Device and Sensor Setup > Sensor Settings

Previous Next

PRTG Manual: SNMP Linux Block Device I/O Sensor

The SNMP Linux Block Device I/O sensor monitors the input/output (I/O) of a block device on a Linux/Unix system via the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

Dutch: SNMP Linux Block Device I/O
French: SNMP Linux Block Device I/O
German: SNMP Linux Block Device I/O
Japanese: SNMP Linux Block Device I/O
Portuguese: SNMP Linux Block Device I/O
Russian: SNMP Linux Block Device I/O
Simplified Chinese: SNMP Linux Block Device I/O
Spanish: SNMP Linux Block Device I/O

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Requirement	Description
Credentials	This sensor requires credentials for SNMP in settings that are higher in the object hierarchy.
Management Information Base	This sensor uses data found in the UCD-DISKIO-MIB::diskIOTable Management Information Base (MIB) module.
IPv6	This sensor supports IPv6.
Scanning interval	This sensor has a fixed minimum scanning interval for performance reasons. You cannot use a shorter scanning interval. Consequently, shorter scanning intervals in the Monitoring settings are not available for this sensor. The minimum scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute. The recommended scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute.
Performance impact	This sensor has a very low performance impact.
Multi-platform probe	You can add this sensor to a multi-platform probe.
Knowledge Base	Knowledge Base: Why did my SNMP Linux Block Device I/O sensors stop working after I changed my SNMP version?

Basic Sensor Settings

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

iosensor
snmp
snmpiosensor

For more information about basic sensor settings, see section Sensor Settings.

Specific Sensor Settings

Setting	Description
Block Device	Shows the block device that this sensor monitors. PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if the Paessler support team explicitly asks you to do so. Wrong usage can result in incorrect monitoring data.
64-Bit Values Available	Shows if the 64-bit X-values are available in the diskIOTable: Yes: PRTG detected values in the diskIONReadX and diskIONWrittenX SNMP objects during the meta-scan. No: PRTG did not detect values in the diskIONReadX and diskIONWriteX SNMP objects during the meta-scan and uses 32-bit values found in diskIONRead and diskIONWrite. This is the case, for example, if you use SNMP v1. PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if absolutely necessary. You might need to change this value manually if, for example, PRTG failed to detect available 64-bit values during the meta-scan, you changed the SNMP version that you use, or the 64-bit values are not correct.
Load Averages Available	Shows if load averages are available for this block device: Yes: PRTG detected values in the diskIOLA1, diskIOLA5, and diskIOLA15 SNMP objects during the meta-scan. No: PRTG did not detect values in the diskIOLA1, diskIOLA5, and diskIOLA15 SNMP objects during the meta-scan. PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if absolutely necessary. You might need to change this value manually if, for example, PRTG failed to detect available load averages during the meta-scan or you changed the SNMP version that you use.

Setting

Description

Block Device

Shows the block device that this sensor monitors.

PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if the Paessler support team explicitly asks you to do so. Wrong usage can result in incorrect monitoring data.

64-Bit Values Available

Shows if the 64-bit X-values are available in the diskIOTable:

Yes: PRTG detected values in the diskIONReadX and diskIONWrittenX SNMP objects during the meta-scan.
No: PRTG did not detect values in the diskIONReadX and diskIONWriteX SNMP objects during the meta-scan and uses 32-bit values found in diskIONRead and diskIONWrite. This is the case, for example, if you use SNMP v1.

PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if absolutely necessary. You might need to change this value manually if, for example, PRTG failed to detect available 64-bit values during the meta-scan, you changed the SNMP version that you use, or the 64-bit values are not correct.

Load Averages Available

Shows if load averages are available for this block device:

Yes: PRTG detected values in the diskIOLA1, diskIOLA5, and diskIOLA15 SNMP objects during the meta-scan.
No: PRTG did not detect values in the diskIOLA1, diskIOLA5, and diskIOLA15 SNMP objects during the meta-scan.

PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. We strongly recommend that you only change it if absolutely necessary. You might need to change this value manually if, for example, PRTG failed to detect available load averages during the meta-scan or you changed the SNMP version that you use.

Sensor Display

Setting	Description
Primary Channel	Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel 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 this sensor shows different channels: 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. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit 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.

Setting

Description

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel 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 this sensor shows different channels:

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. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit 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.

Debug Options

Setting	Description
Result Handling	Define what PRTG does with the sensor result: Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result. Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval. This option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Setting

Description

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval.

This option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.

In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

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 Inheritance of Settings.

Channel List

Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel	Description
Bytes Read	The number of bytes read This channel is the primary channel by default.
Bytes Written	The number of bytes written
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.
Load Average (1 Minute)	The load average (1 minute) (%)
Load Average (5 Minutes)	The load average (5 minutes) (%)
Load Average (15 Minutes)	The load average (15 minutes) (%) We recommend that you enable alerts based on limits for this channel to receive alerts when channel values are above or below expected or desired thresholds.
Read Accesses	The number of read accesses
Write Accesses	The number of write accesses