How to Get Easier Text Alerts from PRTG Network Monitor

How to Get Easier Text Alerts from PRTG Network Monitor

· by Sam Greenspan

PRTG Network Monitor (and PRTG Hosted Monitor) send alerts when things go wrong.

But you’re here because you want to get those alerts as texts, not just emails — and when you went digging into PRTG’s SMS settings, you found the process isn’t as easy as toggling a box and dropping in your phone number.

The PRTG texting solutions are all enterprise-level, which makes sense since PRTG is an enterprise-focused tool. But you just need to start getting texts for you (and maybe a small team) ASAP.

We can do that today.

Here’s the easiest way to get PRTG Network Monitor SMS alerts set up in a matter of a few minutes.

PRTG Network Monitor SMS Alerts: Table of Contents

Setting Up PRTG SMS Alerts: The Quick Way

The setup is short because you’re not configuring PRTG’s SMS Delivery settings. You’re giving PRTG an email recipient that happens to text you.

And we’ll do that by using a drop-in email-to-text option.

Step 1: Get your email-to-text address

We’re going to use text.email as our email to SMS option here because it’s the quick option: You sign up and it works instantly, without requiring a bunch of regulatory paperwork or any other lengthy approval process.

Create a text.email account and you’ll get a special email-to-text address. (Need to send to a team? You can also put together a distribution list where multiple people will get text alerts on their own schedules).

This looks like a normal email recipient to PRTG. But when PRTG sends an alert email to that address, text.email automatically converts that email into a text message which goes out immediately to you and/or your team.

Step 2: Put that email address into PRTG

You can add the text.email address in either of the places PRTG already supports sending alert emails.

Use Setup -> Account Settings -> Notification Contacts if you want the to use the email-to-text address as a contact. Add an email contact and put the text.email address in Recipient.

Use Setup -> Account Settings -> Notification Templates if you want to add the address directly to a template. In the Send Email section, put the text.email address in Send to Email Address.

Step 3: Connect template to the alerts that matter

Open its Notification Triggers tab for a sensor, device, group, probe, or root group — anywhere you should get a text alert when something goes horribly wrong.

Choose the notification template and make sure it’s configured to send to the text.email address. (In the prior step, you may or may not have done that; if not, do it now.)

Step 4 (optional): Keep the text message readable

PRTG’s default notification gives you the key info: site name, device, sensor, status, downtime, and message.

If you find the email body of their notifications is noisy, you can switch the email format to Text or Custom text in the notification template and keep only the pieces someone needs on a phone.

You can also set up the formatting on text.email’s end. Use the SMS formatting there; that way, PRTG Network Monitor can keep sending email, while text.email pares it down into a more actionable text.

Other Options for Getting SMS Alerts from PRTG Network Monitor

So that’s the quick way to get SMS alerts from PRTG Network Monitor and Hosted Monitor.

It’s not the only way.

Here are the other methods that may or may not work better for you, depending on your specific needs and situation.

Using PRTG’s native SMS option

Yes, PRTG has a native SMS messaging feature. It’s called Send SMS/Pager Message. And it doesn’t require a bit of a workaround like we just set up earlier.

But… that SMS delivery feature isn’t just waiting for you handily inside your license or subscription.

Paessler requires you to use a third-party SMS provider (either one of their recommendations, or one you provide). So in a way, they’re also using a somewhat hacky workaround.

You can tell the type of SMS providers by their recommendations. They recommend BulkSMS, Agile Telecom, or Esendex — all enterprise-grade, technically-complex options.

And even if you don’t care about the “technically-complex” part, this is still a configuration project. You’ve got to connect the API, set up a whole slew of settings from encoding to virtual hosting, and then manage your team recipients manually.

It’s a lot. Your company (or your boss’s boss’s boss) might require it.

But if they don’t, and you just want to start getting text alerts ASAP, it’s too much.

Using Amazon SNS

Similar to all of the above, PRTG also has an Amazon SNS notification method.

And same as above, this will or won’t make sense depending on your setup. If your company already uses Amazon SNS, or you want total control and don’t mind the configuration and maintenance overhead to get it, then this could work for you.

But otherwise, it’s a more complicated route to the same destination.

Using GSM hardware

Alright. So you don’t want to route your text alerts through a third-party API. How about routing them through a hardware modem instead?

Another option that PRTG offers is connecting a GSM modem to send your texts.

The pros and cons there are pretty clear. The pros: This can work even if the internet is down and you’re in full hardware control of the situation.

The cons: I mean, you need to get your hands on a GSM modem, connect it to a network, configure it, and maintain it.

Once again, if you found this article because you were looking for a quick option for alert SMS messages, this is pure overkill.

Using custom HTTP actions and SMS APIs

As we continue our slow and decision fatigue-inducing hike through PRTG’s suggested SMS alerting options, we arrive next at custom HTTP actions.

You can build your own path with Execute HTTP Action or an SMS API.

PRTG can call a URL, pass alert details, and let something else turn that into a text. You’ll need to set up that “something else”, whether it’s a provider like Twilio or an even more DIY option.

(We have a separate rundown of Twilio alternatives for critical alerts if you are comparing that route.)

This custom path can make sense if you need a very specific workflow and you can carve out a weekend to set everything up. (And then more time to carve out for handling A2P 10DLC regulatory work.) Same overkill spiel as usual for other cases.

Using non-texting options (push notifications, messaging apps)

PRTG offers push notifications, Microsoft Teams messages, and Slack messages.

These are useful alert channels — they just aren’t SMS.

There’s a specific reason you came here looking for text messages and not any of those; the immediacy, the urgency, the way your phone prioritizes them, the way you mentally prioritize them.

All those other platforms and options have their place. (In fact, PRTG recommends you use at least a few different alerting messages.)

But if you want text messages, those ain’t text messages.

What won’t work: Verizon, AT&T, and other (deprecated) email-to-text addresses

If you ask Random Strangers On The Internet how to get email-to-text set up, someone’s going to recommend the cell phone provider’s built-in addresses. (For instance, if you’re on Verizon, sending an email to yournumber@vtext.com turns it into a text.)

Welp… those are gone.

Every cell phone carrier has either totally killed or is in the process of totally killing their email-to-text option. And no, your plan isn’t going to get cheaper as a result.

The carriers all shut down their email-to-text gateways for a variety of reasons (spam issue and new-ish texting regulations were the main two).

That’s actually why text.email exists; it’s meant to be a drop-in replacement for those old carrier email-to-SMS gateways.

Get Your PRTG Network Monitor SMS Alerts Going in the Next Five Minutes

Alright. So we’ve waked through the many, many SMS alert options for PRTG Network Monitor and PRTG Hosted Monitor.

And ultimately, this all comes down to two things: How much complexity do you want to deal with? and How much complexity does your company want you to deal with?

If the answer is “oh yeah, they like complexity,” then you should start the bureaucratic wheels in motion on PRTG’s native SMS recommendations or setting up a hardware modem.

But if you really just want to start getting text alerts going ASAP — because ultimately, you’re just trying to catch catastrophic issues fast — then the email-to-text path is your easiest and quickest option.

You can sign up at text.email and get this all set up in a matter of minutes.

(Want to try it out first? Skip the signup step and just send a test alert to your-number@text.email. It will come to your phone as a text so you can see just how easy this is.)

Deciding Which PRTG Alerts Do and Don’t Require a Text Alert

You’re not going to want to text every PRTG notification or you’ll get “alert blindness” fast.

The whole point of SMS alerts is that they cut through the clutter. You don’t want them to become the clutter.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started on what alerts do and don’t deserve a text, though your mileage may vary.

Worth a text:

  • A critical sensor changes to Down
  • A device or service sits in Warning long enough to be real
  • A threshold trigger crosses a value that needs fast action
  • A repeated escalation means the first notification did not get handled
  • A recovery notice confirms that a real outage is over

Leave on email:

  • Routine status changes that do not require action
  • Short flaps that clear before the latency period
  • Informational change triggers
  • History, uptime, or downtime summaries
  • Low-priority threshold warnings that someone reviews during normal hours

Time to Get Your PRTG Text Alerts Running Today

PRTG already has the alert logic, already has email notifications, and already has built-in SMS notifications.

But only the first two work right out of the box.

If you want to use PRTG Network Monitor or PRTG Hosting Monitor’s native text message alerts, you’ll need to connect an enterprise provider, rig up a hardware modem, or set up your own system.

You may want that (or your organization might require it).

But for the faster path, put an email-to-text address into your monitor and call it a day.

To get started, sign up at text.email and follow the steps in this article to get your PRTG alerts texted to you in a matter of minutes.

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