Checkmk is seamlessly integrated into the openITCOCKPIT interface. Target hosts where the Checkmk Agent or an SNMP exporter is running can be scanned via the openITCOCKPIT interface. For the purpose of this tutorial we are going to monitor an Ubuntu Linux system.

Install Checkmk module for openITCOCKPIT

The Checkmk extension for openITCOCKPIT is shipped in a module. This helps to keep the openITCOCKPIT Core flexible and small.

Please navigate to System tools Package Manager and install the CheckmkModule.

Follow the instructions.

The installation is completed as soon as you see the following message: Installation done. Please reload your openITCOCKPIT web interface.

Go back to your web browser and press Ctrl + R or Cmd + R to refresh the page.

The CheckmkModule should now be marked as installed.

Each module can extend the available user permissions of openITCOCKPIT. By default openITCOCKPIT will grant all permissions the to user role "Administrator".

If your current user is assigned to a different user role please make sure to grant access to the CheckmkModule.

Navigate to User management Manage User Roles and select your user role.

We decided not to grant new privileges automatically (except for "Administrator" user role), to avoid that users start using modules, that you have just installed for testing or evaluation purposes.

Install Checkmk agent on the target host

As already mentioned we are going to use the Checkmk Agent to monitor the remote system.

So, first of all you need to copy the Checkmk Linux Agent from your openITCOCKPIT Server to your remote host:

scp /opt/openitc/check_mk/share/check_mk/agents/check_mk_agent.linux root@172.16.166.103:/usr/local/bin/check_mk_agent

Now establish an SSH connection to your remote host.

The Checkmk Agent does not run as a daemon. It will be executed through xinetd.

apt-get install xinetd
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/check_mk_agent

Now you need to copy to following configuration file to /etc/xinetd.d/check_mk:

service check_mk
{
    type           = UNLISTED
    port           = 6556
    socket_type    = stream
    protocol       = tcp
    wait           = no
    user           = root
    server         = /usr/local/bin/check_mk_agent

    # configure the IP address(es) of your openITCOCKPIT server here:
    #only_from      = 127.0.0.1 10.0.20.1 10.0.20.2

    # Don't be too verbose. Don't log every check. This might be
    # commented out for debugging. If this option is commented out
    # the default options will be used for this service.
    log_on_success =

    disable        = no
}

To enable the new configuration, you need to restart xinetd:

systemctl restart xinetd.service

That's all you need to do, on the remote host.

Scan target host for automatically check creation

In the context menu of hosts select the option Checkmk discovery

Use the preselected option Execute remote discovery and click on Execute discovery.

As soon as the discovery process is finished you can select all services you like to monitor. Press Save to proceed.

To enable the new configuration, you need to run Refresh monitoring configuration.

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.