<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: WMI Service Sensor
The WMI Service sensor monitors a Windows service via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).
After creation, the sensor shows the Downstatus if the service does not run.
WMI Service Sensor
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
Sensor in Other Languages
Dutch: WMI Service
French: Service (WMI)
German: WMI Dienst
Japanese: WMI サービス
Portuguese: Serviço (WMI)
Russian: Служба WMI
Simplified Chinese: WMI 服务
Spanish: Servicio (WMI)
Remarks
This sensor has a high performance impact. Stay below 200 WMI sensors per probe. Above this number, consider using multiple remote probes for load balancing.
This sensor requires WoW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) for target systems that run Windows Server 2016.
This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems in the settings of the parent device.
This sensor supports IPv6.
The name and description of the service in the Add Sensor dialog appear in the language of the device's Windows installation.
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.
If the name contains angle brackets (<>), PRTG replaces them with braces ({}) for security reasons. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?
This 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.
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:
servicesensor
wmiservicesensor
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 () to the highest priority ().
WMI Service Monitor
WMI Service Monitor
Setting
Description
If Service is Not Running
Select whether you want PRTG to start or restart the service if it is stopped or paused:
Start/Restart service: PRTG tries to start the service if it is not running when the device is scanned. In combination with a change trigger, you can use this mechanism to trigger a notification whenever PRTG (re)starts the service.
Do not start/restart service: PRTG does not automatically start any service on the device.
If you select the Start/Restart service option and the sensor detects that the service does not run, PRTG tries to restart the service during this scan and postpones the next sensor scan for one interval. With the following scan, the sensor checks if the service runs now. If starting the service was not successful or if the service fails again, the sensor shows the Down status and does not try to start the service again. If the service runs after a (re)start attempt, the sensor continues monitoring as usual.
If Service is Restarted
This setting is only visible if you select Start/Restart service above.
Define what the sensor does if PRTG restarts the service:
Ignore (default): Do nothing.
Trigger 'change' notification: Send an internal message that indicates a change. In combination with a change trigger, you can use this to trigger a notification if a change occurs.
Extended Monitoring
Select whether you want to monitor CPU usage and other performance counters:
Only check if the service is running: PRTG only monitors the channel Sensor Execution Time.
Monitor other performance counters: PRTG also monitors other performance counters.
Extended monitoring might cause a class not found error on some Windows systems.
Service
The Windows service that this sensor monitors.
Description
The description of the Windows service that this sensor monitors.
Result Handling
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the last result of the requested data 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]-A.txt, and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes, especially in combination with content checks. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.
In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.
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.
You can set a different primary channel later by clicking 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. You 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 select Stack channels on top of each other above.
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 under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.
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 (default).
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.
Channel
Description
CPU Usage
The CPU usage
Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.
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
Handles
The number of handles
Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.
Pagefile Usage
The pagefile usage
Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.
Sensor Execution Time
The execution time of the monitoring request
This channel is the primary channel by default.
Threads
The number of threads
Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.
Working Set
The working set
Enable Monitor other performance counters in the sensor settings to show this parameter.