1. Introduction
There can’t be just one solution for all, and if you are paying for a software subscription, you will want to pay only for features that you actually use.
For this reason, Checkmk offers various editions for different areas of application.
In this article we will introduce you to 
Checkmk Enterprise, one of the commercial editions most commonly encountered in professional environments.
2. Overview of Checkmk Enterprise
Based on the fully Open Source variant, 
Checkmk Raw, Checkmk Enterprise most importantly offers performance improvements, more extensive possibilities for dashboards as well as reporting and facilitates automation.
It thereby addresses above all professional users, who put subscription costs against reduced hardware costs and reduced expenditure for the production of own extensions.
In addition, Checkmk Enterprise provides various options for booking support with guaranteed response times.
Checkmk Cloud in turn builds on Checkmk Enterprise.
Complementing the edition comparison on our website, this article explains the differences on a technical level and thus tries to be a complementary support for decision making when choosing a Checkmk edition.
Furthermore, this should help to determine which configuration changes may be necessary or useful when changing an edition — no matter whether an upgrade or a downgrade is to be performed.
3. Additional functions with Checkmk Enterprise
The main features of Checkmk Enterprise that distinguish it from Checkmk Raw:
Performance improvements:
With the Checkmk Micro Core (CMC), Checkmk Enterprise uses a monitoring core that utilizes memory and CPU more efficiently.Facilitates distributed monitoring:
A number of enhancements facilitate distributed monitoring. These include the possibility of completely centralizing the configuration, to handle notifications entirely via the central site, and various techniques to ensure the reliable transfer of monitoring data even in slow or unstable networks.Business features:
Where IT is business critical, monitoring must help document, classify and prevent problems. For this purpose, Checkmk Enterprise offers predictive functions such as setting up recurring scheduled downtimes, and evaluative functions such as generating availability reports — the latter also for complex systems consisting of a large number of components.
4. Upgrading to Checkmk Enterprise
You can upgrade Checkmk Raw to Checkmk Enterprise at any time. To do so, follow the description for an upgrade to Checkmk Enterprise.
If you have tested Checkmk with Checkmk Cloud, which is not limited for the first 30 days, you can also upgrade to Checkmk Enterprise permanently after the trial period. To do so, follow the description for a downgrade to Checkmk Enterprise.
5. Differences of the components in detail
5.1. The monitoring core
This section covers differences in the monitoring core and the transfer of monitoring data in distributed environments. Users migrating from Nagios environments to Checkmk should carefully read the Checkmk Micro Core and Special characteristics of the CMC articles to assess whether it may be appropriate to run Checkmk with the Nagios core for a transition period.
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
CMC |
The commercial editions by default use the Checkmk Micro Core, which is more performant than other monitoring cores by reducing to essential functionality and optimizing it. |
Alert handler |
The CMC does not support Nagios Event Handler, but provides the more flexible alert handler. |
Smart Ping |
The Smart Ping ensures more efficient and faster detection of whether hosts are reachable. |
CMCDump |
This transfer technique simplifies distributed monitoring in environments with unreliable network connectivity. In environments with the Nagios core Livedump is available instead. |
Livestatus proxy |
The Livestatus proxy optimizes performance and latencies in distributed monitoring. |
Distributed HW/SW inventory |
The automatic synchronization of inventory data in distributed monitoring makes inventory data centrally available. |
RRD storage format |
When using the CMC, Checkmk uses a Round Robin Database (RRD) storage format optimized for saving disk I/O. |
Parent-child relation |
CMC allows Checkmk to more accurately determine the state of dependent hosts in environments with parent-child topology. |
Flapping detection |
In the commercial editions, a fine-tuning of flapping detection is possible for hosts and services whose status changes repeatedly at short intervals. |
5.2. The monitoring interface
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
Standard dashboard |
By default the commercial editions use a dashboard, which is not available in Checkmk Raw. The latter uses the problem dashboard instead. |
Measured values and graphing |
Advanced graphing functions are only available in the commercial editions. These include: Scope of dashlets, PDF export, graph collections, customizations (graph tunings), embedding in reports or dashboards, and custom graphs. |
Kubernetes and OpenShift dashboards |
The Kubernetes dashboards are available only in the commercial editions. |
Scheduled downtimes |
Only in the commercial editions regularly recurring scheduled downtimes can be specified. In addition, convenient changing or removing one or more scheduled downtimes is possible via commands. |
PDF export of availability data |
Availability data can also be exported as a PDF in the commercial editions. |
PDF export of views |
Direct PDF export of views in monitoring is available only in the commercial editions. |
Reporting |
Reporting is available only in the commercial editions. |
Extended availability (SLAs) |
The extended availability / service level agreements included only in the commercial editions facilitate the control of contractual agreements regarding the availability of services. |
Acknowledgment with validity period |
The acknowledgment of problems can be assigned a maximum validity period in the commercial editions. |
5.3. Notifications
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
Notification spooler |
The commercial editions include the notification spooler, a component that allows more efficient and flexible delivery of notifications. |
Trackable delivery |
Smarthost settings can be used in the commercial editions to ensure that notifications arrive more reliably than by just handing them over to Checkmk Raw’s local mail system. |
Centralized notifications |
In distributed monitoring, the commercial edition’s notification spooler can be configured to send notifications from remote sites for all targets. |
5.4. The monitoring agents
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
Agent Bakery |
The commercial editions have a mechanism to automatically create custom agent packages with plug-ins and configuration files with the Agent Bakery. Agent configuration settings can be made using the Bakery API in the setup GUI. |
Agent updates |
The automatic update of agent packages after configuration changes is only possible in the commercial editions. |
SNMP monitoring |
Thanks to a dedicated SNMP engine (inline SNMP), the commercial editions are more performant than Checkmk Raw with the use of |
Checkmk fetchers |
In the commercial editions, the Checkmk fetchers provide efficient fetching of monitoring data. |
5.5. Connectors
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
SAML |
Since Checkmk 2.2.0, the commercial editions can natively authenticate against SAML, up until 2.1.0 and continuing in Checkmk Raw, this is only possible at the Apache level. |
Grafana |
The Grafana plug-in allows filter cascades when used with the commercial editions. |
InfluxDB and Graphite |
Only the commercial editions provide an interface to connect to external metrics databases. |
Jira |
The notification method for Jira is only available in the commercial editions. |
ServiceNow |
The notification method for ServiceNow is only available in the commercial editions. |
ntopng |
In order to use the integration of ntopng in Checkmk, you need one of the commercial editions with the paid add-on for ntopng integration. |
5.6. Additional functions
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
DCD |
Dynamic host management with the Distributed Configuration Daemon enables automatic creation of hosts, facilitating Docker and cloud monitoring such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). |
Checkmk Synthetic Monitoring |
Checkmk Synthetic Monitoring with Robotmk is only available in the commercial editions, but requires an additional subscription. |
MKP management |
Management of Checkmk extension packages is only possible on the command line in Checkmk Raw, and in the commercial editions additionally is available via the Setup GUI. |
MKPs for GUI extensions |
In the commercial editions you can create GUI extension packages for dashboards, views and reports. |
Predictive monitoring |
Predictive monitoring with dynamic thresholds based on values determined over a longer period of time can be used in the commercial editions. |
Support diagnostics |
Some options for selecting data for a dump in the support diagnostics are only available in the commercial editions, for example for the Checkmk Micro Core (CMC) or for licensing. |