How-to execute active checks manually

Owned by Matthew Hierholzer
Last updated: Dec 11, 2023
2 min read

This article details how to run active checks manually by hand.

LAST TESTED ON CHECKMK 2.2.0P1


Table of Contents


There are several ways to run an active check manually. The following are a few examples.

Using cmk -N

The first way is with cmk -N:

OMD[mysite]:~/lib/nagios/plugins$ cmk -N |grep http
  check_command                 check_mk_active-http!'-u' 'https://www.google.com/' '--ssl' '--onredirect=follow' '-j' 'CONNECT' '--sni' '-p' 'proxy_port' 'myproxyip' 'www.google.com'
  command_line                  /omd/sites/mysite/lib/nagios/plugins/check_http $ARG1$
  command_name                  check_mk_active-http

cmk -N will show you the Nagios config. Active Checks in Checkmk are based on Nagios.

Using Livestatus

A second way to access the command is via livestatus:

OMD[mysite]:~/lib/nagios/plugins$ lq "GET services\nColumns:host_name description check_command_expanded\nFilter: host_name = mysite\nFilter: description = myservicename"
localhost;HTTPS HTTPS;check_mk_active-http!'-u' 'https://www.google.com/' '--ssl' '--onredirect=follow' '-j' 'CONNECT' '--sni' '-p' 'proxy_port' 'myproxyip' 'www.google.com'

In both cases: Copy the parameters after the '!' for executing the command later.



Now you need to run the check_http and paste the copied parameters:

OMD[mysite]:~/lib/nagios/plugins$ ./check_http '-u' 'https://www.google.com/' '--ssl' '--onredirect=follow' '-j' 'CONNECT' '--sni' '-p' 'proxy_port' 'myproxyip' 'www.google.com'


For a detailed log, you can use --verbose at the end of the command:

OMD[mysite]:~/lib/nagios/plugins$ ./check_http '-u' 'https://www.google.com/' '--ssl' '--onredirect=follow' '-j' 'CONNECT' '--sni' '-p' 'proxy_port' 'myproxyip' 'www.google.com' --verbose


For more information, you can use --help command flag.

OMD[mysite]:~/lib/nagios/plugins$ ./check_http --help

Using Service Check Commands

For debugging reasons, it could be helpful to run the check manually. Therefore, you need to open the service site of the E-Mail service and search for 'Service check command'. 




Now you can use the command for executing the check manually


~/lib/nagios/plugins
OMD[mysite]:~/lib/nagios/plugins$ ./check_mail_loop--pwstore=4@16@provider1,10@17@provider2 '--smtp-server=smtp.provider1.com' '--smtp-tls' '--smtp-username=user@provider1.com' '--smtp-password=*************' '--fetch-protocol=IMAP' '--fetch-server=imap.provider2.com' '--fetch-ssl' '--fetch-port=993' '--fetch-username=mail@provider2.com' '--fetch-password=*************' '--mail-from=user@provider1.com' '--mail-to=mail@provider2.com' '--delete-messages' '--status-suffix=localhost-Email Delivery' '--warning=120' '--critical=300' '--subject=Check_MK-Mail-Loop for Strato'


For a detailed log, you can use --debug at the end of the command:

~/lib/nagios/plugins
OMD[mysite]:~/lib/nagios/plugins$ ./check_mail_loop--pwstore=4@16@provider1,10@17@provider2 '--smtp-server=smtp.provider1.com' '--smtp-tls' '--smtp-username=user@provider1.com' '--smtp-password=*************' '--fetch-protocol=IMAP' '--fetch-server=imap.provider2.com' '--fetch-ssl' '--fetch-port=993' '--fetch-username=mail@provider2.com' '--fetch-password=*************' '--mail-from=user@provider1.com' '--mail-to=mail@provider2.com' '--delete-messages' '--status-suffix=localhost-Email Delivery' '--warning=120' '--critical=300' '--subject=Check_MK-Mail-Loop for Strato' --debug


For more information, you can use --help option:

~/lib/nagios/plugins/check_mail_loop -h