1. Setting up the package sources
Minimal installations of Debian or Ubuntu may not contain all of the required package sources for the installation of Checkmk.
Compare the following minimum requirements with the entries in your /etc/apt/sources.list
, or the contents of the /etc/apt/sources.list.d
directory.
Our examples use multi-line notation and access the central mirror server.
Update the local package index after checking or adapting the package sources:
root@linux# apt update
1.1. Debian
In Debian, all packages required by Checkmk are contained in the main
component.
In some cases Checkmk requires certain security updates, so the security
repository is also required.
The updates
repository is recommended but not mandatory.
Stability updates are provided here earlier than for the dot releases (e.g. Ubuntu 24.04.2 or Debian 12.10).
The following minimal examples of an /etc/apt/sources.list
therefore work:
Debian 11 Bullseye
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main
deb https://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main
# deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main
Debian 12 Bookworm
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main
deb https://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main
# deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main
1.2. Ubuntu
Ubuntu requires at least the two components main
and universe
.
In some cases Checkmk requires certain security updates, so the security
repositories are also required.
The updates
repositories are recommended but not mandatory.
Stability updates are provided here earlier than for the dot releases.
This results in the following examples of the /etc/apt/sources.list
or, from Ubuntu 24.04 onwards, /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources
:
Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy main
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security main
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security universe
# deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-updates main
# deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-updates universe
Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat
Types: deb
URIs: http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
Suites: noble noble-updates
Components: main universe
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-archive-keyring.gpg
Types: deb
URIs: http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
Suites: noble-security
Components: main universe
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-archive-keyring.gpg
2. Download the appropriate packages
First choose the Checkmk edition that suits your needs. On the download page you will find Checkmk Raw, which is Open Source, and Checkmk Cloud, which is free to use for up to 750 services. If you have a subscription, then you will find the installation packages in the customer portal.
We recommend the use of the latest stable Checkmk version. If you need an older version (for example, as the basis for restoring a backup), you can find it in the download archive. Make sure that the package you select exactly matches the installed Linux distribution and its version.
After you have downloaded the package, bring it to the Linux system on which Checkmk is to be installed.
This can be done, for example, via the scp
command line tool, which comes with every modern system — and which is also available in PowerShell since Windows 10.
Additional programs such as WinSCP are usually not required.
The openssh-server
package needs to be installed to be able to copy files to your future Checkmk server using the scp
command.
If that is not already the case, you can install this using the following command:
root@linux# apt install openssh-server
Once this has been done you can, for example, copy the Checkmk Raw package for Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish using the below command:
root@linux# scp check-mk-raw-2.4.0_0.jammy_amd64.deb root@mymonitoring.mydomain.org:/tmp
3. Signed package installation
All packages are signed using GnuPG. Through the use of this signature, on the one hand it can be verified whether the package really is from Checkmk, and on the other hand it can be verified that the package is complete.
So that these signed packages can be installed in the usual way, as a one time only action you will need to import our public key so that the signature will be trusted. First, load the key directly from our website:
root@linux# wget https://download.checkmk.com/checkmk/Check_MK-pubkey.gpg
Then import the key to the list of trusted signatures. Under Debian and Ubuntu the following command is required:
root@linux# gpg --import Check_MK-pubkey.gpg
Once you have imported the key, you can verify the package with gpg
:
root@linux# gpg --verify /tmp/check-mk-raw-2.4.0_0.jammy_amd64.deb
gpg: Signature made Tue Apr 18 11:52:52 2023 CEST
gpg: using RSA key B1E7106575B723F00611C612434DAC48C4503261
gpg: Good signature from "Check_MK Software Release Signing Key (2018) <feedback@check-mk.org>" [unknown]
gpg: aka "Check_MK Software Daily Build Signing Key (2018) <feedback@check-mk.org>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: B1E7 1065 75B7 23F0 0611 C612 434D AC48 C450 3261
The output line with Good signature
is the proof that the package file was signed with the previously downloaded and imported Check_MK-pubkey.gpg
key.
The displayed warning refers only to the Checkmk public key, not to the signature of the package.
The reason for the warning is that the key used is not signed with any other key that the user already trusts — but this is not a problem in this case.
Afterwards you can install the Checkmk package using the following command.
Be sure to pass the full file path to the DEB file after apt install
:
root@linux# apt install /tmp/check-mk-raw-2.4.0_0.jammy_amd64.deb
4. Final test
After the successful installation of Checkmk, and all of its dependencies, you will have access to the omd
command.
With this command you are able to create and manage monitoring sites.
You can request the installed version to verify your installation:
root@linux# omd version
OMD - Open Monitoring Distribution Version 2.4.0.cre