Werk #11363: if64, if64adm: Monitoring of the admin status ifAdminStatus for switch ports

Component Checks & agents
Title if64, if64adm: Monitoring of the admin status ifAdminStatus for switch ports
Date Sep 24, 2020
Checkmk Edition Checkmk Raw (CRE)
Checkmk Version 2.0.0i1
Level Trivial Change
Class New Feature
Compatibility Incompatible - Manual interaction might be required

This werk is only relevant for users who are currently monitoring the admin status ifAdminStatus of switch ports (check plugin if64adm).

The 64-bit version of the interface check for switch ports can be configured to also monitor the admin status ifAdminStatus. Up to now, if this option was activated, Checkmk used the check plugin if64adm instead of if64. Furthermore, only an ifAdminStatus of 2 was reported by setting the port state to 9 - admin down. With this werk, the admin status is monitored completely separately from the port state. Consequently, the port state 9 - admin down is not available any more.

Previously, the monitoring of the admin state was activated implicitly by configuring Checkmk to discover ports in the state 9 - admin down (rule "Network Interface and Switch Port Discovery"). Now, this is handled via the rule for including and excluding SNMP sections ("Disabled and enabled sections (SNMP)"). If and only if the section if64adm is enabled via this rule, the admin status will be monitored, independently of the configuration in "Network Interface and Switch Port Discovery".

Furthermore, since the admin status is now reported separately from the port state, it can also be used to configure 1) the discovery of network interfaces (rule "Network Interface and Switch Port Discovery"), 2) the monitoring state (rule "Network interfaces and switch ports"). For example, you can make Checkmk discover only interfaces with an admin status of 2 or you can set the monitoring state of all interfaces with an admin status of 1 to WARNING. Note that these configuration options only have an effect if the admin status is actually monitored, i.e., if the section if64adm is enabled.

Moreover, contrary to before, from now on, no re-discovery is necessary after activating or deactivating the monitoring of the admin status. This is because this werk combines the check plugins if64 and if64adm into a single plugin called if64.

This change is incompatible for all users who are currently monitoring the admin status using if64adm. These users should follow these steps:

  • Activate the monitoring of the admin status by enabling the section if64adm via the rule "Disabled and enabled sections (SNMP)".
  • Check the discovery configuration (rule "Network Interface and Switch Port Discovery"). As mentioned above, the admin state can now be used to further refine the discovery of network interfaces. On the other hand, the port state 9 - admin down is not available any more, so users might have to adjust their configurations.
  • Re-discover the services of affected hosts.
  • Check the monitoring configuration (rule "Network interfaces and switch ports"). Analogously to the discovery configuration, the admin state can now be used to set the monitoring state of network interfaces and the port state 9 - admin down is not available any more.
  • Finally, check if there are any rules of the type "Bulk walk: Limit SNMP OID ranges" where the option "SNMP interface check with 64 bit counters using admin states (using v2c)" is selected (this will now be displayed as "Element 'if64adm' does not exist anymore"). Change these to "SNMP interface check with 64 bit counters (using v2c)". This is necessary because, as mentioned above, the check plugin if64adm does not exist any more.

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