Reports

To give reports a context, i.e. to fill them with data of specific hosts and services, there are several possibilities. As a result, reports have to be called in different ways to contain meaningful information. If the context is missing, i.e. specifying which hosts and services should be included in the report, you will only get error messages highlighted in red instead of correct output:

The difference is where the context is specified:

Now think again about the Reporting snapin mentioned above: this takes you directly to the rendered reports without any further preselection / restriction etc. - so actually only those reports that have a built-in context make sense here. Reports whose context is only created via (filtered) views can therefore be safely excluded from the Monitor menu as well as the snapin via the Hide this report in the monitor menu option.

You can use the following functions to edit your own reports:

A description of the different possibilities follows in the subsequent sections.

Things get a little more complex now if you want to create a completely new report instead of a report copy. As an example, below you will create a simple overview of all problematic services of your site, i.e. all services in WARN, CRIT or UNKNOWN status. This overview will be titled ‘critical_services‘.

You create a new report on the Edit Reports page via Reports > Add report.

In the first step, leave the filter Select specific object type on the selection No restrictions to specific objects and go directly to the next selection with Continue.

As with copying an existing report, first specify Unique ID and Title:

In the Context / Search Filters section, now select the Service states under Service. After clicking Add filter you can set the desired states:

With Save & go to list the new report will be added to the Customized section of the reports overview list.

If you now call up this report in joyful anticipation, the result is sobering. The report page has an initial layout and also a heading, but is otherwise empty. Not exactly the result to impress your boss with …​

So now you need to define the design of the content for the report. The will take you to the content definition for the report. The selection of report elements is done in three stages, each with a click on Continue in between.

Start by clicking Add content. For this example in Step 1 select the element type Availability table. Set Step 2 to All services and Step 3 to No restrictions to specific objects. Leave the other options on the following page unchanged for the moment. Instead, click directly on Save. Now view the preview of your report:

On the left you can see the preview, here for the report critical_services. To the right, the elements of the report are displayed in a list. These elements can be edited, copied, deleted and reordered.

You can now flexibly extend this simple, self-created report with additional elements (see below) and call it up at any time, e.g. from the sidebar.

In almost every step of the report creation there is the possibility to adjust the content to your needs.

In the first step, you can set a filter and limit the report to a specific host or data source from the start, such as network interfaces, BI aggregations, sensors, and so on:

Next, enter the Unique ID and the Title again. For the title you can also use the provided macros (=text modules). Next, choose a Icon with which the report should be visible in the menus. By setting the Make this report available for other users option to the contact group, in the example check-mk-notify, you give the associated group members the ability to independently access the report at any time and get information on their own.

In the Context / Search Filters box, extensive filtering options are available as usual, from specific hosts to individual Docker containers to values from Oracle monitoring.

For this example, the host selection is limited to one folder and additionally to specified host issues. This restriction speeds up data retrieval, especially in more complex environments.

With Save & go to list you get to the report overview. The next step is to define the report content.

Using the you get to the report content:

Open report content editing with Reports > Add content. Use this to add tables, graphs, tables of contents, or text (also via macros or HTTP) to the report, for example. These contents appear one after the other and thus also determine the final length of the report.

In Step 1, select the element you want, for this example Multiple graphs. This will give you, depending on your other settings, multiple graphs of the same type one below the other. For example, you can map the direct comparison between the states of multiple hosts.

Continue with Continue. As the data source for the graphics, select All services in step 2 for this example, i.e. all services running on the hosts:

Continue with Continue. In step 3 you could now limit the amount of data to be displayed. This is not needed for the current example. Again, switch to the next selection with Continue.

For the sample report, in the Properties box, under Graph layout, specify that you want to see a title for each of the graphs, consisting of the graph title, host name, and service description. In addition, set the displayed time range to four hours under Graph time range.

In the Context / Search Filters box, you limit the report to specified host or service characteristics. Here you select the CPU utilization for the Service this time.

By clicking Save you have completed the first report element.

For the second graph in the example, start again with Reports > Add content and in Step 1 select Metrics graph of a single service. Switch to Step 2 with Continue and restrict the search filters to host name and service description:

By clicking Save the second report element is also ready.

The third element you create is an overview of current alerts. The procedure remains the same:

With a click on Save this report element is also finished.

To make the display cleaner, add headings:

Open Reports > Add content to edit the report content. In Step 1 select Heading as element type. Switch to Step 2 with Continue. Optionally, specify a hierarchy level for the heading. Enter the heading at The text.

Click Save to return to the overview. However, the new heading is now below the graphics in the order. Therefore, in the list of content items, use the icon to drag the heading to the desired position in the list.

Tip: In the preview, you may see red lines and error messages instead of real data — because in these places the report in the editor lacks context, here, for example, the specification of a host that would only be revealed by calling the report from an appropriate view. If you want to see a usable preview, simply filter for a specific host in the report settings in the Context / Search Filters area in the meantime. This makes designing much easier.

To structure the report, there are complementary design elements: Horizontal line, image, page frame and a single line of text. You can display these building blocks on all or specific pages of your report.

For the example report, insert a frame around the report. Again, the definition is done step by step, each continued by clicking . Start with Reports > Add page element.

Since the frame should be visible on all pages, the next step requires no changes:

The new page frame is now displayed in the overview, both in the preview on the left and in the static page elements table on the right.

Tip: You can also use the macros (=text modules) available in Checkmk, for example, to create another footer with page number and name of the report. To do this, select the page element One line of text and in the second step specify the position at the bottom of the page as well as the text including the desired macros:

Reports look more appealing right away with a higher-quality appearance, e.g. with the company logo added.

Open the report settings with Reports > Edit properties:

In the second box, you will find the Report Properties. This is where you configure values for font, page format, time and date settings, report layout, and file name for downloads.

Copy your company logo to the ~/local/share/check_mk/reporting/images/ directory and save it as logo_mk.png file. From now on this logo will be displayed on all reports.

Note: Currently, you customize the existing report template to suit your needs. Alternatively, you can create a complete, new report template according to your company specifications, e.g. to reflect the company’s corporate design.

Open a new schedule using Scheduled reports > Add schedule, then select the report and click Continue.

In the General Options box, you specify basic settings such as title, creation time, reporting period, and so on:

Under Context / Search Filters you will find the usual filter options, depending on the selected report. Then save the schedule to return to the list of your scheduled reports.

In the list you will also find information about the last time the report was generated/sent, if there was an error, when it will be generated/sent the next time and some more (slightly shortened here):

Entries in the list are managed using the five icons at the beginning of an entry:

Note: Sent reports are not stored in the site.

Instead of sending the report, you can also store it locally. To do this, select the Action - Store locally:

Then set a file name and optionally a report title. To be able to build a history of reports - instead of overwriting the previous version every time the report is created, Checkmk provides various macros (=text modules).

The overview of all locally stored reports can be accessed in the Edit Reports window via the Reports > Stored reports menu item:

Content elements are listed when you select Reports > Add content when editing a report.

Page elements are listed when you select Reports > Add page element when editing a report.