How PRTG Network Monitor Stores its Data
PRTG Network Monitor writes data to several locations:
- Into the program directory (core installation)
- Into the data folder (monitoring configuration, monitoring data, logs, etc.)
- Into the registry (license key, admin login, IP settings, etc.)
Program Directory
By default, PRTG's setup program stores the core installation in one of the following directories:
%programfiles%\PRTG Network Monitor
or
%programfiles(x86)%\PRTG Network Monitor
Tip: To directly open an Explorer Window showing the respective folder, click on "Run..." in the Windows Start Menu (shortcut Windows+R), paste the path above into the "Open:" field and click "OK".
However, the default setting can be changed during setup. To find the right path for your PRTG installation, please look it up in the Properties of your Start Menu's PRTG icons.
Data Folder
The default setting of the data folder depends on the PRTG Network Monitor version you are using (deprecated versions 7/8, or version 9 and later), as well as on your Windows version. The paths are also different if you have upgraded from a deprecated version 7/8 versus installed a new version 9 and later.
The default data folder is located as follows, depending on your Windows version:
Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 2008, Windows 8, Windows 2012:
%programdata%\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor
Windows XP, Windows 2003:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application data\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor
Tip: To directly open an Explorer Window showing the respective folder, click on "Run..." in the Windows Start Menu (shortcut Windows+R), paste the path above into the "Open:" field and click "OK".
Note: Depending on the language and version of your Windows installation you might need to translate the substring Application data into your Windows installation's language (for example Anwendungsdaten for some German Windows versions).
However, the default setting can be changed. To find the right path for your PRTG installation, please go the PRTG Server Administrator and look up the path in theCore Server tab. You can also change the path there.
Note: For the deprecated PRTG versions 7 and 8, the paths are the following:
PRTG 7 (deprecated):
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application data\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\V7
PRTG 8 (deprecated):
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application data\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\V8
Files and Sub Folders in the Data Folder
The following files and folders are stored in the file system:
| File | Description | File Format |
|---|---|---|
| Log Database.db | Only versions before 8.2: Database with the recent event history for the whole system; "Logs" in the web interface. New entries stored in Log Database sub folder. | Deprecated: SQLite 3.6.10 |
| PRTG Configuration.dat | Monitoring configuration (i.e. probes, groups, devices, sensors, users, maps, reports, etc.) | XML |
| PRTG Configuration.old | Backup of previous version of monitoring configuration | XML |
| PRTG Graph Data Cache.dat | Precalculated data for the graphs throughout the web interface (if missing, this file is automatically recalculated from the files in the "monitoring database") | Proprietary |
| ToDo Database.db | Only versions before 8.2: Database with all ToDo entries; "ToDos" in the web interface. New entries stored in ToDo Database sub folder | Deprecated: SQLite 3.6.10 |
| Folder | Description | File Format |
| \Configuration Auto-Backups | Backup versions of PRTG Configuration.dat | ZIP / XML |
| \Log Database | Database with the recent event history for the whole system; "Logs" in the web interface | Raw data format (.db) |
| \Logs (Debug) | Text file based logs of the core and probe system | Text |
| \Logs (Sensors) | Text file based debug logs of the sensors (files named after the ID of a sensor; logs are written only if activated in a sensor's settings) | Text |
| \Logs (System) | Text file based logs of the core, probe, and cluster system, the Enterprise Console, and result files for certain sensors | Text |
| \Logs (Web Server) | HTTP server log files of PRTG's web server | Standard web server log format |
| \Monitoring Database | Results of all monitoring requests for all sensors (required for historic reports) | Proprietary |
| \Report PDFs | Older PDF reports stored in the file system | Adobe PDF |
| \Screenshots (Fullpage Sensor) | Screen shots stored by the PhantomJS browser engine of the HTTP Full Web Page Sensor | JPG (in sub folders) |
| \StreamLog | Data log files for Packet Sniffer and xFlow (NetFlow, sFlow) sensors (only available if activated in sensor settings) | CSV |
| \Support Data | When using the Send Logs to Paesslerfunctionality, log file data will be collected and compressed into a ZIP file. These files are stored in this folder. | LOG / TXT / ZIP |
| \ToDo Database | Database with all ToDo entries; "ToDos" in the web interface | Raw data format (.db) |
| \Toplist Database | Database for historic Toplists for Packet Sniffer and xFlow (NetFlow, sFlow) sensors | Raw data format (.top); Deprecated: SQLite 3.6.10 (.dat) |
Registry
All system settings (except license keys and Enterprise Console settings) of PRTG Network Monitor are stored in the registry under one of the following nodes. The exact location depends on both the kind of system you're running and the installed PRTG version (or which version was installed previously).
32 Bit Systems:
PRTG 9 or later:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor
PRTG 7 (deprecated):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\V7
PRTG 8 (deprecated):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\V8
64 Bit Systems:
PRTG 9 or later:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor
PRTG 7:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\V7
PRTG 8:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\V8
Enterprise Console (PRTG 9 or later)
All settings of the Enterprise Console are stored under the following node:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\WinGUI
For example, you will find all configured PRTG core servers there.
