Checkmk Monitoring

Key Features

• Native Nagios plugin compatibility with extended check capabilities and performance data collection
• Agent-based and agentless monitoring with automatic service discovery for Linux, Windows, and network devices
• Built-in business intelligence dashboards with customizable views and reporting capabilities
• Multi-site distributed monitoring architecture for geographically dispersed infrastructure
• Integrated notification system with email, SMS, and webhook support for escalation management
• Performance graphing with RRDtool integration and long-term trend analysis
• Flexible alerting rules engine with time-based conditions and maintenance window support
• REST API for automation and integration with external systems and configuration management tools

Common Use Cases

• 1Enterprise network monitoring with automated discovery of servers, switches, and network infrastructure
• 2Application performance monitoring for web services, databases, and custom business applications
• 3Cloud infrastructure monitoring across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform resources
• 4Compliance monitoring for security policies, system updates, and configuration drift detection
• 5MSP monitoring deployments with multi-tenant site management and customer separation
• 6DevOps pipeline monitoring for CI/CD infrastructure, build servers, and deployment environments
• 7Industrial IoT monitoring for manufacturing equipment, sensors, and operational technology networks

Prerequisites

• Minimum 4GB RAM recommended for monitoring up to 1000 hosts with historical data retention
• Docker Engine 20.10+ with Docker Compose V2 for proper tmpfs and volume mounting support
• Port 8080 available for web interface access and agent communication
• Basic understanding of SNMP, SSH, and network monitoring concepts for host configuration
• Administrative access to target systems for agent installation and monitoring setup

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  checkmk: 
3    image: checkmk/check-mk-raw:latest
4    container_name: checkmk
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    ports: 
7      - "${CHECKMK_PORT:-8080}:5000"
8    environment: 
9      - CMK_SITE_ID=${SITE_ID:-cmk}
10      - CMK_PASSWORD=${ADMIN_PASSWORD:-cmkadmin}
11    volumes: 
12      - checkmk_data:/omd/sites
13    tmpfs: 
14      - /opt/omd/sites/cmk/tmp:uid=1000,gid=1000
15    networks: 
16      - checkmk-network
17
18volumes: 
19  checkmk_data: 
20
21networks: 
22  checkmk-network: 
23    driver: bridge

.env Template

1# Checkmk
2CHECKMK_PORT=8080
3SITE_ID=cmk
4ADMIN_PASSWORD=cmkadmin

Usage Notes

Quick Start

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  checkmk:
5    image: checkmk/check-mk-raw:latest
6    container_name: checkmk
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    ports:
9      - "${CHECKMK_PORT:-8080}:5000"
10    environment:
11      - CMK_SITE_ID=${SITE_ID:-cmk}
12      - CMK_PASSWORD=${ADMIN_PASSWORD:-cmkadmin}
13    volumes:
14      - checkmk_data:/omd/sites
15    tmpfs:
16      - /opt/omd/sites/cmk/tmp:uid=1000,gid=1000
17    networks:
18      - checkmk-network
19
20volumes:
21  checkmk_data:
22
23networks:
24  checkmk-network:
25    driver: bridge
26EOF
27
28# 2. Create the .env file
29cat > .env << 'EOF'
30# Checkmk
31CHECKMK_PORT=8080
32SITE_ID=cmk
33ADMIN_PASSWORD=cmkadmin
34EOF
35
36# 3. Start the services
37docker compose up -d
38
39# 4. View logs
40docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/checkmk-monitoring/run | bash

Troubleshooting