<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: HTTP Full Web Page Sensor
The HTTP Full Web Page sensor monitors the full download time of a web page including assets such as images etc. In the background, it opens the web page in a browser instance to perform the measurement. Links are not followed. The sensor shows the loading time of the full page. Note: Be careful with this sensor, as it can generate considerable internet traffic if used with a low scanning interval!
Note: This sensor type can have a high impact on the performance of your monitoring system. Please use it with care! We recommend using not more than 50 sensors, on each probe, of this type of sensor.
The Add Sensor dialog appears when adding a new sensor on a device manually. It only shows the setting fields that are imperative for creating the sensor. Therefore, you will not see all setting fields in this dialog. You can change all settings in the sensor's Settings tab later.
On the sensor's details page, click on the Settings tab to change settings.
Note: If not set explicitly in a sensor's settings, it will connect to the IP Address or DNS Name defined in the settings of the parent device the sensor is created on.
Basic Sensor Settings |
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Sensor Name |
Enter a meaningful name to identify the sensor. The name will be shown by default in the device tree and in all alarms. |
Tags |
Enter one or more tags, separated by space or comma. You can use tags to group sensors and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case sensitive. We recommend using the default value. You can add additional tags to it, if you like. Other tags are automatically inherited from objects further up in the device tree. Those are not visible here. |
Priority |
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines where the sensor will be placed in sensor lists. Top priority will be at the top of a list. You can choose from one star (low priority) to five stars (top priority). |
Full Page Download Settings |
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Timeout (Sec.) |
Enter a timeout in seconds for the HTTP request. If the reply takes longer than this value the request is aborted and an error message is triggered. The maximum value is 900 seconds (15 minutes). |
URL |
Please enter the URL the sensor will load. It has to be URL encoded! If you enter an absolute URL, this address will be independent from the IP address/DNS name setting of the device this sensor is created on. PRTG uses a smart URL replacement which allows you to use the parent device's IP address/DNS name setting as part of the URL. For more information, please see section Smart URL Replacement below. |
Browser Engine |
Define which browser will be used to load the web page. Choose between:
Note: For all browser engines, the same proxy settings are used that are configured for the Windows user account the PRTG probe is running on (this is usually the Windows local "system" user account, if not changed). Those settings are accessible via the Internet Explorer of this system. If you want to e.g. use a proxy for this full web page sensor test, please adjust the Internet Explorer's settings accordingly (on the computer running the probe; on all nodes, if in a cluster). |
Security Context |
Define the Windows user account that will be used to run the browser engine. Choose between:
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Result Handling |
This setting is only visible if the PhantomJS engine is selected above. This browser engine can render and store screenshots of the loaded web page. Choose between:
Note: If necessary, you can change the window size of the rendered screenshots. See section More for details. |
Authentication |
This setting is only visible if the PhantomJS engine is selected above. Define if the monitored web page needs authentication for access. Choose between:
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User |
This setting is only visible if the PhantomJS engine with authentication is selected above. Enter the user name for the web page. |
Password |
This setting is only visible if the PhantomJS engine with authentication is selected above. Enter the password for the web page. |
By default, all following settings are inherited from objects higher in the hierarchy and should be changed there, if necessary. Often, best practice is to change them centrally in the Root group's settings. To change a setting for this object, disable inheritance by clicking on the check mark symbol in front of the respective setting name. You will then see the options described below.
Scanning Interval |
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Scanning Interval |
The scanning interval determines the time the sensor waits between two scans. Select a scanning interval (seconds, minutes, or hours) from the list. You can change the available intervals in the system administration. |
When a Sensor Reports an Error |
With this setting, you can define the number of scanning intervals a sensor has to report an error until the sensor will be set to a Down status. The sensor can try reaching a device several times, depending on your setup you can specify here, to help avoid false alarms if the monitored device has only temporary issues. For previous scanning intervals with failed requests, the sensor will show a Warning status. Choose between:
Note: Sensors that monitor via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) will always wait at least one scanning interval until an error is shown. It is not possible to set a WMI sensor "down" immediately, so the first option will not apply to these sensor types (all other options can apply). Note: If a sensor has defined error limits for channels, this sensor will always be set to a Down status immediately, so no "wait" option will apply. |
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window |
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Note: Inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows cannot be interrupted; the according settings from the parent objects will always be active. However, you can define additional settings here. They will be active in parallel to the parent objects' settings. |
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Schedule |
Select a schedule from the list. Schedules can be used to monitor for a certain time span (days, hours) throughout the week. With the period list option it is also possible to pause monitoring for a specific time span. You can create new schedules and edit existing ones in the account settings. Note: Schedules are generally inherited. New schedules will be added to existing ones, so all schedules are active. |
Maintenance Window |
Specify if you want to set-up a one-time maintenance window. During a maintenance window this object and all child objects will not be monitored. They will enter a paused state then. Choose between:
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Maintenance Begins At |
This field is only visible if maintenance window is enabled above. Use the date time picker to enter the start date and time of the maintenance window. |
Maintenance End At |
This field is only visible if maintenance window is enabled above. Use the date time picker to enter the end date and time of the maintenance window. |
Dependency Type |
Define a dependency type. Dependencies can be used to pause monitoring for an object depending on the status of another. You can choose between:
Note: Testing your dependencies is easy! Simply choose Simulate Error Status from the context menu of an object that other objects depend on. A few seconds later all dependent objects should be paused. You can check all dependencies in your PRTG installation by selecting Devices | Dependencies from the main menu bar. |
Dependency |
This field is only visible if the select object option is enabled above. Click on the reading-glass symbol and use the object selector to choose an object on which the current sensor will be dependent on. |
Delay (Seconds) |
Define a time span. After the master object for this dependency comes back to an Up status, monitoring of the depending objects will be additionally delayed by the defined time span. This can help avoid false alarms, for example, after a server restart, by giving systems more time for all services to start up. Please enter an integer value in seconds. Note: This setting is not available if you choose this sensor to be the Master object for parent. In this case, please define delays in the parent Device Settings or the superior Group Settings. |
Access Rights |
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User Group Access |
Define which user group(s) will have access to the object you're editing. A table with user groups and right is shown; it contains all user groups from your setup. For each user group you can choose from the following access rights:
You can create new user groups in the System Administration—User Groups settings. To automatically set all objects further down in the hierarchy to inherit this object's access rights, set a check mark for the Revert children's access rights to inherited option. For more details about access rights, please see section User Access Rights. |
Instead of entering a complete address in the URL field of an HTTP sensor, you can merely enter the protocol followed by colon and three slashes (that means you can enter either http:/// or https:/// or even a simple slash / as equivalent for http:///). PRTG will then fill in the parent device's IP address or DNS name in front of the third slash automatically. Whether this results in a valid URL or not, depends on the IP address or DNS name of the device where this HTTP sensor is created on. In combination with cloning devices, the smart URL replacement makes it easy to create many like devices.
For example, if you create a device with DNS name www.example.com and you put an HTTP sensor on it, you can provide values the following ways:
- Providing the value https:/// in the URL field, PRTG will automatically create the URL https://www.example.com/ from that.
- Using the value /help in the URL field, PRTG will automatically create and monitor the URL http://www.example.com/help
- It is also possible to provide a port number in the URL field which will be taken over by the device's DNS name and internally added, for example, http://:8080/
Note: Smart URL replacement does not work for sensors running on the "Probe Device".
Knowledge Base: What to do when I see a CreateUniqueTempDir() error message for my HTTP Full Webpage Sensor?
Knowledge Base: HTTP Full Web Page sensor is "unable to navigate". What can I do?
Knowledge Base: How can I change the size of PhantomJS full web page screenshots?
Knowledge Base: What is the difference between "HTTP" and "HTTP Full Web Page" Web Server sensors?
In order to change display settings, spike filter, and limits, please switch to the sensor's Overview tab and click on the gear icon of a specific channel. For detailed information, please see Sensor Channels Settings section.
Click on the Notifications tab to change notification triggers. For detailed information, please see Sensor Notifications Settings section.
For more general information about settings, please see Object Settings section.
For information about sensor settings, please see the following sections:
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