This was 2020 with PRTG. A review

Wow. 2020 was quite a hell ride for all of us! And I don't just mean us at Paessler, but really all of us. The whole planet experienced a rather exceptional year!

Today, however, we are talking about positive news. In the following paragraphs, I will show you how PRTG Network Monitor evolved in 2020. I'll show you where the product changed, summarize the features and improvements worth mentioning, and give you a brief preview of what we have planned for 2021.

Before we dive into the details, let's start with some numbers for the statistics enthusiasts among you.

 

The year 2020 with PRTG in numbers

• We provided you with 10 stable new releases and 2 patches.
• These contained exactly 24 new sensor types
• Additionally, there were 20 releases in the preview channel and almost daily updates in the canary channel.
• Our support team took care of more than 32,000 support tickets from you so far in 2020.
• 398 feature requests and improvements and 384 bug fixes have made their way into PRTG.
• In total 74 developers have worked on the PRTG code base.
• Our documentation and localization team revised exactly 523,998 words in total (i.e. about 58,222 words per language) to ensure PRTG is available in your language.
• All releases since PRTG version 20.2.58 have been created completely remotely by our developers.

And now let's move on to the 2020 product highlights.

 

Some of the PRTG product highlights at a glance

The year started with PRTG release 20.1.55, including two new sensor types for monitoring Nutanix HCI infrastructures, an indicator for the performance impact of running sensors, a modernized password reset approach, and an updated Python distribution. With this release we also set TLS 1.2 as default web server connection security.

With PRTG release 20.1.56 in February 2020, we released the AWS Cost sensor, continued to work on the performance impact indicator for running sensors, and we reinvented a standard icon for checkboxes throughout the PRTG web interface again ??

From release 20.1.57, PRTG supports LDAP over SSL (LDAPS), provides more placeholders for notifications, and includes an improved VMware Host Hardware Status (SOAP) sensor. At the same time we released new versions of our Paessler SNMP Tester and our PRTG for Android and PRTG for iOS apps in version 20.0.0.

 

In May 2020 we released PRTG version 20.2.58, which was the first stable release we fully developed remotely (thank you COVID). With this release we added Active Directory integration with LDAP over SSL, a complete overhaul of the Japanese language files, and: The PRTG Enterprise Console Remover! Also, at this time we started to integrate surveys into our public roadmap to better tailor our new development to your needs.

 

PRTG Release 20.2.59 was all about IoT. This version included the new MQTT Statistics sensor, a revision of the MQTT Roundtrip sensor, a new DNS sensor and an improved Active Directory integration. We also updated the Paessler SNMP Tester, which is now able to perform GETNEXT requests!

 

In July, PRTG version 20.3.60 was launched. It featured 163 resolved issues, several security improvements, more options and improvements for sensors and language files, but: not a single new sensor! But no worries - with the next version we kicked off a real sensor storm!

 

PRTG version 20.3.61 in August included five brand new sensor types. You can now work with our new Microsoft 365 Service Status sensor, Microsoft 365 Service Status Advanced sensor, Zoom Service Status sensor, Dell EMC Unity Storage LUN v2 sensor and the MQTT Subscribe Custom sensor.

 

September's PRTG release 20.3.62 again brought a lot of new features. Besides improvements in the context menu and a new notification method, we were happy to present no less than another six new sensor types! These were the Cloud HTTP v2 sensor, Cloud Ping v2 sensor, WMI Microsoft SQL Server 2019 sensor, Dell EMC Unity File System v2 sensor, Dell EMC Unity Storage Pool v2 sensor, and the Dell EMC Unity Storage Capacity v2 sensor.

 

It was at the end of October that we released PRTG 20.4.63. After 11 new sensor types in the last two stable versions, this release came with five brand new sensor types again. Besides the first native sensor for monitoring Microsoft Azure, this release mainly covers the field of Industrial IT with the Dell EMC Unity VMware Datastore v2 sensor, the Modbus TCP Custom sensor, OPC UA Server Status sensor and the Soffico Orchestra Channel Health sensor.

 

PRTG Release 20.4.64 marks the end of the stable releases in 2020. At the end of the year there are again three new sensor types: the first native Veeam sensor, the Microsoft Azure Subscription Cost sensor, and the Dell EMC Unity Enclosure Health v2 sensor.

 

What are we up to in 2021?

We have really set our sights on a lot. A look at our PRTG roadmap makes that clear. We are already working on various Microsoft Azure sensors, and our new sensor developments are geared towards your company's needs. This includes not only classic network monitoring and the monitoring of IT security components, but also dedicated sensors with which you can monitor cloud solutions.

 

For this we need your input! In our roadmap, some planned innovations are linked to short surveys. Join in and give us your input from the field. This way we can develop exactly what you need for your infrastructures out there!

 

 

In addition, we will continue to work on our Paessler PRTG Enterprise Monitor, PRTG Desktop, and the PRTG Apps. We will present you with plenty of news in the area of Industrial IT and, at the same time, we are constantly working on keeping PRTG reliable, highly secure, enjoyable and also up-to-date under the hood.