System Requirements for

PRTG Network Monitor

Paessler AG offers licenses for PRTG Network Monitor that range from 100 sensors
to an unrestriced number of sensors. The hardware required for the PRTG core server
depends very much on the number of sensors you are running, as well as on a few
additional key values such as the number of remote probes in use.

The summary below provides guidelines for the system requirements, as well as an in-
dication of what we recommend and what we support. Due to technical limitations, the
sensor limit is lower when you are running the core server in a virtual machine or in a clus-
ter. For more details, please refer to Paessler’s System Requirements for PRTG online, at
www.paessler.com/prtg/requirements.

Recommended Setup for Most PRTG Users

We recommend that you run the PRTG core server as well as all remote probes

• directly on x64 PC/server hardware

• on Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2,
or Windows 10.

Note: .NET Framework 4.7.2 or later must be installed on your system.

There are many parameters that influence the performance and stability of PRTG, but
for the majority of PRTG users, the following sizing recommendations for the hard-
ware of the PRTG server work fine.

See also System Requirements for Remote Probes in the PRTG Manual.

Sensors per License Recommended Disk space User Remote Virtuali- PRTG
core server core server (1 year data accounts probes zation cluster
hardware retention)

up to 1,000 sensors PRTG 2 CPU Cores,

250 GB < 30 < 30
(ca. 100 devices) 1000 3 GB RAM

1000 - 2,500 sensors PRTG 3 CPU Cores,

500 GB < 30 < 30
(ca. 250 devices) 2500 5 GB RAM

2,500 - 5,000
PRTG 5 CPU Cores,
sensors 1 TB < 20 < 30
5000 8 GB RAM
(ca. 500 devices)

5,000 - 10,000
PRTG 8 CPU Cores, *
sensors 2 TB < 10 < 30
XL1 16 GB RAM
(ca. 1,000 devices)

More than 10,000 We recommend that you set up additional PRTG core server installations and
sensors contact your Presales team.

More than We recommend that you set up additional PRTG core server installations
10,000 sensors and contact your presales team: [email protected]

= not officially supported: please contact

= OK = OK = not recommended
your presales team.

• * For more information, see Running PRTG in virtual environments below.

Note: Most PRTG users have 10 sensors per device on average. In most cases,
for example, a 1,000 sensor license is therefore enough to monitor 100 devices.

If you exceed any of these recommendations, please contact our Presales team.

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 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Running PRTG in virtual environments

PRTG is an all-in-one monitoring solution with lots of different components that all
rely on the performance and the stability of the system on which the PRTG installation
runs. Here, virtual environments add even more layers of complexity. This needs to
be considered when you want to set up your PRTG installation in a way that you can
achieve the same level of performance as on a physical server.

Most PRTG installations from 500 to 5,000 sensors do not need any specific
optimization regarding your virtual infrastructure.

If you run larger installations of PRTG with more than 5,000 sensors, please follow
the instructions in our Best Practice Guide: Running large installations of PRTG in a
virtual environment.

More considerations and requirements:

Performance considerations
Please note the following aspects that can affect performance:

• As a rule of thumb, we can say that typical PRTG installations almost never run
into performance issues when they stay below 5,000 sensors, below 30 remote
probes, and below 30 user accounts.

• In a cluster, the monitoring load doubles with each cluster node. The perfor-
mance is accordingly divided in half with each additional cluster node. Therefore,
in a single failover cluster setup that consists of two PRTG core servers that each
work as a cluster node, please divide our recommended numbers from above in
half.

• When you have more than 5,000 sensors, you should set 5-minute scanning
intervals or longer instead of using 1-minute scaning intervals.

• Some sensor types create much more load than others. For example, Ping and
SNMP sensors create much less load than complex sensors like xFlow (NetFlow,
jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX) sensors, VMware sensors, Sensor Factory sensors, WMI
sensors, or Syslog/Trap Receiver sensors, to name just a few examples.

• Try to use sensors with less than 50 channels. Note that sensors with more than
50 channels are not officially supported and can have a high impact on system
performance.

• We recommend that you stay below 30 active user accounts for each PRTG core
server. You can have more users if these do not all use the PRTG web interface
at the same time (including public dashboards or ‘Maps’).

• Try to keep the usage of the following features down: many quickly refreshed
dashboards (or ‘Maps’), frequently generated, huge sensor reports, heavy usage
of packet sniffing, Sensor Factory sensors and Toplists, frequent automatically
scheduled auto-discoveries for large network segments, and constant queries of
monitoring data via the application programming interface (API).

• Load balancing is possible using remote probes. To distribute load, you can set
up multiple remote probes on different computers. For more information, see the
PRTG Manual: Remote Probes and Multiple Probes and watch the video tutorial
Distributed Monitoring with PRTG.

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 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Stability considerations
Please note the following aspects that can affect the stability of PRTG:

• Remote probes require a stable network connection between the PRTG core
server and the remote probe. Unstable connections, for example via 3G or via
satellite, might work. However, there have been situations where stable
monitoring was not possible.

• Our general recommendation is to stay below 30 remote probes on one PRTG

core server. PRTG still scales well up to 60 remote probes as long as you have
less than 100 sensors per probe.

• The quality of your network also plays an important role. When monitoring via
the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), for example, a high packet loss rate can l
ead to frequent timeouts. Remote probes that connect via unstable WAN
connections can lead to delays as well.

Note: An internet connection is required for the license activation via HTTP or email.

Supported Windows versions for the PRTG core server

and remote probes
The following Windows versions are officially supported for the PRTG core server
service and the PRTG probe service. We recommend 64-bit (x64) operating systems.

• Microsoft Windows Server 2019

• Microsoft Windows Server 2016

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012

• Microsoft Windows 10

• Microsoft Windows 8.1

• Microsoft Windows 8

• Microsoft Windows 7*

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2*

Note: Windows Servers in Core mode or Minimal Server Interface are not
officially supported.

* On Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, you have to install the required .NET
version manually. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Which .NET version
does PRTG require?

System requirements for user interfaces of PRTG

PRTG WEB INTERFACE

The following browsers (in order of performance and reliability) are officially
sup-ported for the web browser based primary user interface of PRTG at a
screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels (more is recommended):

• Google Chrome 72 or later (recommended)

• Mozilla Firefox 65 or later

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 11

Note: Other browsers and older browsers might not be able to access the
PRTG web interface at all.

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 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

ABOUT PAESSLER PRTG DESKTOP

In 1997 Paessler revolutionized IT monitor- PRTG Desktop runs under all supported Windows and Mac versions. For detailed
ing with the introduction of PRTG Network system requirements, see All PRTG Desktop downloads.
Monitor. Today over 300,000 IT adminis-
trators, in more than 170 countries, rely on
PRTG APPS FOR IOS AND ANDROID
PRTG to monitor their business-critical sys-
tems, devices and network infrastructures. We provide free apps for Android and iOS devices. For detailed system requirements,
PRTG monitors the entire IT infrastructure
see PRTG app download and the corresponding app pages.
24/7 and helps IT professionals to seam-
lessly solve problems before they impact
users. Our mission is to empower techni- System requirements for ITOps Board
cal teams to manage their infrastructure,
ensuring maximum productivity. We build
Please see ITOps Board for detailed system requirements.
lasting partnerships and integrative, holistic Note: ITOps Board is exclusively available for Paessler PRTG Enterprise Monitor.
solutions to achieve this. Thinking beyond
IT networks, Paessler is actively developing
solutions to support digital transformation Requirements for monitored devices
strategies and the Internet of Things.
• Monitoring via the Simple Network Protocol (SNMP): The monitored devices
must be equipped with SNMP v1, v2c, or v3, and an SNMP-compatible software
must be installed on the device. SNMP must be enabled on the device and the
machine running PRTG must be allowed to access the SNMP interface. For more
information, see the PRTG Manual: Monitoring via SNMP.

• Monitoring via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI): To use WMI mon-

itoring, you need a Windows network. Host computers and client computers with
Windows operating systems as specified above are officially supported. Do not
use Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 on host computers for WMI monitor-
ing because both have WMI performance issues. For more information, see the
PRTG Manual: Monitoring via WMI.

• Monitoring via xFlow (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX): The device must be confi-
gured to send NetFlow (v5, v9, or IPFIX), sFlow (v5), or jFlow (v5) data packets
to the probe system. For more information, see the PRTG Manual: Monitoring
Bandwidth via xFlows.

• Monitoring via packet sniffing: Only data packets that pass the network card of
the local machine can be analyzed. Switches with so-called ‘monitoring ports’ are
necessary for network-wide monitoring in switched networks. For more informa-
tion, see the PRTG Manual: Monitoring Bandwidth via Packet Sniffing.

Need further assistance? Planning an installation with

thousands of sensors?
Our Presales team is happy to assist you! Please write to [email protected].
If possible, describe your monitoring requirements in detail so that we can find the best
person to help you. For larger installations, see Monitoring large IT infrastructures.

Paessler AG // [email protected] // www.paessler.com 005362/EN/20200824

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