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This article shows how to get old Checkmk agents to enable monitoring of legacy operating systems.

APPLICABLE TO CHECKMK 1.2 AND ABOVE


Table of Contents


Overview

Sometimes you need an old agent to enable monitoring of a legacy operating system like Windows Server 2003/2008 or RHEL 5/6 for example.


Background

As technology evolves each and every day, so does our Checkmk agent. That sometimes mean to get rid of technical debt and break backwards compatibility. While we try to do this as little as possible, sometimes there is no way around it. So if you have to run a legacy operating system (meaning the vendor does not support it anymore), the most up-to-date Checkmk agent might not work there. To enable monitoring anyway, follow the steps below, to get your hands on an older agent.


Step-by-step guide


  1. Download the Checkmk RAW Edition (CRE) with the version you need — in this example 2.1.0p35 — via command line:

    root@mylinuxhost:~# wget https://download.checkmk.com/checkmk/2.1.0p35/check-mk-raw-2.1.0p35_0.jammy_amd64.deb

    We use the CRE here, as it can be downloaded without authentication and the vanilla agent contained, is the same as in all editions. Also, the target distribution of the server setup is irrelevant.


  2. Create a temporary directory to extract the files to and change into it:

    root@mylinuxhost:~# mkdir mydirectory && cd mydirectory


    .

  3. Extract the downloaded file into this directory:

    root@mylinuxhost:~# tar x ../check-mk-raw-2.1.0p35_0.jammy_amd64.deb


    .

  4. Extract the data.tar.zst archive:

    root@mylinuxhost:~# tar xvf data.tar.zst

    .

  5. This command will show you all the agents contained in the archive:

    root@mylinuxhost:~# find . -name '*check?mk?agent*'
    Image showing the find command to locate the old checkmk agent


    .

  6. Go to the directory that contains the agent you need, for example the windows  directory:

    root@mylinuxhost:~# cd ./opt/omd/versions/2.1.0p35.cre/share/check_mk/agents/windows/

    .

  7. Here you will find the MSI file for 2.1.0p35:

    Image showing were to find the old MSI file.


The installation, registration, and setup of the agent can be accomplished in just a few steps, because the agent does not need any additional libraries for its functionality, for example. In addition, the agent is shipped with a basic configuration that is sufficient for most applications.

For more information regarding this subject, please visit our official documentation guide.


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