Help Us Beta Test Our New Mobile Probes!
We have just released the beta version of a new outstanding feature for PRTG Network Monitor: Mobile probes for Android devices! Install a mobile probe on your tablet or phone, and you will be able to gather local monitoring data with your mobile device in a quick and easy way. This can be, for example, connection times from your device to an email server, wireless LAN (WiFi) coverage, or environmental data. Get PRTG Mobile Probe just now on Google Play and try it out—we would love to hear your feedback!
Probes are the part of PRTG that run monitoring processes and deliver monitoring results back to the PRTG core server.
- Local probes monitor services inside your LAN
- Remote probes, when installed in remote locations, allow you monitoring of multiple (distant) locations. This way, you are able to monitor systems inside remote networks which are not openly accessible.
- With the new mobile probes, you can now add another type of probe to PRTG. Usually connecting via WiFi, mobile probes see your network from the mobile perspective, gathering monitoring data, such as ping or loading times, from just this point of view.
Monitoring WiFi Coverage
Mobile probes are a simple way to monitor basic parameters at a certain location inside your network. For example, if you are interested in the signal strength of the WiFi in your office, you can use your Android device with PRTG's mobile probe and monitor the signal and link speed. Find out quickly which corners in your office have the perfect signal or be aware of signal failures—you can see it within your PRTG instance.
Monitoring Environmental Data
Another application scenario is to monitor environmental values. With PRTG Mobile Probe it is possible to show the light intensity in a certain room. Depending on the available measuring components on your mobile device, you are also able to monitor parameters such as temperature, pressure, or humidity at any desired location. Your Android device measures them, the mobile probe monitors them, and your PRTG web interface will display the monitoring results in the well-known way.
Location, Battery, HTTP, and SNMP
The current beta version includes also a "Location" sensor. This sensor type assures that you will always see where your device currently is—good to know since it is portable. You can also have a close look at the device status such as battery charge (however, we don't recommend leaving the device without a power source for too long), perform pings on the mobile probe to show the device's availability, or monitor the loading times of websites via HTTP. Furthermore, monitoring via SNMP is under development. Besides reviewing monitoring data in PRTG's web interface, you can access the most recent results also directly on the mobile probe.
Requirements and Setup
All you need to do is to download the mobile probe software from Google Play and install it on your mobile device that runs Android 2.0 or later. Allow Small Probes and "any" IPs (or an appropriate IP range) to connect to your PRTG server in PRTG's Probe Connection Settings, and ensure that the PRTG Core server (version 13.4.7 or later) is accessible from the network your device is connected to. Then link up the mobile probe with your PRTG installation by simply providing the address and access key in the mobile probe.
Important: Use the address of your PRTG web interface; the web interface must be accessible via HTTPS!
Acknowledge the new probe connection in PRTG, create the desired sensors, and PRTG will start monitoring! You can, of course, individually define the monitoring interval in your mobile probe's settings.
Feedback Welcome!
We would really like to hear your feedback on the current beta version of our mobile probes! What kind of sensor types would you like to use on your mobile probe? On what devices do you run it? Please do not hesitate to contact us for suggestions regarding additional options of PRTG's mobile probes—share your thoughts and tell us your wishes!
Please download PRTG Mobile Probe on Google Play and send your comments tosupport@paessler.com
Discover More PRTG Mobile Apps
If you are interested in our PRTG Mobile Probe for Android, you also might want to keep an eye on your network while being on the move. Find out how you can benefit from our mobile appsPRTG for Android, PRTG for iOS, or what our experimental PRTG app for Windows Phone has in store for you!
