Monitoring the basic parameters of a host should not be a challenging or annoying task. The openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent is available for Windows, Linux and macOS and capable of collecting basic metrics like CPU, memory and disk usages, networking status, temperatures etc. out of the box.
To be extendable and customizable the openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent is 100% compatible with the Nagios Plugin API. So no additional software (like NRPE or check_by_ssh) is required to execute plugins on the target system.
The communication is encrypted by default through HTTPS.
Download and install openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent
Before you start please install the openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent on the target system you like to monitor.
We recommend to get the latest version from the official download page.
The source code is available through the GitHub repository: https://github.com/it-novum/openitcockpit-agent-go
Monitor a host through openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent
In the context menu of hosts select the option openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent discovery
A wizard based configuration process will guide you through all steps.
Main differences between Pull and Push mode
In the first step you have to decide if you want to monitor the system via Pull or Push mode.
- In Pull mode openITCOCKPIT will frequently connect via HTTPS on port 3333 to the Agent and fetch all check results.
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In Push mode the openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent will frequently connect to the openITCOCKPIT Server and push all check results via HTTPS on port 443.
Perfectly if you target device is behind a NAT.
Both modes are easy to setup. For this tutorial we will continue using Pull mode. Click here for Push Mode.
The second step is basically an graphical configuration generator to modify the config file of the openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent. You only have to select the operating system you like to monitor and continue by pressing on Next.
It is highly recommended to select Auto-TLS as connection type to automatically encrypt and secure the connection between the openITCOCKPIT Server and openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent.
More information about the security of the openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent can be found in the documentation .
The third step tells you where to download and put the configuration file for the openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent.
For this tutorial you can continue by using the default configuration. Please go to the next step by clicking on Next.
openITCOCKPIT will connect to the openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent and do a TLS certificate exchange. A unique certificate will be generated for each openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent. This certificate will be used for authentication and encryption purpose.
Click on Next to continue.
The system will pick up basic health metrics like CPU, memory and SWAP usage by default. In addition you can select which process or services you like to monitor. If you are done, press Finish to finalize the openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent setup.
The last step reminds you to refresh your monitoring configuration to apply the new configuration changes.
Please click on Refresh monitoring configuration.
This button is also always available as shortcut in the top menu bar.
Press Launch refresh to apply the new configuration.
After a few seconds the system will start to monitor the selected services and also generate charts whenever possible.
Determining the host status (Optional)
By default, openITCOCKPIT will send an ping to the target host to determining the host status. Instead of a ping check it is also possible to use the result of the openITCOCKPIT Monitoring Agent to determine the host status. For more information please see the documentation: https://github.com/it-novum/openitcockpit-agent-go/wiki/Determining-the-host-status
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