<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Create Device Template

If you want to add a certain device several times, you can create a device template from an existing device in your device tree. When creating a device template, PRTG will save information for nearly all sensors on this device to a template file that you can later use in combination with Auto-Discovery (restrictions apply for a few sensor types). There are also custom device templates available in the PRTG Script World.

From the sensors, all relevant settings are saved, except settings that refer to other objects, such as schedules, notification triggers, and access rights. PRTG will automatically revert them to Inherit.

To start, right-click a device in your device tree. From the context menu, select Create Device Template.... An assistant appears.

Create Device Template Assistant

Device templates only save the sensors on the device and the sensors' settings, including channels. The device itself and its settings are not saved. For successful device template creation, sensors must be added to the device (either manually or via Auto-Discovery) and must be device template-capable.

Device Template Settings

Choose Template Name
File Name	Enter a name under which PRTG will store the file. Template files have the extension .odt in the \PRTG Network Monitor\devicetemplates sub-directory of your PRTG core installation (of the Master node, if in a cluster). If a file with this name already exists in this directory, you will see an according error message. The device templates folder is not accessible on PRTG hosted by Paessler.
Template Name	Enter a meaningful display name for the template as it will appear in the web interface.
Exclude Sensors	Select sensors that you do not want to include into the device template. Mark the corresponding check boxes of the sensors that you do not want to include into the device template. Sensors that cannot be saved into templates will not appear in this list. Sensor types that dynamically scan for available monitoring items when you add the sensor to a device will not appear in this list. PRTG includes these sensors automatically into the template if they support template functionality. You cannot exclude them from the device template that you create.

Choose Template Name

File Name

Enter a name under which PRTG will store the file. Template files have the extension .odt in the \PRTG Network Monitor\devicetemplates sub-directory of your PRTG core installation (of the Master node, if in a cluster). If a file with this name already exists in this directory, you will see an according error message.

The device templates folder is not accessible on PRTG hosted by Paessler.

Template Name

Enter a meaningful display name for the template as it will appear in the web interface.

Exclude Sensors

Select sensors that you do not want to include into the device template. Mark the corresponding check boxes of the sensors that you do not want to include into the device template.

Sensors that cannot be saved into templates will not appear in this list.

Sensor types that dynamically scan for available monitoring items when you add the sensor to a device will not appear in this list. PRTG includes these sensors automatically into the template if they support template functionality. You cannot exclude them from the device template that you create.

Save your settings. If you leave the current page, all changes to the settings will be lost!

If your template file was saved successfully, you will see an according message and can review the sensors that were added. Click OK to finish. The device template is now stored in the program path of your PRTG core installation. Your device template file contains all sensors, including their settings, of the original device.

During your next auto-discovery, choose the Automatic sensor creation using specific device template(s) option and select the name of your newly created device template from the list. PRTG will then try to discover the stored sensor types on the new (or existing) device. If the physical device answers to a sensor request, the sensor is added to the PRTG device.

For detailed information, see section Auto-Discovery.

Settings That Are Not Saved

There are a few settings that you cannot save into a device template, so PRTG will set them to default, for example:

the Dependency Type setting Master object for parent (in Schedules and Dependencies section)
Result Handling setting Write result to disk because this is intended for debugging purposes only.
Settings in the Access Rights section are not saved to avoid security flaws.

In general, you cannot save all Sensor Settings and Sensor Channel Settings (for example, channel limits) of sensor types that dynamically scan for available monitoring items when you add the sensor. This affects, for example, traffic sensors where you can choose interfaces that you want to monitor in the Add Sensor dialog.

Furthermore, due to internal restrictions, the following sensor types will not be saved into a device template:

Amazon CloudWatch sensors
Business Process
Core/Probe/Cluster Health
DHCP
DICOM Bandwidth
DICOM C-ECHO
DICOM Query/Retrieve
Docker Container Status
Dropbox
Enterprise Virtual Array
Exchange Backup (PowerShell)
Exchange Database (PowerShell)
Exchange Database DAG (PowerShell)
Exchange Mail Queue (PowerShell)
Exchange Mailbox (PowerShell)
Exchange Public Folder (PowerShell)
Google Analytics
Google Drive
HL7
IPFIX
IPFIX (Custom)
IPMI System Health
jFlow V5
jFlow V5 (Custom)
Microsoft OneDrive
NetApp Aggregate
NetApp I/O
NetApp LIF
NetApp LUN
NetApp NIC
NetApp Physical Disk
NetApp SnapMirror
NetApp System Health
NetApp Volume
NetFlow V5
NetFlow V5 (Custom)
NetFlow V9
NetFlow V9 (Custom)
Packet Sniffer
Packet Sniffer (Custom)
QoS (Quality of Service)
QoS (Quality of Service) Roundtrip
REST Custom
REST Dell EMC Capacity
REST Dell EMC File System
REST Dell EMC LUN
REST Dell EMC Pool
REST Dell EMC System Health
Sensor Factory
sFlow
sFlow (Custom)
SNMP Trap Receiver
Syslog Receiver
WMI Security Center

No Update of Device Templates

Once a device template is created, it is not possible to add additional sensors to it via the PRTG web interface. If you want to create a template with an extended set of sensors, please create a new one.

When saving a new device template, all internal IDs of the sensors in this template are updated. Because of this, when you apply a new template to an existing device, PRTG will newly create all sensors that this template contains on this device, even if these sensors were previously created using another device template!

You cannot directly delete device templates.

You cannot edit existing template files on PRTG hosted by Paessler.