Monitor Raspberry Pi through Checkmk

Checkmk lets you monitor your system’s services, applications, servers, cloud infrastructure, and more. This software is developed in Python and C++ and is used by IT experts around the globe. You can monitor your system activities on your web browser, which can be opened once you set up this tool.

In this article, we will show you the complete step-by-step procedure to install and set up Checkmk on your Raspberry Pi system.

How to Monitor Raspberry Pi Linux Through Checkmk

Checkmk has an open-source edition that you can easily download from the GitHub website and to perform the whole process, follow the below-mentioned steps:

Step 1: Download Checkmk Debian File

First, download the Checkmk latest release Debian file from the GitHub source using the following command:

$ wget https://github.com/chrisss404/check-mk-arm/releases/download/2.1.0p15/check-mk-raw-2.1.0p15_0.bullseye_armhf.deb

Make sure to check for the latest Checkmk release here and then download your version accordingly.

Note: The above command is executed on 32Bit Raspberry Pi OS.

Step 2: Install Checkmk Debian Package

Now, to install the Checkmk Debian package, make sure the package you download is in the home directory to successfully apply the following command for installing Checkmk .deb package or provide the complete path.

$ sudo apt install ./check-mk-raw-2.1.0p15_0.bullseye_armhf.deb -y

Incase if you experience a similar error like the one shown below:

Fix it by running the following command:

$ sudo apt install --fix-missing

After running the above command, you must execute the apt installation command again to install Checkmk on the Raspberry Pi system successfully.

Step 4: Confirm Checkmk Installation

To confirm the Checkmk installation, you can use the following version command:

$ omd version

Step 5: Start Checkmk on Raspberry Pi

To start Checkmk on Raspberry Pi, follow the below-given “omd” command:

$ sudo omd start

Step 6: Create a Monitoring Site

Now on Checkmk, you have to create a site where all your system information can be monitored. You can create a site easily through the following command:

$ sudo omd create <site_name>

Let’s replace <site_name> with linux_site:

$ sudo omd create linux_site

You can use any site name you want.

The above command generates a site with the login information. You can access this site on your Raspberry Pi browser by first starting the site through the following command:

$ sudo omd start linux_site

Then go to the Raspberry Pi browser and enter the address http://hostname/<site_name>.

Step 7: Installing an Agent on Monitoring Server

To start monitoring on the Raspberry Pi system, you must install an Agent, which can help you by providing you with several useful information about Raspberry Pi. There are different agents you can install, but here I will show you the procedure to install the agent on Raspberry Pi.

However, before doing this process, you must change your password from the “User” section.

Set a strong password.

Now go to the “Setup” section and choose the “Linux” option since we are using the Raspberry Pi system.

There you will be an agent. You can download the agent “deb” file by clicking on it.

Check for the download directory where the agent deb file is installed. In my case, it’s in the home directory and we need to transfer this file to the location “/omd/sites/<site_name>/tmp” since you are installing this agent for your site. For the transfer to your site location, use the following command:

$ sudo mv check-mk-agent-2.1.0p15-1_all.deb /omd/sites/<site_name>/tmp

Replace the <site_name>:

$ sudo mv check-mk-agent-2.1.0p15-1_all.deb /omd/sites/linux_site/tmp

Now, go to your site’s /tmp directory using the “cd” command:

$ cd /omd/sites/linux_site/tmp

Install the agent deb package through the following command:

$ sudo apt install ./check-mk-agent_2.1.0p15-1_all.deb

After the installation, go to the “Hosts” option in the “Setup” section.

Click on the “Add host to the monitoring” option.

Choose your hostname, write the network address as your Raspberry Pi IP address and click on the “Save and go to service configuration” option.

Note: Use the “hostname -I” command to find the IP address.

Select the services according to your choice using the “+” button or you can go with the “Accept all” option to select all services.

Go to the Checkmk dashboard again to see the changes.

Click on the “Services” option in the “Overview” section to see the list of services where you can monitor your Raspberry Pi resources like CPU Load, utilization and much more.

At this point, you have successfully installed an agent for services monitoring on Raspberry Pi.

Conclusion

Checkmk is a valuable tool for monitoring your Raspberry Pi resources like CPU load, CPU utilization, network, file system and much more. You can install this tool using the Debian package. After the installation, you must create a site using the “omd” command and start the site to successfully load it on your Raspberry Pi browser with the login credentials. You must change the password before installing an agent to monitor your Raspberry Pi resources successfully.