<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Similar Sensors

With PRTG you can detect relationships between different components in your network. This function is called similar sensors analysis, a heuristic calculation showing similar behavior of your sensors. The analysis is completely automated and sensor type agnostic. It is based on mathematics and fuzzy logic. This feature helps you find interconnections in your network you were not aware of and optimizes your sensor usage by tracking redundant monitoring of some aspects of your system.

You can adjust the depth of similar sensors analysis or turn it off in System Administration—Monitoring. You can also switch on and off the similarity analysis for specific probes, groups, and devices and specify inheritance in the corresponding object settings, section Automatic Monitoring Analysis.

There are two possibilities to view similar sensors:

  • The overview page of sensors contains a similar sensors section. PRTG lists channels there which show similarities to channels of the current sensor.
  • In addition, you can call a similar sensors overview page via Sensors | Similar Sensors Overview from the main menu.

Similar Sensors (Sensor Overview Tab)

Pages of probes, groups, devices, and sensors have an interface providing tabs. By using the tabs you can navigate through various sub-pages of an object to show your network's status, view monitoring results, or change settings.

Tabs Bar on Sensor Pages

Tabs Bar on Sensor Pages

On the overview tab of a sensor, PRTG lists channels which show similarities to channels of the currently selected sensor. The table is empty if PRTG detects no similarities regarding the selected sensor.

Note: PRTG only shows similar sensors here when channels have at least 85% similarity. Furthermore, the analysis saves up to 15 entries per sensor at most.

Similar Sensors Section on a Sensor's Overview Tab

Similar Sensors Section on a Sensor's Overview Tab

The similar sensors section provides the following information:

Similar Sensors

Similarity

Shows a measurement of similarity between two channels in percent.

Channel

Shows a channel of the currently selected sensor.

Similar Channel

Shows a channel of another sensor similar to a channel of the currently selected sensor (the one in the "Channel" column in the same row).

Note: PRTG does not show the similar sensors section when the analysis is off or you have exceeded 1,000 sensor and selected the automatic analysis depth option. You will see a notice in this case.

Similar Sensors Overview (Sensors Menu)

This page shows the results of the similar sensors analysis from the entire monitoring database. PRTG lists all channels with similarities to another one here. On the table top, you have several filter options to display similar sensors as you need it. Choose the object of interest, the degree of similarity, and if you want to display back references. For more details, see also section Working with Table Lists.

Note: PRTG only shows similar sensors here when channels have at least 85% similarity. Furthermore, the analysis saves up to 15 entries per sensor at most.

Similar Sensors Overview

Similar Sensors Overview

You can sort the list by clicking on the column headers. The similar sensors overview page provides the following information:

Similar Sensors Overview

Original Channel

Shows channels to which other channels are compared. Click on the column header to sort the list according to the order on the device tree in ascending or descending order.

Similarity

Shows a measurement of similarity between two channels in percent. Click on the column header to sort the list according to the similarities in ascending or descending order.

Similar Channel

Shows a channel compared to the original channel. Click on the column header to sort the list according to the order on the device tree in ascending or descending order.

Item Count

Define how many channel similarities are shown on this page. Choose between 50, 100, or 500.

Note: PRTG does not show the similar sensors overview option in the main menu if you turned off the analysis or if you have exceeded 1,000 sensors and selected the automatic analysis depth option.

 

 

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