On the Notification Templates tab, you can define and edit user account-specific notifications. You can use notification templates to trigger notifications for specific sensor states and values.
This documentation refers to an administrator that accesses the PRTG web interface on a master node. Other user accounts, interfaces, or failover nodes might not have all of the options in the way described here. In a cluster, note that failover nodes are read-only by default.
If 15 minutes (900) seconds have passed since your last credential-based login and you open a setup page from a different setup page, PRTG asks you to enter your credentials again for security reasons. A dialog box appears. Enter your Login Name and Password and click OK to continue.
You must take the following four steps to set up and use notifications:
Check and set up the notification delivery settings if you use PRTG Network Monitor. These settings define how PRTG sends messages.
Check and set up notification contacts for the user accounts. These contacts define the recipients to which PRTG sends notifications.
Check and set up several notification templates. These templates define the notification methods and their content. You can also check or edit notification templates via the Notification Triggers tab. For more information, see section Notification Triggers Settings.
Usually, there are three successive attempts to deliver a notification. If all of these attempts fail, the notification is lost. To never miss a notification, we recommend that you always set up at least two notifications with different notification methods for a notification trigger, for example, one email notification and one SMS notification. If delivery via email fails, PRTG can still notify you via smartphone as a fallback. For example, use the latency setting of a state trigger to choose a notification with a different notification method than in the first trigger condition, or set up a second trigger with a different notification method for the corresponding object.
Custom notification scripts are also available in the PRTG Sensor Hub.
Overview
Click the Notification Templates tab to show a list of all notification templates, what actions they perform, and their status (active or paused). To edit a notification template, enable the check box next to the notification template and choose from the following options.
Option
Description
Send test notification ()
Triggers the notification immediatelyfor testing purposes.
When you test notifications, PRTG does not resolve the placeholders, but rather sends the original variables instead.
Used by ()
Show all objects that trigger the notification.
Pause ()
Pauses the notification.
If you manually pause a notification, PRTG does not send messages when this notification is triggered.
Hover over and select Add Notification Template from the menu to add a new notification template. You can also click the name of a notification template to edit it.
When a user with administrative rights creates a new object, only other users with administrative rights can view or edit the new object by default. When a read/write user creates a new object, all members of the read/write user's primary group can view and edit the new object as well. This behavior applies to libraries, maps, reports, notification templates, and schedules. For more information, see section Access Rights Management.
Basic Settings
Basic Settings
Setting
Description
Template Name
Enter a name to identify the notification template.
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?
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.
For performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.
Status
Select the status of the notification template:
Started: PRTG executes the notifications that are defined in the notification template whenever it is triggered.
Paused: PRTG does not execute any notifications that are defined in the notification template.
Schedule
Define if you want to use a schedule to activate a notification template only during specific time spans. This way you can pause notifications, for example, during regular maintenance periods or system restarts.
None
Saturdays
Sundays
Weekdays
Weekdays Eight-To-Eight (08:00 - 20:00)
Weekdays Nights (17:00 - 09:00)
Weekdays Nights (20:00 - 08:00)
Weekdays Nine-To-Five (09:00 - 17:00)
Weekends
The overall status of the notification template must be Started to apply any schedule settings.
Define how PRTG handles notifications that are triggered during a scheduled pause.
Collect notifications and send them when reactivated: PRTG collects all notifications that are triggered during a scheduled pause and sends them all out once the paused status ends.
Discard notifications during paused status: PRTG discards all notifications that are triggered during a scheduled pause.
If you manually pause a notification, PRTG never collects notifications that are triggered while the notification is paused.
Notification Summarization
Notification Summarization
Setting
Description
Method
Define if and how PRTG collects and summarizes several notifications into one or more messages with a maximum of 1,000 characters:
Always notify immediately, never summarize: PRTG always sends out one notification for each notification trigger that it receives as soon as possible, for example, immediately.
Send first down message immediately, then summarize: When PRTG receives several down triggers, it sends the first notification immediately, then it continues to summarize notification triggers into one message, regardless of the sensor status.
Send first down and up message immediately, then summarize: When PRTG receives several down or up triggers, it sends each first notification immediately, then it continues to summarize notification triggers into one message, regardless of the sensor status.
Send all down messages immediately, summarize the others: When PRTG receives several down triggers, it sends out one notification for each trigger that it receives, but it summarizes notifications for all non-down triggers into one message.
Send all down and up messages immediately, summarize the others: When PRTG receives several down or up triggers, it sends out one notification for each trigger that it receives, but it summarizes the notifications for all non-down and non-up triggers into one message.
Always summarize notifications, regardless of type: When PRTG receives several notification triggers, it summarizes the notifications, regardless of the kind of notification trigger that it receives. The maximum number of notifications (see below) still applies.
Regardless of the option that you choose, PRTG never summarizes notifications of the types Send Slack Message, Send Microsoft Teams Message, Execute HTTP Action, Execute Program, and Assign Ticket because it always sends them immediately. PRTG can summarize the messages of all other notification types.
'first down' and 'first up' messages refer to the notification trigger condition and the clear condition respectively. You can also define warning or unusual states as notification trigger conditions or even thresholds or other triggers notification summarizations. The condition clear triggers, if applicable, are defined in the respective notification trigger conditions as well. The notification triggers all qualify as 'first down' or 'first up' messages.
PRTG collects up to 25 single notifications for one summarization and sends out the message as soon as this number is reached (or when the gathering time passes). If PRTG receives more than 25 notifications within the defined time span, you receive more than one message with up to 25 entries each. For example, if PRTG collects 74 notifications, this results in 3 summarized messages with 25, 25, and 24 collected notifications.
Subject for Summarized Email or SNS Messages
Define a subject that PRTG includes when it sends summarized notifications. The default subject is [%sitename%] %summarycount Summarized Notifications.
PRTG only uses the subject for the notification methods Send Email and Send Amazon Simple Notification Service Message.
Define a time span in minutes to define how long PRTG collects notifications for summarization. Enter an integer.
If you enter a long time span, for example, 60 minutes, PRTG collects notifications for one hour before it sends them out summarized unless other features (see above) require an earlier message dispatch.
Access Rights
Access Rights
Setting
Description
User Group Access
Define the user groups that have access to the notification template. You see a table with user groups and group access rights. The table contains all user groups in your setup. For each user group, you can choose from the following group access rights:
No access: Users in this user group cannot see or edit the notification template. The object does not show up in lists.
Read access: Users in this user group can see the notification template and view its settings.
Write access: Users in this user group can see the notification template and view and edit its settings. However, they cannot edit its access rights settings.
Full access: Users in this user group can see the notification template, view and edit its settings, and edit its access rights settings.
You can create new user groups in the User Groups settings.
Notification Methods
With the following settings, you can add one or more methods for how PRTG sends out a notification message. You can choose one method or combine several methods. Whenever the notification is triggered, PRTG sends out messages or performs actions for all configured methods at once.
To select a notification method, click in front of it. You can then see and set the options as described in this section. The following notification methods are available.
Some notification types are only available for PRTG Network Monitor (marked with ). You cannot use these with PRTG Hosted Monitor.
This notification method uses notification contacts to deliver the email notifications. Set up notification contacts in advance in the notification contacts settings.
Send Email
Setting
Description
Sender
Define which sender email address and sender name appear in the FROM part of the email notifications:
Default: Use the default sender email address and sender name from the notification delivery settings.
Custom: Enter a custom sender email address and sender name.
Sender Email Address
This setting is only visible if you select Custom above.
Enter an email address to use as the sender of the email notifications.
If you enter a custom sender email address, it overrides the email address in the notification delivery settings.
The outgoing Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server in the notification delivery settings must allow the email address so that it can deliver email notifications.
Sender Name
This setting is only visible if you select Custom above.
Enter a sender name to use as the sender of the email notifications.
If you enter a custom sender name, it overrides the sender name in the notification delivery settings.
Send to User
Select a user account to send the email notifications to. PRTG sends the email notifications to every active email notification contact for this user account. Leave None to not use this option.
Read/write users can send notifications to any user that is a member of the same user group as the read/write user.
Send to User, Send to User Group, and Send to Email Address all work simultaneously. Because of this, you can define more than one user as a recipient of this notification. PRTG sends the email notifications to the active email notification contacts of the user that you select, to the active email notification contacts of all members of the user group that you select, and to all email addresses that you enter under Send to Email Address.
Send to User Group
Select a user group to send the email notifications to all members of this user group. PRTG sends the email notifications to every active email notification contact of every user in the user group. Leave None to not use this option.
If you select a user group and a specific member of this user group as recipients, the user only receives one single email. This also applies if you enter an individual email address under Send to Email Address that is already defined as an email notification contact of the selected user.
If you define individual email addresses under Send to Email Address, define a specific user account under Send to User, and define a user group here, PRTG sends the message to the individual email addresses, to the individual user, as well as to the members of the selected user group. In all cases, PRTG sends one message with all recipients in the To part of the email.
Read/write users can send email notifications to all user groups that they are members of.
Send to User, Send to User Group, and Send to Email Address all work simultaneously. Because of this, you can define more than one user as a recipient of this notification. PRTG sends the email notifications to the active email notification contacts of the user that you select, to the active email notification contacts of all members of the user group that you select, and to all email addresses that you enter under Send to Email Address.
Send to Email Address
Enter one or more email addresses to which PRTG sends the email notifications. If you enter more than one email address, separate them with commas. Leave this field empty to only send email notifications to the email notification contacts of the user or to the members of the user group you choose above.
We recommend that you use Send to User and/or Send to User Group instead because you can then manage the notification contacts of users.
Send to User, Send to User Group, and Send to Email Address all work simultaneously. Because of this, you can define more than one user as a recipient of this notification. PRTG sends the email notifications to the active email notification contacts of the user that you select, to the active email notification contacts of all members of the user group that you select, and to all email addresses that you enter under Send to Email Address.
Subject
Enter the subject of the email notifications. The default subject is [%sitename] %device %name %status %down (%message).
Define the HTTP version that PRTG uses to send the email:
HTTP 1.1 (default): Use HTTP version 1.1.
HTTP 1.0: Use HTTP version 1.0.
Add Entry to Event Log
This option is not available in PRTG Hosted Monitor.
Add Entry to Event Log
Setting
Description
Log File
Define the log file to which PRTG adds an event:
Application: PRTG adds an entry to the Application log file under Windows Logs in the event log
PRTG Network Monitor: PRTG adds an entry to the PRTG Network Monitor log file under Applications and Services Logs in the event log.
Event Source
This setting is only visible if you select Application above.
Enter the source for the event. This is usually the name of the application.
Event Type
Select the type of the event:
Error: An event that indicates a significant problem such as loss of data or loss of functionality. For example, if a service fails to load during startup, an Error event is logged.
Warning: An event that is not necessarily significant, but might indicate a possible future problem. For example, when disk space is low, a Warning event is logged.
Information: An event that describes the successful operation of an application, driver, or service. For example, when a network driver loads successfully, it might be appropriate to log an Information event.
Message
Define the message that PRTG writes in the event log. The default message is [%sitename] %device %name %status %down (%message).
To reset this field to the default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
You must first set up this notification method in the Notification Delivery settings.
This notification method uses notification contacts to deliver the SMS/pager messages. Set up notification contacts in advance in the notification contacts settings.
This notification method uses the central proxy settings that you define for the PRTG core server. For more information, see section Core & Probes (section Proxy Configuration).
Send SMS/Pager Message
Setting
Description
Send to User
Select a user account from the dropdown list. PRTG sends the SMS/pager message to every SMS notification contact for the user account. Leave None to not use this option.
Send to User Group
Select a user group from the dropdown list. PRTG sends the SMS/pager message to every SMS notification contact for every member of the user group.Leave None to not use this option.
If you select a user group and a specific member of this user group as recipients at the same time, this user receives the SMS/pager message only once. This also applies if you enter an individual phone number below that is already defined as an SMS notification contact for the selected user.
Send to Phone Number
Enter a phone number to send the SMS/pager message to. If you enter more than one phone number, use commas as separators.
The format depends on the SMS provider. Usually, you use a plus sign (+), followed by the country code and the number. For example, +1555012345.
Make sure that the number format meets the requirements of the SMS provider or the hardware that you use in combination with an application programming interface (API) call. Sometimes, a plus sign is not required. The wrong format might result in undelivered messages.
We recommend that you use Send to User and/or Send to User Group instead because you can then manage the notification contacts of users.
Message
Define the SMS/pager message. The default message is [%sitename] %device %name %status %down (%message).
To reset this field to the default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
Define the HTTP version that PRTG uses to send the SMS/pager message:
HTTP 1.1 (default): Use HTTP version 1.1.
HTTP 1.0: Use HTTP version 1.0.
Execute HTTP Action
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method that you use, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Execute HTTP Action immediately. PRTG never summarizes them.
This notification method uses the central proxy settings that you define for the PRTG core server. For more information, see section Core & Probes (section Proxy Configuration).
This setting is only visible if you select POST above.
Select the HTTP version that PRTG uses to execute the HTTP action:
HTTP 1.1 (default): Use HTTP version 1.1.
HTTP 1.0: Use HTTP version 1.0.
Make sure that the target supports the HTTP version that you select.
Execute Program
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method that you use, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Execute Program immediately. PRTG never summarizes them.
This option is not available in PRTG Hosted Monitor.
Execute Program
Setting
Description
Executable File
Select an executable file from the list. PRTG runs it every time the notification is triggered.
You see the files that are in the corresponding \Notifications\EXE subfolder of the PRTG program directory. For files to appear in this list, store them as .bat, .cmd, .exe, .com, .ps1, or .vbs.
In a cluster, copy the files to every cluster node. This makes sure that PRTG can execute the notification even when the master node fails. If your custom notification executes an external program, install it on all cluster nodes as well.
Parameters
Enter the parameters that the notification passes to the executable. For example, if you use a batch file that contains a %1 variable, you can provide a value for this variable. The default parameters are [%sitename] %device %name %status %down (%message).
Depending on the status of the sensor that triggers the syslog notification, PRTG automatically sets the Severity level of the syslog messages.
Status
Severity level
Up
Notice (5)
Warning
Warning (4)
Down
Error (3)
Send SNMP Trap
For information about the object identifiers (OID) that PRTG uses in the content of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps, see the Knowledge Base: Is it possible to send SNMP traps using PRTG?
This option is not available in PRTG Hosted Monitor.
Send SNMP Trap
Setting
Description
Host/IP Address
Define the IP address or DNS name of the system that runs the trap receiver.
You can receive and analyze SNMP trap messages with the SNMP Trap Receiver sensor.
SNMP Port
Enter the port on which PRTG sends trap messages. The default port is 162.
Community String
Enter the community string of the device. The default community string is public. Enter a string or leave the field empty.
Custom Trap Code
Enter a code to identify the purpose of the trap. The default trap code is 0. Enter an integer.
Message ID
Enter an ID to identify the origin of the trap.Enter an integer. PRTG sends it on the OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.32446.1.1.1.
Message
Define the trap message.
To reset this field to the default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
PRTG only sends the message if you use email-based notifications delivered by Amazon SNS. For SMS delivery, PRTG only sends the subject and ignores the message because of SMS size restrictions.
Assign Ticket
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method that you use, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Assign Ticket immediately. PRTG never summarizes them.
For more information about the ticket system, see section Tickets.
Assign Ticket
Setting
Description
Assign to User Group or User
Specify whether to assign the notification ticket to a user group or to a single user:
To user group: Assign the notification ticket to a user group.
To user: Assign the notification ticket to a single user.
User Group
Select the user group to which PRTG assigns the notification ticket.
Read/write users can assign tickets to all user groups that they are a member of as well as to administrators and individual users that are members of the same user group as the read/write user.
User
Select the user to which PRTG assigns the notification ticket.
Read/write users can assign tickets to all user groups that they are a member of as well as to administrators and individual users that are members of the same user group as the read/write user.
Subject
Enter the subject of the notification ticket. The default subject is %device %name %status %down (%message).
This notification method uses notification contacts to deliver push notifications. Set up notification contacts in advance in the notification contacts settings.
The PRTG core server needs to communicate with the PRTG Cloud on port 443 to send push notifications. It uses https://api.prtgcloud.com:443, which is the same as for the Cloud HTTP v2 sensor, the Cloud Ping v2sensor, and support tickets.
Send to User and Send to User Group both work simultaneously. Because of this, you can define more than one user as a recipient of push notifications. PRTG sends push notifications to the active push notification contacts of the user that you select, and to the active push notification contacts of all members of the user group that you select.
Send Push Notification
Setting
Description
Send to User
Select the user that PRTG sends push notifications to. PRTG sends the push notifications to each active push notification contact of the user. Leave None to not use this option.
You can edit push notification contacts of a user in the Notification Contacts settings and also activate push notifications in the Android or iOS app with the user.
Send to User Group
Select the user group that PRTG sends push notifications to. PRTG sends the push notifications to each active push notification contact of every member of the group. Leave None to not use this option.
If you select a user group and a specific member of the group as recipients at the same time, the user receives the text message only one time.
Define the HTTP version that PRTG uses to send the push notification:
HTTP 1.1 (default): Use HTTP version 1.1.
HTTP 1.0: Use HTTP version 1.0.
Send Microsoft Teams Message
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method you use, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Send Microsoft Teams Message immediately. PRTG never summarizes them.
Send Microsoft Teams Message
Setting
Description
Teams Webhook URL
Enter the URL of the incoming webhook that you set up in your Microsoft Teams channel.
Define the content of the Microsoft Teams notification:
Use default content: Use the default notification message content. This includes information about the Status, Last Scan, Last Value, Last Up, Coverage, Downtime, Priority, Probe, and Group.
This setting is only visible if you select Define custom content above.
Enable the check boxes in front of content that you want PRTG to include in the Microsoft Teams notifications. Disable the check boxes in front of the content that you do not want to include.
The following types of monitoring information are available:
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method you use, PRTG always sends notifications of the type Send Slack Message immediately. PRTG never summarizes them.
Send Slack Message
Setting
Description
Slack Webhook URL
Enter the URL of the incoming webhook that you set up in your Slack workspace.
Use default content: Use the default notification message content. This includes information about the Status, Last Scan, Last Value, Last Up, Coverage, Downtime, Priority, Probe, and Group.
This setting is only visible if you select Define custom content above.
Enable the check boxes in front of the content that you want PRTG to include in the Slack notifications. Disable the check boxes in front of the content that you do not want to include.
The following types of monitoring information are available:
Regardless of the Notification Summarization method you use, PRTG might not send notifications of the type Send MQTT Publish Notification immediately.
Send MQTT Publish Notification
Setting
Description
MQTT Broker
Enter the address for the connection to the MQTT broker (server).
Port
Enter the port for the connection to the MQTT broker. The default port for secure connections is 8883 and the default port for unsecure connections is 1883.
Timeout (Sec.)
Enter a timeout in seconds for the request. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 300 seconds (5 minutes).
User Authentication
Select if you want to connect without credentials or define credentials for access to the MQTT broker.
User Name
Enter the user name for access to the Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT) broker.
Password
Enter the password for access to the MQTT broker.
Transport-Level Security
Select if you want to use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) secured connection:
Server Authentication
Select if you want to use a certificate for server authentication.
CA Certificate
Paste the certificate authority (CA) certificate for the verification of the MQTT broker.
The certificate must be in Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) format.
Client Authentication
Select if you want to use a certificate for client authentication.
Client Certificate
Paste the certificate that you created for authenticating the sensor against the MQTT broker.
The certificate must be in PEM format.
Client Key
Enter the client key for access to the MQTT broker.
The client key must be in PEM format and it must be encrypted using the Client Key Password.
Client Key Password
Enter the password for the client key certificate.
MQTT Topic
Enter the topic for the MQTT publish notifications. The default topic is PRTG/%sitename/notifications.
MQTT clients that are subscribed to this topic receive the MQTT publish notifications.
ClientID
Enter the ClientID for the connection to the MQTT broker (server). The default ClientID is PRTG - %sitename.
Message
Define the message of the MQTT publish notifications. The default message is PRTG - [%sitename] %device %name %status %down (%message).
To reset this field to the default value, enter only an asterisk (*).
Enter the address for the connection to the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) server.
Port
Enter the port for the connection to the OPC UA server. The default port for secure connections is 4843. The default port for unsecure connections is 4840.
Server Path
Enter the path of the OPC UA server endpoint if you run more than one server under the same IP address or DNS name.
Node ID
Enter the node ID for the OPC UA notification. PRTG writes the data that you define below to the specified node ID.
Timeout (Sec.)
Enter a timeout in seconds for the request.
Security Mode
Select if you want to use encryption:
Security Policy
This setting is only visible if you select Sign or Sign & Encrypt above.
Select if you want to use a security policy and define which policy you want to use:
Client Certificate
This setting is only visible if you select Sign or Sign & Encrypt above.
Enter the certificate that you created for authenticating the sensor against the OPC UA server.
The certificate must meet the following requirements:
The key size must be 2048-bit or 4096-bit.
The secure hash algorithm must be SHA256.
DataEncipherment must be part of the KeyUsage certificate extension.
A uniform resource indicator (URI) must be set in subjectAltName.
The certificate must be in Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) format.
Client Key
This setting is only visible if you select Sign or Sign & Encrypt above.
Enter the client key for access to the OPC UA server.
The client key must be in PEM format and it must be encrypted using the Client Key Password.
Client Key Password
This setting is only visible if you select Sign or Sign & Encrypt above.
Enter the password for the client key.
Authentication Method
Select if you want to connect without credentials or define credentials for access to the OPC UA server:
Anonymous (default): Connect without credentials.
User name and password: Define credentials for the connection.
Most OPC UA servers do not support User name and password authentication without a client certificate. To use User name and password authentication, select Sign or Sign & Encrypt under Security Mode and Basic256Sha256 or Basic256 under Security Policy and enter the Client Certificate, Client Key, and Client Key Password that you want to use.
User Name
This setting is only visible if you select User name and password above.
Enter the user name for access to the OPC UA server.
Password
This setting is only visible if you select User name and password above.
Enter the password for access to the OPC UA server.
Data Type
Select the type of the data that PRTG sends:
Boolean: PRTG sends a Boolean.
Int64: PRTG sends a 64-bit integer.
Double: PRTG sends a double value.
Boolean
This setting is only visible if you select Boolean above.
Select the Boolean value that PRTG sends:
True (default)
False
If you select Boolean as Data Type, the data type on the OPC UA server must be Boolean.
Int64
This setting is only visible if you select Int64 above.
Enter the 64-bit integer that PRTG sends.
If you select Int64 as Data Type, the data type on the OPC UA server must be Int64.
Double
This setting is only visible if you select Double above.
Enter the double value that PRTG sends.
If you select Double as Data Type, the data type on the OPC UA server must be Double.
Save your settings. If you change tabs or use the main menu without saving, all changes to the settings are lost.
PRTG Sensor Hub Notifications
In addition to the standard notifications, you can also create custom notifications. To do so, write a script or a program and use it with an Execute Program notification or an Execute HTTP Action notification. There are also many free scripts, plugins, and add-ons for PRTG in the PRTG Sensor Hub.
Others
For information about the Comments and History tabs, see section Object Settings.