Checkmk Conference #10: State of Checkmk

Summary

Checkmk celebrates its 10th anniversary as a key player in hybrid IT monitoring, evolving from an open-source project to a global solution. The company has grown from a small team to over 160 employees, serving 4,500+ customers in 50 countries. With a focus on user experience, cloud support, and advanced monitoring capabilities, Checkmk has introduced major features like synthetic application monitoring and robust APIs. Looking ahead, the company plans to offer a cloud-hosted version, release Checkmk 2.4, and enhance custom application monitoring using open telemetry standards, further solidifying its position as a full-stack monitoring platform.

Takeaways

• 😀 Checkmk celebrated its 10th anniversary, with the first version being released in 2009 as an open-source monitoring tool by Matias.
• 😀 The first customer conference was held in 2014 in Munich, with about 100 participants, marking the beginning of Checkmk's community-driven growth.
• 😀 Over the years, Checkmk has grown from a small team of 16 people in 2018 to 160 employees, now serving 4,500 customers globally.
• 😀 Checkmk's core mission is to provide visibility into hybrid IT environments, whether workloads are in data centers or public clouds.
• 😀 The platform has evolved significantly with improved user experience, particularly through a complete UI overhaul with version 2.0 and enhanced dashboards.
• 😀 Key focus areas include modern monitoring for hybrid IT, cloud integrations (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), and Kubernetes monitoring support.
• 😀 Application monitoring has been expanded to include availability, performance, and user experience, with features like synthetic monitoring for end-user perspective.
• 😀 Extensive work on APIs has enabled Checkmk to be highly extensible, with the ability to automate monitoring and configuration using REST APIs.
• 😀 Security features have been enhanced with tools like single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure a more secure platform.
• 😀 Future plans include offering Checkmk as a cloud service option to cater to cloud-first enterprises, available before the end of the year.
• 😀 In the next 12 months, Checkmk version 2.4 will focus on enhancing current features, and within 24 months, Checkmk will integrate OpenTelemetry standards to monitor custom applications more efficiently.

Q & A

What is the significance of the 10th anniversary of the CheckMK conference?

The 10th anniversary marks a decade of growth and development for CheckMK, celebrating the software's evolution from a small open-source project to a robust global product with thousands of customers.

How did CheckMK originally start?

CheckMK began in 2009 when Matthias, a self-employed software developer, released version 1.0 of the monitoring tool as an open-source product called CheckMK.

What was the role of Andreas in CheckMK's early development?

Andreas joined Matthias and other colleagues to help further develop CheckMK, including the creation of both the raw and enterprise editions, contributing to its expansion.

How did the CheckMK customer conference evolve over the years?

The first CheckMK customer conference took place in Munich in 2014 with around 100 participants. Over the years, it grew, with the conference now expanding to include a U.S. version in Atlanta.

What milestones has CheckMK achieved in terms of user base and global reach?

CheckMK now serves 4,500 customers worldwide, including in Europe, the U.S., and 50 other countries, a significant increase from the initial 1,400 customers.

What are the key product developments and focus areas for CheckMK over the years?

Key developments include enhanced user experience, monitoring for hybrid IT environments (covering cloud services and on-premises systems), application monitoring, API extensibility, automation, and improving security and scalability.

How has the user experience in CheckMK evolved?

CheckMK's user experience was completely overhauled with version 2.0, including a new interface and improved dashboarding. Further enhancements have been made in versions 2.2 and 2.3, with a dedicated UX team focusing on usability.

How does CheckMK enable monitoring in hybrid IT environments?

CheckMK enables hybrid IT monitoring by supporting a variety of cloud services (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), Kubernetes distributions, and by enhancing the agent architecture to handle dynamic loads and modern cloud-native features like labels.

What is CheckMK Synthetic Monitoring and how does it contribute to application monitoring?

CheckMK Synthetic Monitoring tests the functionality of applications from an end-user perspective, allowing businesses to monitor the availability, performance, and functionality of their digital services.

What is the significance of the planned OpenTelemetry integration into CheckMK?

The integration of OpenTelemetry will allow CheckMK to better monitor custom applications by using standardized metrics, contributing to a more comprehensive full-stack monitoring solution.

What major changes can we expect in CheckMK in the next 6 to 24 months?

In the next 6 months, CheckMK will offer a service-based version of the platform, complementing the self-hosted version. In 12 months, version 2.4 will focus on existing capabilities and further improvements. Within 24 months, CheckMK aims to enhance its monitoring for custom applications through OpenTelemetry integration and more powerful querying and dashboard features.

How does CheckMK plan to address the increasing demand for cloud-first strategies among enterprises?

CheckMK will offer both self-hosted and service-based deployment options to cater to enterprises with a cloud-first strategy, ensuring flexibility for customers based on their internal IT requirements.