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CheckMK Rail2 Mark I Manual

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Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual
Valid since version 1.3.19

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Summary of Contents for CheckMK Rail2 Mark I

  • Page 1 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual Valid since version 1.3.19...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Contents 1 Quick start guide 2 Basic configuration 2.1 Network and access configuration via console ......2.1.1 Network configuration .
  • Page 4 CONTENTS CONTENTS 8 Protecting web access via SSL 8.1 Installing a certificate ......... . . 22 8.1.1 Creating a new certificate and having it signed .
  • Page 5 CONTENTS CONTENTS 12.6Administrative tasks ..........46 12.6.1Firmware updates in the cluster .

  • Page 6: Quick Start Guide

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 1 / 57 1. Quick start guide • Unpack the device and first of all check that your shipment is complete. • An SD card is needed to operate the device and must meet the minimum requirements.

  • Page 7: Basic Configuration

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 2 / 57 2. Basic configuration When starting up for the first time, a message will appear asking you what language to choose. This language will be saved for the entire device. You will then be displayed a message asking you to initialise the data medium. Confirm this dialogue box and wait for device startup to be resumed and for the status screen to then be displayed.
  • Page 8 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 3 / 57 Once the device has been started up, you will see the status screen on the local console. This screen will show you general status information and the most important configuration options of your device.

  • Page 9: Network And Access Configuration Via Console

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 4 / 57 2.1 Network and access configuration via console From the status screen, you can get to the configuration menu by pressing the key <F1>. For starting up the device, you now need to set the network configuration and specify the device pass- word.

  • Page 10: Protecting Access To The Console

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 5 / 57 Once you have completed these steps you will see the configured IP address in the box device information and web interface: on in the access box on the status screen of the console, as shown in the screenshot above.

  • Page 11: Basic Settings On The Web Interface

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 6 / 57 Once you have completed these steps, you will see console login: on in the access box on the status screen of the console, as shown in the screenshot above. 2.2 Basic settings on the web interface Having enabled access to the web interface through the configuration you performed previously, you...
  • Page 12 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 7 / 57 After you have logged in with the password previously specified for the web interface, the main menu will open. From here, you can get to all features of the web interface.
  • Page 13 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 8 / 57 By clicking on the titles of the settings, you will be taken to the dialogue box for adjusting the respective setting. If you have DNS servers available in your environment, you should now configure one or more of these first so that the resolution of host names can be used.

  • Page 14: Administrating Monitoring Instances

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 9 / 57 3. Administrating monitoring instances Open the main menu of the web interface and click on the menu item instance administration. In this dialogue box, you have access to all monitoring instances of this device. You can configure, update and delete monitoring instances as well as create new ones.
  • Page 15 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 10 / 57 In this list, you will see the instance just created with the ID sysmon. You can also see the status of the instance, where ”active” means the instance has been fully started. You can start or stop the instance with the button to the right of the status.

  • Page 16: Migrating Existing Sites

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 11 / 57 3.1 Migrating existing sites It is a common case to migrate existing sites from other Linux systems to a Check_MK appliance. The Check_MK appliance offers a migration dialog which is performing the migration for you.
  • Page 17 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 12 / 57 After completion of the migration you can finish the migration by clicking on Complete. Now you can configure and control the new site in the instance administration dialogue. ©Copyright Mathias Kettner GmbH 2018...

  • Page 18: Administrating Check_Mk Versions

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 13 / 57 4. Administrating Check_MK versions It is possible to install several Check_MK versions on the device at the same time. This allows several instances to be run in different versions and individual instances to be changed to newer or older versions independently of one another.

  • Page 19: Firmware Installation

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 14 / 57 5. Firmware installation You can update the software of your device to a newer version or downgrade to an earlier version. Both are carried out via the so-called firmware update in the web interface.

  • Page 20: Device Settings

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 15 / 57 6. Device settings In this dialogue box you can change the default configuration of the device. All settings will become effective immediately after saving. 6.1 Changing the language During the basic configuration, you specified the language of your device.

  • Page 21: Configuring Time Synchronisation

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 16 / 57 6.5 Configuring time synchronisation The system time of the device is used for many purposes, such as for recording measurement data or writing log files. A stable system time is therefore very important. This is best ensured by using a time synchronisation service (NTP).

  • Page 22: Changing Access To Check_Mk Agents

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 17 / 57 6.9 Changing access to Check_MK agents A Check_MK agent is installed on the device and can only be queried by the device itself in the basic setting. You can use it to create an instance on the device and directly add the device to the monitoring.

  • Page 23: Remote Access Via Ssh

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 18 / 57 7. Remote access via SSH You can activate different types of access via the remote maintenance protocol SSH. As a general rule, a) access to the console and b) direct login to the instances are supported. Access to the root system user is possible but not recommended or supported since it is very easy to damage the configuration or...

  • Page 24: Activating Root Access Via Ssh

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 19 / 57 When you activate this option, you will be asked to enter a password. You must enter this password if you are connecting as a setup user via SSH. Access will be automatically enabled directly after confirming this dialogue.
  • Page 25 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 20 / 57 You can enable access via the configuration dialogue of the console. To do this, select the menu item root access via SSH. When you activate this option, you will be asked to enter a password. You must enter this password if you ©Copyright Mathias Kettner GmbH 2018...
  • Page 26 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 21 / 57 are connecting as a root user via SSH. Access will be automatically enabled directly after confirming this dialogue. You can now connect to the device as a root user using an SSH Client (e.g. PuTTY).

  • Page 27: Protecting Web Access Via Ssl

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 22 / 57 8. Protecting web access via SSL Access to your device’s web interface is factory-set to take place via HTTP in plain text. You can protect this access via HTTPS (SSL), encrypting the data transferred between your browser and the device.

  • Page 28: Creating A New Certificate And Signing It Yourself

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 23 / 57 Once you have confirmed the dialogue box with Save, you can download the certificate signing request (CSR) file from the web access page. You must provide this file to your certification authority. You will then receive a signed certificate from your certification authority and, where necessary, a certificate...

  • Page 29: Uploading Existing Certificate

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 24 / 57 In the last section Signing, you now select Create self-signed certificate. After that you can specify the maximum validity period of the certificate. Once this validity period has expired, you must generate a new certificate. This should be done in good time before expiration so that there are no problems accessing your device.

  • Page 30: Displaying Current Configuration/Certificates

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 25 / 57 8.3 Displaying current configuration/certificates On the access type configuration page, you can see the types of access currently active as well as infor- mation regarding the current certificate. ©Copyright Mathias Kettner GmbH 2018...

  • Page 31: Device Control

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 26 / 57 9. Device control Procedures such as starting, restarting or shutting down the device all come under device control. You can give these commands in different ways. 9.1 Restarting / Shutting down You can restart or shut down the device over both the web interface and the console.

  • Page 32: Switching On Device Via Wake-On-Lan

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 27 / 57 Caution You should only shut down your rail2 appliance if you have physical access to the system, since you can only restart the device by disconnecting and restoring the power. 9.2 Switching on device via Wake-on-LAN The device is factory-configured to allow it to be switched on from the local LAN via WOL (Wake-on-...

  • Page 33: Restoring Factory Configuration

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 28 / 57 9.3 Restoring factory configuration You can reset your device to factory settings. This means that any changes you have made to the device (e.g. your device settings, monitoring configuration or recorded statistics and logs) will be deleted.

  • Page 34: Backup

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 29 / 57 10. Backup In order to preserve your monitoring data in case of a hardware failure or similar destruction, a backup of your data can be configured via your appliance’s web user interface.
  • Page 35 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 30 / 57 Once the backup target has been created, return to the Appliance backup page and from there select New job. Here again you can choose an ID and a title. Next, select the newly-created backup target and define the desired periods for running the backup.

  • Page 36: Backup Format

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 31 / 57 As soon as the backup has completed this will also be shown in the table. 10.3 Backup format Every backup job creates a directory on the backup target. This directory’s name conforms to the following schema: •...

  • Page 37: Compression

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 32 / 57 Once you have created your key, download it and retain it in a secure location. Important An encrypted backup can only be restored with the encryption key and its corresponding pass- word.

  • Page 38: Recovery

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 33 / 57 10.6 Recovery Using the web user interface’s built-in functions you can only make a complete restore. Restoring indi- vidual data sets via the web interface is not provided for. It is nevertheless possible via the command line and by manually unpacking from the backup.

  • Page 39: 1Disaster Recovery

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 34 / 57 10.6.1 Disaster recovery If you need to completely restore an appliance the disaster recovery runs the following steps: • You have an appliance with the factory default configuration (a new, identical appliance, or an appli- ance that has been reset to the factory default).

  • Page 40: Mounting Network File Systems

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 35 / 57 11. Mounting network file systems If, e.g., you wish to make a backup on a shared resource, you must first configure the network file system. The network file system (NFS Version 3), the Windows Shared Resources (Samba or CIFS) and SSHFS (SFTP) are currently supported.
  • Page 41 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 36 / 57 If there are problems you may find possible error messages in the system log. ©Copyright Mathias Kettner GmbH 2018 mathias-kettner.de...

  • Page 42: Failover Cluster

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 37 / 57 12. Failover cluster You can combine two Check_MK appliances to form a failover cluster. In doing so, all configurations and data will be synchronised between the two devices. The devices connected as a cluster are also referred to as nodes.

  • Page 43: Migration Of Existing Installations

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 38 / 57 12.2 Migration of existing installations Devices that were delivered and initialised with the firmware version 1.1.0 or higher can be clustered without migration. Devices initialised with earlier firmware must first be updated to version 1.1.0 or higher. The factory settings of the device need to then be restored, preparing the device for clustering.
  • Page 44 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 39 / 57 The Advanced mode is required for clustering. In order to activate this mode, click on the button Ad- vanced mode at the top and confirm the security prompt. All network interfaces available in the device will be shown to you on the following page. Only the interface eth0 (corresponding to LAN1 ) will currently have a configuration, which was applied by the...
  • Page 45 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 40 / 57 Now create the second bonding interface bond1 with the appropriate configuration. ©Copyright Mathias Kettner GmbH 2018 mathias-kettner.de...
  • Page 46 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 41 / 57 After you have created the two bonding interfaces, you will be able to review all settings made in the network configuration dialogue. ©Copyright Mathias Kettner GmbH 2018 mathias-kettner.de...

  • Page 47: 2Host Names

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 42 / 57 Once you have successfully completed all configuration steps, make the settings effective by clicking on Activate changes. The new network settings will then be loaded. After few seconds, the network configuration will look like this: Now, with the appropriate settings, repeat the configuration of network settings on your second device...
  • Page 48 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 43 / 57 On the following page, you can connect the two devices to form a cluster. To do this, you need to enter the password of the web interface of the second device. This password is used once to establish the connection between the two devices.

  • Page 49: The State Of The Cluster

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 44 / 57 As soon as the cluster has been successfully built, the synchronisation of monitoring data will start from the first to the second node. While this synchronisation is still taking place, all resources, including any monitoring instances you may have, will be started on the first node.

  • Page 50: Special Cases In The Cluster

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 45 / 57 Using the status screen on the console, you can also view the current state of the cluster in the Cluster box in summarised form. The role of the respective node is shown after the current status with (M) for the master host and (S) for the slave host.

  • Page 51: 2Device Settings

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 46 / 57 12.5.2 Device settings The settings (e.g. time synchronisation or name resolution settings) that have been made independently on the individual devices until now, are synchronised between the two nodes in the cluster.
  • Page 52 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 47 / 57 You can now perform the firmware update on this node, as on standalone devices also. After you have successfully performed the firmware update, open the cluster page once more and remove the maintenance state of the updated device.

  • Page 53: 2Disbanding Clusters

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 48 / 57 12.6.2 Disbanding clusters It is possible to disband the nodes from a cluster and continue running them separately. When doing so you can continue using the synchronised configuration on both devices, or reset one of the devices to factory settings and reconfigure it for example.
  • Page 54 Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 49 / 57 detailed log entries. You can access these entries from the cluster page by pressing the button Cluster log. Please note that these entries, just like the other system messages, are lost when restarting the device. If you would like to keep the messages for longer, you can download the current log file over your browser...

  • Page 55: Sms Notifications

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 50 / 57 13. SMS notifications It is possible to attach a GSM modem to the device in order to have SMS notifications sent over it by Check_MK (in the event of critical problems for example).

  • Page 56: Diagnostics

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 51 / 57 13.2 Diagnostics If sent messages do not reach you, you can view all sent or non-sent messages and messages awaiting sending on the page SMS administration. The entries in these lists will be kept for a maximum of 30 days and then automatically deleted.

  • Page 57: Diagnostics

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 52 / 57 14. Diagnostics 14.1 Logs Despite careful tests, it cannot be altogether ruled out that unexpected errors may occur, which are difficult to diagnose without looking at the operating system. One option is to have the log entries that are generated on the system sent via syslog to a syslog server.

  • Page 58: Available Memory

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 53 / 57 kernel messages are displayed on the third terminal. In the case of hardware problems, you will find the relevant messages here. This terminal can be accessed via the key combination CTRL + ALT + F3.

  • Page 59: Service & Support

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 54 / 57 15. Service & support 15.1 Manual If you encounter any problems during start-up or operation, please consult this manual first. 15.2 Internet You can get up-to-date support information from our website .

  • Page 60: Appendices

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 55 / 57 16. Appendices .1 CE declaration of conformity Mathias Kettner GmbH declares that the device described in this document is in accordance with the essential requirements and other relevant provisions of the directive 1999/5/EC.

  • Page 61: Vmware Tools

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 56 / 57 You can get the source codes for the open source components mentioned and any adjustments created by us in the download center of your subscription (excludes Debian 7). You can get the source codes for Debian 7 either at the address specified in the table or through us at a fee.

  • Page 62: Index

    Check_MK rail2 Mark I - Manual 57 / 57 Index Logs, Available Memory, MAC address, Backup, monitoring instances, mounts, Check_MK agent, Check_MK version, name resolution, Cluster, netmask, 4, 15, console, 3, 5, network, console via SSH, network configuration, NTP , NTP server, default configuration,...
  • Page 64 Mathias Kettner GmbH Kellerstraße 29 81667 München, Germany http://mathias-kettner.de...

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