How to Set Up Alerts for Low Memory on 8GB RAM Laptops in Checkmk?

General
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Hey Checkmk community,

I’m currently using Checkmk to monitor a fleet of 8GB RAM laptops, and I want to set up alerts for low memory conditions. I’d like to receive notifications when a laptop’s available memory drops below a certain threshold. Could you help me with this configuration?

Here are a few specific questions I have:

What is the best way to configure memory alerting in Checkmk for laptops with 8GB of RAM?

Are there any best practices or recommended thresholds for defining “low memory” for 8GB RAM laptops?

Which Checkmk plugin or agent should I use for the most accurate memory monitoring on Windows and Linux laptops?

How can I ensure that I don’t get false alerts due to temporary memory spikes?

Are there any additional performance data or metrics I should consider monitoring alongside memory to get a more comprehensive picture of system health?

I’m open to any insights, tips, or configurations that you might have. Your experience and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to your suggestions and recommendations. Thanks in advance!

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Hi @melissahankins

welcome to the forum.

You want to use the CHeckmk agent for Linux and Windows for this.

Memory is one of the standard checks being done by the agent.

You can see the parameters for this service by clicking on the ‘Hamburger Menu’:
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Here you see the default parameters.

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If you want to modify these, click on “Memory & Swap usage on Linux” and define a rule (either from scratch, for this host only, or for the folder of the host)

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CHeckmk comes with default thresholds for memory. You can use these to start and tweak if you don’t like them.

CHeckmk agent, no additional plugins needed

Take a look here: Minimizing false positive monitoring alerts with Checkmk | Checkmk

Start with the stuff the agent gives you. That is a pretty good baseline.

Also: I highly recommend to work your way throgh the intro handbook here:

and/or the “Getting started with Checkmk” video series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8DfRO2DvOK1slgjfTu0hMOnepf1F7ssh&si=Aj79ifutPvcN4cmj

One more thought on monitoring end user devices (=laptops) - take a look at this article from our knowledge base: https://checkmk.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KB/pages/9472010/Monitoring+workstations+desktops+or+laptops?src=search

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In addition to what @elias.voelker said, there is a good introduction on how memory and swap are tied together under Linux, and how the Checkmk memory checkplugin has become what it is:

Newer Linux kernels (starting from Linux 4.20) have an additional feature that allows to predict when memory starts to get “low”: the (memory) pressure stall information available in /proc/pressure/memory. In short, they show the medium proportion of processes which are blocked due to memory pressure, e.g. waiting for data to be paged.

The PSI are not (yet?) covered by the standard Checkmk Linux agent, but can be monitored using this local check.

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