checkmk Installation Guide Installation Guide

checkmk is a free and open-source IT monitoring. Checkmk provides comprehensive IT monitoring solution

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 2+ cores

RAM: 4GB minimum

Storage: 10GB for data

Network: HTTP/agent access

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 80 (default checkmk port)

Agent on 6556

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install checkmk
sudo dnf install -y checkmk

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now checkmk

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
checkmk --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install checkmk
sudo apt install -y checkmk

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now checkmk

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 80

# Verify installation
checkmk --version

bash

# Install checkmk
sudo pacman -S checkmk

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now checkmk

# Verify installation
checkmk --version

bash

# Install checkmk
apk add --no-cache checkmk

# Enable and start service
rc-update add checkmk default
rc-service checkmk start

# Verify installation
checkmk --version

bash

# Install checkmk
sudo zypper install -y checkmk

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now checkmk

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
checkmk --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install checkmk

# Start service
brew services start checkmk

# Verify installation
checkmk --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install checkmk

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'checkmk_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service checkmk start

# Verify installation
checkmk --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install checkmk

# Or using Scoop
scoop install checkmk

# Verify installation
checkmk --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/checkmk

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
checkmk --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable checkmk

# Start service
sudo systemctl start checkmk

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop checkmk

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart checkmk

# Check status
sudo systemctl status checkmk

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u checkmk -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add checkmk default

# Start service
rc-service checkmk start

# Stop service
rc-service checkmk stop

# Restart service
rc-service checkmk restart

# Check status
rc-service checkmk status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'checkmk_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service checkmk start

# Stop service
service checkmk stop

# Restart service
service checkmk restart

# Check status
service checkmk status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start checkmk
brew services stop checkmk
brew services restart checkmk

# Check status
brew services list | grep checkmk

powershell

# Start service
net start checkmk

# Stop service
net stop checkmk

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service checkmk
Stop-Service checkmk
Restart-Service checkmk

# Check status
Get-Service checkmk

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream checkmk_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:80;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name checkmk.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name checkmk.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/checkmk.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/checkmk.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://checkmk_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName checkmk.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://checkmk.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName checkmk.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/checkmk.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/checkmk.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:80/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:80/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend checkmk_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/checkmk.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend checkmk_backend

backend checkmk_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server checkmk1 127.0.0.1:80 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R checkmk:checkmk /etc/checkmk
sudo chmod 750 /etc/checkmk

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status checkmk

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u checkmk -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep checkmk)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/checkmk"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/checkmk-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/checkmk /var/lib/checkmk

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/checkmk-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop checkmk

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/checkmk/checkmk-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start checkmk

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u checkmk -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/checkmk/checkmk.log

# Check configuration
checkmk --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/checkmk

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 80

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 80

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep checkmk)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep checkmk)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 80

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  checkmk:
    image: checkmk:latest
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/checkmk
      - ./data:/var/lib/checkmk
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update checkmk

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade checkmk

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu checkmk

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade checkmk

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update checkmk

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade checkmk

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/checkmk-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/checkmk

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart checkmk

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/checkmk

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/checkmk -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/checkmk

Official Documentation: https://docs.checkmk.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/checkmk/checkmk

Community Forum: https://forum.checkmk.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.checkmk.org/best-practices

---

Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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