trigger to run a script
  • This script then uses the PRTG API to read out the last value or the sensor message, and change the parent device's location.

The API call to change the location content would look like

/api/setlonlat.htm?id=2123&location=CurrentPosition&lonlat=11.08,49.45

This call assumes the device ID is 2123 and the location is Nuremberg. The "Current Position" string is just a string describing the location.

A full API call also includes the webserver address and PRTG user credentials. Please find further documentation using the webinterface, menu Setup | PRTG API, tab "HTTP API".


Dec, 2015 - Permalink