PRTG Manual: Windows MSMQ Queue Length Sensor

Performance impact

• This sensor has a high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 200 of this sensor on each probe.

MSMQ service

• This sensor requires that the Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) service runs on both the probe system and the target system.

• To enable the service, log in to the respective system and open the services manager (for example, via services.msc). In the list, find the respective service and set its Start Type to Automatic.

• Depending on your Windows version, you might first need to install the MSMQ Server.

When installing MSMQ Server, make sure that you install it including the Directory Service. Depending on your Windows installation, this might have a different name, such as:

• MSMQ Active Directory Domain Service Integration
• Directory Service Integration
• Active Directory Integration

For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How do I activate Message Queuing in my Windows installation?

.NET 4.7.2 or later

• This sensor requires .NET 4.7.2 or later from Microsoft on the probe system. In a cluster, install it on every cluster node. If the sensor shows the error PE087, additionally install .NET 3.5 on the probe system.

If the framework is missing, you cannot create this sensor.

For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Which .NET version does PRTG require?

Windows Server

• We recommend Windows Server 2016 on the probe system for best performance of this sensor.

Credentials

• This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems.

• We recommend that you use Windows domain credentials.

If you use local credentials, make sure that the same Windows user accounts (with the same user name and password) exist on both the probe system and the target system.

• Otherwise, the sensor cannot correctly connect.

Subqueues

• This sensor cannot monitor subqueues.

Add Sensor dialog

• If no message queues are available in the Add Sensor dialog, you see a corresponding message.

IPv6

• This sensor supports IPv6.

Knowledge Base

• Knowledge Base: How do I activate Message Queuing in my Windows installation?

Hosted probe

You cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.

Message Queue

The name of the message queue that this sensor monitors.

Message Queue Type

The type of the message queue that this sensor monitors.

Minimum Message Age

Optionally define an age in minutes that the message must be for the sensor to count it. If you set a minimum message age, the sensor does not regard messages that are younger than this age. If you leave this field empty, the sensor does not check for the message age. Enter an integer or leave the field empty.

If Value Changes

Define what the sensor does when its value changes:

• Ignore (default): Do nothing.

• Trigger 'change' notification: Send an internal message that indicates a change.
  In combination with a change trigger, you can use this to trigger a notification if a change occurs.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

• Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.

• Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.

In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.

You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.

Graph Type

Define how this sensor shows different channels:

• Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
• Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic.
  You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above.

Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Downtime

In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status

Execution Time

The execution time

Messages

The total number of messages in the queue

This channel is the primary channel by default.