Windows service monitoring with PRTG
Keep a 24/7 eye on the availability and performance of your Microsoft Windows services
- Ensure your critical Windows services are running smoothly
- Take automated action when your Windows services stop
- Avoid disruption of services to maintain business continuity
Our users give top ratings for monitoring with Paessler PRTG
PRTG Windows service monitoring: What you’ll find on this page
PRTG makes Windows service monitoring as easy as it gets
Custom alerts and data visualization let you quickly identify and prevent interruptions of Windows services and the critical applications that rely on them.
4 reasons to choose PRTG as your Windows service monitoring software
Many critical applications such as Active Directory, SharePoint, and Exchange can only run smoothly if the Windows services they rely on work as expected. If a service stops without you realizing it, there’ll sure as hell be angry end users. Paessler PRTG gives you a comprehensive view of the performance of your Windows services and alerts you in real time if there is an issue so that you can step in and save the day.
Prevent service failures
With PRTG’s easy-to-understand dashboards, you can see at a glance if your Windows services are up and running or if there’s unplanned downtime.
Drill down to the root cause of an issue to fix it quickly, and even prevent disruptions before they happen with custom warning and error thresholds.
Optimize resource allocation
PRTG provides you with valuable metrics on how much resources are being utilized by your Windows services.
This way, you can make informed decisions on capacity planning, allocating more bandwidth and memory to specific Windows servers or buying more hardware.
Stop network security issues
Make sure that suspicious activity like network traffic spikes, unauthorized logins, or hijacked Windows services do not go undetected.
Or set up our network monitoring tool to check for open and closed ports and ensure that malware doesn’t infiltrate your network.
Real-time notifications and alerts
PRTG’s custom alerting lets you set your preferred performance thresholds and choose from various notification methods such as SMS, email, or in-app push notification.
Need more automation? With the possibility to run custom PowerShell scripts, you can also let PRTG restart a Windows service that has stopped unexpectedly.
What Windows service observability looks like in PRTG
Diagnose network issues by continuously tracking the availability and performance of Windows services as well as Windows event logs and other endpoints to detect critical issues. Show uptime, CPU usage, bandwidth utilization, request execution time, and other key metrics in real time. Visualize monitoring data in clear graphs and dashboards to identify problems more easily. Gain the overview you need to troubleshoot service disruptions, authentication issues, and other problems in your network infrastructure.
Device tree view of the complete monitoring setup
Preconfigured WMI Service sensor in PRTG
Custom PRTG dashboard for keeping an eye on the entire IT infrastructure
Start monitoring Windows services with PRTG and see how it can make your network more reliable and your job easier.
“All-around winning “The real beauty of PRTG is the endless possibilities it offers” “PRTG Network MonitorIT experts agree: Paessler PRTG is a great solution for IT infrastructure monitoring
network monitor”
is very hard to beat”
PRTG makes Windows service monitoring as easy as it gets
Custom alerts and data visualization let you quickly identify and prevent interruptions of Windows services and the critical applications that rely on them.
Your Windows service monitor at a glance – even on the go
Set up PRTG in minutes and use it on almost any mobile device.
Find the root cause of the problem with our PRTG Windows service monitoring solution
Real-time notifications mean faster troubleshooting so that you can act before more serious issues occur.
PRTG is compatible with all major vendors, products, and systems
Explore our preconfigured PRTG sensors for Windows services monitoring
PRTG comes with more than 250 native sensor types for monitoring your entire on-premises, cloud, and hybrid cloud environment out of the box. Check out some examples below!
WMI Service
The WMI Service sensor monitors a Windows service. It can show the following:
- CPU usage
- Number of handles and threads
- Pagefile usage
- Execution time of the monitoring request
- Working set
SNMP Windows Service
The SNMP Windows Service sensor monitors a Windows service. It can show the following:
- Downtime
- Operating state
Windows Process
The Windows Process sensor monitors a Windows process via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) or Windows performance counters. It can show the following:
- Average and total CPU usage
- Number of instances
- Number of handles and threads
- Private bytes
- Working set
Create innovative solutions with Paessler’s partners
Partnering with innovative vendors, Paessler unleashes synergies to create
new and additional benefits for joined customers.
ScriptRunner
With ScriptRunner, Paessler integrates a powerful event automation platform into PRTG Network Monitor.
“Excellent tool for detailed monitoring. Alarms and notifications work greatly. Equipment addition is straight forward and server initial setup is very easy. ...feel safe to purchase it if you intend to monitor a large networking landscape.”
Infrastructure and Operations Engineer in the Communications Industry, firm size 10B - 30B USD
PRTG makes Windows service monitoring as easy as it gets
Custom alerts and data visualization let you quickly identify and prevent interruptions of Windows services and the critical applications that rely on them.
Monitoring Windows services: FAQ
What is a Windows service?
A Windows service is a special type of application in the Windows operating system that runs in the background, typically without a user interface, and performs specific functions or tasks. These services are designed to start automatically at system startup (or on demand) and can operate even when no user is logged into the system.
Example use cases include:
- File indexing for faster searches (e.g., Windows Search)
- Backup and restore operations (e.g., Volume Shadow Copy)
- Running database servers like SQL Server
- Enabling remote access via Remote Desktop Services
What is Windows service monitoring?
Windows service monitoring refers to the practice of tracking and managing the health, performance, and availability of Windows services to ensure they function correctly and meet operational requirements. Since Windows services often run critical system and application processes in the background, monitoring them helps detect and resolve issues proactively before they disrupt users or business operations.
Why is it important to monitor Windows services?
Windows service monitoring is important for several reasons, including:
- Business continuity: Critical services like database servers, web servers, or security systems must remain operational to prevent downtime.
- Troubleshooting: Monitoring simplifies the detection of root causes when services behave abnormally.
- Performance optimization: Ensures that services are operating efficiently without overloading system resources.
- Security: Prevents potential breaches by tracking unauthorized changes or service misuse.
- Proactive maintenance: Identifies potential issues early, allowing them to be resolved before they impact end users.
Can PRTG also monitor Linux systems and services?
Absolutely. PRTG comes with preconfigured SNMP and SSH sensors to monitor your entire Linux/Unix environment, including hardware, applications, services, and server monitoring.
What is a sensor in PRTG?
In PRTG, “sensors” are the basic monitoring elements. One sensor usually monitors one measured value in your network, for example the traffic of a switch port, the CPU load of a server, or the free space on a disk drive.
On average, you need about 5-10 sensors per device or one sensor per switch port.
PRTG: The multi-tool for sysadmins
Adapt PRTG individually and dynamically to your needs and rely on a strong API:- HTTP API: Access monitoring data and manipulate monitoring objects via HTTP requests
- Custom sensors: Create your own PRTG sensors for customized monitoring
- Custom notifications: Create your own notifications and send action triggers to external systems
- REST Custom sensor: Monitor almost everything that provides data in XML or JSON format
Paessler conducted trials in over 600 IT departments worldwide to tune its network monitoring software closer to the needs of sysadmins. We asked: would you recommend PRTG?
Over 95% of our customers say yes!
The result of the survey: over 95% of the participants would recommend PRTG – or already have.
Paessler PRTG is used by companies of all sizes. Sysadmins love PRTG because it makes their job a whole lot easier. Bandwidth, servers, virtual environments, websites, VoIP services – PRTG keeps an eye on your entire network. Everyone has different monitoring needs. That’s why we let you try PRTG for free.Still not convinced?
More than 500,000
sysadmins love PRTG
Monitor your entire IT infrastructure
Try Paessler PRTG
for free
Start monitoring Windows services with PRTG and see how it can make your network more reliable and your job easier.
|
PRTG |
Network Monitoring Software - Version 25.1.102.1373 (January 9th, 2025) |
|
Hosting |
Download for Windows and cloud-based version PRTG Hosted Monitor available |
Languages |
English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese |
Pricing |
Up to 100 sensors for free (Price List) |
Unified Monitoring |
Network devices, bandwidth, servers, applications, virtual environments, remote systems, IoT, and more |
Supported Vendors & Applications |
|
Discover more monitoring insights and stories
Solutions for all your monitoring needs
Powerful stories from the monitoring world
Combining the broad monitoring feature set of PRTG with IP Fabric’s automated network assurance creates a new level of network visibility and reliability.