KC agent monitoring via CLN Portal

Built-in monitoring
KernelCare monitoring API
Nagios Plugin
Zabbix Template
Datadog Integration

Built-in monitoring

Systems protected by KernelCare can be monitored by means of CloudLinux Network (CLN) portal available at https://cln.cloudlinux.com.

Click KernelCare activation key to see the list of servers activated with it. Servers marked with exclamation mark do not have the latest KernelCare patches installed.

KernelCare monitoring API

It is possible to integrate KernelCare status monitoring with any third-party monitoring system that supports REST API.

The query syntax for key-based licenses is: https://cln.cloudlinux.com/api/kcare/nagios/{key_id}
The query syntax for IP-based licenses (resellers) is: https://cln.cloudlinux.com/api/kcare/nagios-res/{login}/{token}

The latest CloudLinux REST API description is available at https://cln.cloudlinux.com/clweb/downloads/cloudlinux-rest-api.pdf

Nagios Plugin

check_kcare is a Nagios plugin that provides a way to monitor the out of date and inactive servers. It can provide information on servers assigned to the KernelCare key, or for all the servers in partner account.

Start from installing Nagios monitoring system.

You can download the plugin from https://patches.kernelcare.com/downloads/nagios/check_kcare

Place the plugin into /usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/ directory and make this script executable by running:

chmod +x /usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_kcare

Create kcare.cfg configuration file from the template below and place it into /etc/nagios/conf.d/ directory.

You will also need to specify your KernelCare key instead of KERNELCARE_KEY. If the licenses are IP-based, you can find your login & API security token in Profile section of your CLN account.

Restart Nagios service and go to Nagios Web UI (https://NAGIOS_IP/nagios/). Click on Services link (top left under Hosts). You should be able to see a string showing an output from monitoring script (please see screenshots below).

Script options:


`-k KERNELCARE_KEY`	retrieve status for servers associated with KEY
`-l PARTNER_LOGIN --api-token TOKEN`	retrieve status for all servers in partner account based on login/token
`-c o,u,i -- return CRITICAL`	list of coma separated o, u & i. `o` - out of date `u` - unknown kernel `i` - inactive server
`-w o,u,i -- return WARNING`	list of coma separated o, u & i. `o` - out of date `u` - unknown kernel `i` - inactive server

Here is an example configuration for key-based KernelCare licenses (IP-based section is commented out here):

Example host to associate the KernelCare status check service with

define host {
      host_name                       kcare-service
      notifications_enabled           0
      max_check_attempts             1
      notification_interval           0
      check_period                   24x7
}
 
 
define command {
      command_name     check_kcare
      command_line     /usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_kcare -k $ARG1$
}
 
define command {
      command_name     check_kcare_opts
      command_line     /usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_kcare -k $ARG1$ -c $ARG2$ -w $ARG3$
}
define command {
      command_name     check_kcare_partner
      command_line     /usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_kcare -l $ARG1$ --api-token $ARG2$
}
 
define command {
      command_name     check_kcare_partner_opts
      command_line     /usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_kcare -k $ARG1$ -l $ARG1$ --api-token $ARG2$ -c $ARG2$ -w $ARG3$
}
 
define service {
      host_name                       kcare-service
      service_description             KernelCare Server Status Checker By Key
      check_command                   check_kcare!KERNELCARE_KEY
      notifications_enabled           1
      check_interval                 240
      retry_interval                 60
      max_check_attempts             4
      notification_options           w,c,r
      check_period                     24x7
      notification_period             24x7
}
 
#define service {
#       host_name                       kcare-service
#       service_description             KernelCare Server Status Checker By login/token with outdated/inactive considered as critical
#       check_command                   check_kcare_partner_opts!partner_login!partner_token!o,i!u
#       notifications_enabled           1
#       check_interval                  240
#       retry_interval                  60
#       max_check_attempts              4
#       notification_options            w,c,r
#       check_period                     24x7
#       notification_period             24x7
#}

Zabbix Template

Zabbix Template for KernelCare

check_kcare is a Nagios/Zabbix plugin that provides a way to monitor the out of date and inactive servers. It can provide information on servers assigned to the KernelCare key, or for all the servers in partner account.

You can download the plugin from https://patches.kernelcare.com/downloads/nagios/check_kcare

/usr/lib/zabbix/externalscripts

(or any other directory configured for Zabbix external check scripts)

Script options:


`-z`	Zabbix compatible format (Nagios otherwise)
`-k KERNELCARE_KEY`	retrieve status for servers associated with KEY
`-l PARTNER_LOGIN --api-token TOKEN`	retrieve status for all servers in partner account based on login/token
`-c o,u,i -- return CRITICAL`	list of coma separate o, u & i. `o` -out of date `u` - unknown kernel `i` - inactive server
`-w o,u,i -- return WARNING`	list of coma separate o, u & i. `o` - out of date `u` - unknown kernel `i` - inactive server

You can download Zabbix template at:

https://patches.kernelcare.com/downloads/nagios/kcare_zabbix_template.xml

Datadog Integration

You can monitor out-of-date and inactive KernelCare agents with the help of DataDog integration. It can provide information on servers assigned to a KernelCare key or for all servers in a partner CLN account.

The intergration is installed with Datadog Agent (Agent-based integration) https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/integrations/

The integration is available from the official datadog github repository https://github.com/DataDog/integrations-extras/tree/master/kernelcare

Installation on a system that has DataDog Agent installed.

CentOS 8 (or other EL8-based):

Install required yum packages and prepare build environment.

yum -y install python3 python3-devel gcc git
python3 -m venv /tmp/python3-env
. /tmp/python3-env/bin/activate
pip3 install "datadog-checks-dev[cli]"
mkdir $HOME/dd/
cd $HOME/dd/
git clone https://github.com/DataDog/integrations-extras.git
ddev config set repo extras

Build python wheel package.

ddev -e release build kernelcare

Install python wheel package to datadog-agent.

cp /root/dd/integrations-extras/kernelcare/dist/datadog_kernelcare*.whl /tmp/.
sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent integration install -w /tmp/datadog_kernelcare*.whl

Move configuration file.

mv /etc/datadog-agent/conf.d/kernelcare.d/conf.yaml.example /etc/datadog-agent/conf.d/kernelcare.d/conf.yaml

In the configureation file you need to specify the key parameter - the KernelCare activation key. If the licenses are IP-based, you can find your login & API security token in Profile section of your CLN account. You need to specify login and api_token parameters.

Restart the datadog Agent.

systemctl restart datadog-agent

You can check your newly installed integration (please do NOT run under python-virtualenv)

datadog-agent check kernelcare

After the integration is installed and launched you can login to DataDog dashboard to check metrics.

# KC agent monitoring via CLN Portal

# Built-in monitoring

# KernelCare monitoring API

# Nagios Plugin

# Zabbix Template

# Datadog Integration

# Installation on a system that has DataDog Agent installed.