Check_mk_agent

Checkmk agent to monitor *nix style systems

For a monitoring system to receive more information from an endpoint other than that it is simply accessible, help is required from the target system. For example - how else can Checkmk know how full a server’s storage volume is without that system somehow providing the information? The component that provides this information is always an active piece of software - namely a monitoring agent, usually just referred to as an agent. An agent collects data relevant to monitoring from a host at specified intervals and transmits that data to the monitoring server.

For servers and workstations, Checkmk provides its own agents, these are known as Checkmk agents. Checkmk agents are available for a wide variety of operating systems - from the commonplace such as Windows and Linux to exotics such as OpenVMS. The agents are passive and listen on TCP port 6556. Only on receiving a Checkmk server query will these agents be activated and respond with the required data.