Virtual Sensors view

You use a virtual sensor to view and monitor the average or total value of multiple numeric sensors of the same sensor type.

Users with Device Administrator or Server Administrator access can view, create, modify, and delete virtual sensors for the server. 

• Creating a virtual sensor
• Editing a virtual sensor

A virtual sensor can include numeric sensors for any device in any device group monitored by the Data Center Expert server, including other virtual sensors.

A virtual sensor starts recording historical data when it is created. The value of the virtual sensor is calculated and updated only when all the devices monitoring the included sensors have been scanned. The value of the virtual sensor is a single value data point, representing the weighted average or weighted total of all the historical sensor data collected since the last calculation.

Only Device Administrators and Server Administrators can create virtual sensors.

To create a virtual sensor, you select whether you want it to report the average value or the total value for the sensors you want to include. You then select a combination of sensor type, device groups, and devices to filter the list of available sensors. Only device groups and devices containing sensors of the selected sensor type are shown.

Note: You can select the sensor type Other Numeric only when all sensors for the selection use the same unit of measure. You cannot create a virtual sensor for state sensors.

After you select the sensors you want to include in the virtual sensor, you identify a name for the virtual sensor, and specify the device group in which you want to create its virtual device parent.

For each virtual sensor created, a virtual device parent is also created and added to the Device View and the Map View. You can right-click the Virtual Device parent, and select View Device Sensors to view the virtual sensor. You can view all the virtual sensors monitored by the Data Center Expert server in the Virtual Sensors view.

Note: You cannot create a virtual sensor directly from sensors you manually added to the Map View.

Both physical and virtual devices are included in the device count in the Device View, and the status bar at the bottom of the display. Virtual devices are not included in the Used Node Count in the "License Keys" display, accessed from the Server Administration Settings option in the System menu.