7th
PRTG Tutorial – Adding Sensors
Adding a sensor to the PRTG network monitor is the most basic task and it’s super simple.
Once you have PRTG correctly installed, you’ll want to go and connect to it through the web interface. After logging in, it’s a simple case of going to Sensors and Add Sensor
Since PRTG will automatically add the server it is installed on as a device, select “Add sensor to an existing device” and then “Probe Device” and hit Continue. You will now be presented with the huge list of available sensors: pick the one you want, click continue a couple of times and you’re done!
A sensor can be added to a map to make it really easy to view the data from it. Notifications can then be set up to alert you via email, text, etc. if a sensor enters a ‘Warning’ or ‘Down’/Error state.
1st
Behind the Scenes
I often get asked how I stream video and how I include the IRC topic and chat in the stream. It’s all quite simple really, but relies on a Mac app called CamTwist. If you’re using Windows, I’ve heard it’s possible by using Superwebcam and Manycam at the same time, but a better idea would be to invest in WebcamMax. Anyway, getting back to how I do it…
First of all, I use a Canon MD 205, connected to my Mac mini via Firewire, and an electret condenser mic, plugged into a mixer, which is then also connected to my Mac mini. The video feed from the camera goes into CamTwist, which can add effects to the video. The first effect I add is a couple of black boxes, which are slightly transparent. I then add the RSS effect, which takes the RSS feed with the IRC topic in and puts it into the video. I’ve done a tutorial in the past explaining how I get the IRC topic into an RSS feed. You can find it at http://jakewright.net/2009/10/irc-topic-to-rss-feed-via-mirc/.
The other effect I add is a picture-in-picture desktop overlay, which captures part of my desktop. This particular part of my desktop runs Colloquy, which is an IRC client for OS X -- this of course is how the chat is put into the video. The chat is an IRC channel -- both that, and the client you see on the live page are provided by GeekShed.
The video, with the effects, and the audio are then fed into Ustream which broadcasts the video over the internet. The Ustream player can then be embedded in a website.
And that’s pretty much it. That’s all it takes to push out my live video stream with the topic and the chat incorporated. You can of course come along, watch the live stream and, more importantly, join the chat and become a member of our community at http://live.jakewright.net!
20th
How to Monitor a Server
I’m sure you have some kind of network set up in your home, or maybe you manage a network somewhere else. Many networks today have a server on them, or maybe more than one. Perhaps you manage multiple servers around the world. Wouldn’t it be great if you could monitor all of them from one place?
PRTG is a great piece of software which will let you set up ’sensors’. The freeware edition will allow you to set up 10 sensors each monitoring a different part of a Windows Server operating system (you can upgrade to 20 sensors by linking to the Paessler website). Some examples include bandwidth, hard drive space, virtual machine status (Hyper-V) and specific process status. I use the process monitoring probe to check whether mIRC is running. If it isn’t, I instantly get an email from the software alerting me. I could configure it to alert me in various other ways too.
It’s an awesome tool which allows you to monitor all sorts from multiple servers and show the status of each sensor in a way to suite you. I’ve seen this software used to show all of the sensors which are ‘down’ (i.e. show all of the problems), on all of their servers, on a big monitor in a companies main office.
