PRTG is the monitoring solution developed by Paessler, a German company. Well, I say German, but they’ve recently been bought by US private equity, which has already led to increased licensing costs.

…We do love private equity.

I, however, don’t love PRTG. I’ve been working with it for a few years now, managing a rather large deployment in my current position, and it’s been an experience. While the UX/UI is acceptable (but only just), there are two major reasons for my disdain.

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Architectural Considerations

Let’s rip the band-aid off: PRTG does not use a database like a sensible system, instead the configuration, list of devices and sensors and users (we’ll get to that) are stored within an XML file.

Let’s be honest, this is fine for small deployments. PRTG is easily set-up and managed, and if your environment consists of maybe 50 to 100 devices easily scanned with default WMI and SNMP sensors i don’t think you should be worried.

Reliance on Windows

Yes, PRTG now supports Linux remote probes, but the core servers still runs on windows. While i’ve learned to tolerate Windows servers, I still prefer a solution that doesn’t require me to sacrifice my soul to to the big M.

For those of us managing cross-platform environments or working in organizations that prefer Linux-based infrastructure, this reliance on Windows feels outdated and limiting.

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Security Considerations

PRTG demands you give it admin credentials. Thankfully it hashes them- Which i was surprised (and relieved) to discover.

If you want to monitor windows servers through WMI, not only are you burdened by its performance impact, but you’re also going to have to build a backdoor into your entire environment!

Of course there are ways to mitigate this, but my monitoring solution shouldn’t require me to protect my environment from it. Technically you could run PRTG with an agent, namely its remote probe.

That’s exactly what one of my previous employers did, and i understand why. When it comes to monitoring, read-only SNMP or agent-based is the way to go. Thankfully PRTG offers SNMP sensors for most things.

Conclusion

This has mostly been a rant, I’ll admit, but PRTG is a good solution for certain environments. If you’re managing a smaller setup or don’t mind its quirks, it might serve you well.

That said, for larger deployments or those who prioritize flexibility and security, it leaves much to be desired. I, for one, am excited to switch to Zabbix and begin a new chapter.

Updates on that soon(?)