checkmk-commander 1.5.1

Curses interface to Checkmk Raw.

Check Commander

Check Commander is an efficient curses interface for the monitoring software Checkmk.

Most day-to-day activities like time limited acknowledgement, downtime, reinventorize, look up server in a wiki, copy alert text for a ticket system and SSH in to servers can be done with a few keypresses. See screenshots to understand what it's about.

Screenshots

SSH to selected host (which opens a new terminal, in this case a new split in tilix):

Acknowledge an alert and display help:

Show details for an alert:

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• An up to date Checkmk instance.
• Linux, MacOS. (not tested on other platforms yet)
• Python 3.6 or later
• PIP (for easy installation)

Installation

From PIP:

$ pip3 install --upgrade --user checkmk-commander

Run command: chkcom. It usually ends up in

Linux:

~/.local/bin (installed with --user)

MacOS:

~/Library/Python/<version>/bin

Configuration

You need a "machine" account for your Checkmk instance. A normal user won't work. See Checkmk user config.

You will be asked for configuration details on first run, and a config will be created at

Linux:

~/.config/check-commander.ini

MacOS:

~/Library/Application Support/check-commander.ini

Example basic config:

host = http://omd.lxd/test/
username = automation
secret = long-random-string

How an ssh connection is opened can be changed. Suggested alternatives (put one in config file):

Linux:

terminal_command = x-terminal-emulator -e ssh HOSTNAME
terminal_command = tmux split-window -v -c "$PWD" ssh HOSTNAME
terminal_command = tmux new-window -c "#{pane_current_path}" ssh HOSTNAME

These should open default terminal, split your current tmux tab and open new tmux tab respectively.

MacOS:

terminal_command = open ssh://HOSTNAME

How a wiki is opened can be changed. Suggested alternatives (put one in config file):

Linux:

wiki_command = x-www-browser "https://wiki.example.com/?search=HOSTNAME"
wiki_command = /usr/bin/firefox -new-tab "https://wiki.example.com/?search=HOSTNAME"

MacOS:

wiki_command = open "https://wiki.example.com/?search=HOSTNAME"

How the checkmk website is opened can be changed. Suggested alternatives (put one in config file):

Linux:

browser_command = x-www-browser "https://wiki.example.com/?search=HOSTNAME"
browser_command = /usr/bin/firefox -new-tab "https://wiki.example.com/?search=HOSTNAME"

MacOS:

browser_command = open "https://wiki.example.com/?search=HOSTNAME"

Refresh delay in seconds can be set thus:

delay = 5

Hot-keys

Press ? in app to get an overview.

Support

Open a gitlab issue if you hit a bug or need help.

Implementation details

Uses CheckMK's web API.

Functionality copy to clipboard requires python module cliboard. You will be notified to install it.

Does not read your ssh config or keys, just asks OS to open an ssh connection in a new terminal if you ask for it.

No tracking or nastyness.

Known bugs

• Calling a reschedule may give the error "ERROR - you did an active check on this service - please disable active checks". Not sure why this happens.
• If a non-OMD site is connected to your "distributed monitoring", calling WATO commands on it will return 200 and an error. The WATO command will not be run.

Development

Tests can be run with tox. Static tests have been done with prospector.

Inspirations and thanks

• Icon made by RallyPointComic
• Thanks to Frank for lots of suggestions and feedback.
• Thanks to Scott Hansen for testing and feedback.
• Thanks to Truls for testing and feedback.
• https://github.com/aranair/rtscli/
• https://forum.checkmk.com/t/writing-to-nagios-cmd-in-distributed-monitoring/17616
• https://checkmk.com/cms_legacy_multisite_automation.html

What users say

• "Herregud så mye bedre dette er enn å kuke i webinterface"