Troubleshooting "invalid checker timestamp" (1970) error
This article explains how to troubleshoot an error of "invalid timestamp" within Checkmk.
LAST TESTED ON CHECKMK 2.0.0P1
Problem
For some reason, it could be the case that you will see invalid checker timestamps in the cmc.log and the Checkmk gui:
2022-04-28 11:45:33 [4] [core 25015] [smartping scheduler] refuse to schedule invalid jobhost "testhost-a" at 1970-01-01 01:00:00 with an invalid timestamp 2022-04-28 11:45:33 [4] [core 25015] [smartping scheduler] refuse to schedule invalid jobhost "testhost-b" at 1970-01-01 01:00:00 with an invalid timestamp 2022-04-28 11:45:33 [4] [core 25015] [smartping scheduler] refuse to schedule invalid jobhost "testhost-c" at 1970-01-01 01:00:00 with an invalid timestamp
In <2.1 there is no way to debug that due to the format of the state file. With Checkmk 2.1, the state file will have a different format. Anyway: If you face that issue in <2.1, you can open a case for that.
If you face this issue <=2.1, you can follow our Workaround or open a support ticket and provide the following information by using our support diagnostic.
Workaround
Log on to the affected site.
root@mylinuxhost~# su - mysite
.
navigate to ~/var/check_mk/core
OMD[mysite]:~$ cd ~/var/check_mk/core/
.
here you will find all the "state" files
OMD[mysite]:~/var/check_mk/core$ ls archive/ helper_config/ state.1 state.5 state.9 autochecks/ history state.2 state.6 config state state.3 state.7 discovered_host_labels/ state-version-7 state.4 state.8
The cmc is always using the file "state"
.Now rename the "state" file to state.(number)
BE AWARE: all ad hoc Downtimes + Acknowledgements + Comments are gone, but you can restore the old state file later.
The state is created every 10 minutes or after changes in the GUI.
A backup is created when the new file is 5% smaller than the old one. Checkmk will save 30 state files and then overwrite the old ones.
OMD[mysite]:~/var/check_mk/core$ mv state state.10
The number depends on how many state.(number) files you already have.
.
You can either restart the whole site with
OMD[mysite]:~ omd restart
or do
OMD[mysite]:~ cmk -O
Now a new "state" file is created!
Restore a state file
mv state.NN state
Don't restart the core in that case!
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