Fast time to value, first host in 5 minutes

Checkmk Cloud in its SaaS version is here, and we are so proud to bring you such an intuitive product. It is designed to redefine how you approach monitoring. Thanks to an easy setup, sane preconfigured settings, we have created an onboarding experience that is as seamless as it gets.

If you’ve already joined the trial or subscribed, you’ve likely already experienced just how effortless and friction-free the process truly is. For those still on the fence, we’re here to give you a gentle (but enthusiastic!) nudge in the right direction.

When we set out to develop the onboarding platform for Checkmk Cloud (SaaS) our goals were clear: deliver value instantly. In fact, we made it our mission to ensure you can monitor your first host in under 5 minutes, no matter your level of expertise. The whole procedure is guided and we only need the bare minimum of information for you to start monitoring with Checkmk.

Not convinced? Then try it for yourself!

The title sounds like a threat, but it is a boon. We encourage you to try yourself, as you do not need to know anything beforehand. But a minimal preparation of what you will need to complete the sign-up process and initial setup of the Checkmk Cloud does not hurt. So, read on.

As with basically every SaaS service out there, you will be faced with providing an email address, a new password, and basic info about yourself (name, surname, job title etc.). Most personal info can be skipped, but it is useful to insert some to create a truthful Checkmk user.

The next step depends on the server you plan to monitor. On it, you need to install the Checkmk agent, and the onboarding procedure will then guide you through downloading and installing the required deb or rpm or msi package.

Standard stuff so far. The magic happens in the background: you’ll be asked to wait while your account and first host will be added. Meanwhile, the agent registers the site and automatically configures host and services for you. That will take about one minute in most cases.

The most difficult decision you will face is creating a user and contact group to receive meaningful notification from Checkmk, which is a standard step in other editions as well. Further users can be added under the Admin panel in "User Management"; you won't miss the big green button that says "Add user". That's as complicated as it gets for SaaS onboarding.

And, that's basically it. With just this little info and a few steps your Checkmk site, your admin account, and notifications will be set up for you, mostly in the background. Auto-discovery of services on the first host will also run for you while you complete the onboarding, and you will see the host and its services added to the monitoring before 5 minutes have passed.

This streamlined onboarding experience makes it simple to get started with monitoring. With an intuitive interface and straightforward setup, you’ll transition smoothly into an operational monitoring environment in mere minutes.

And once you are in, the newly designed Onboarding Guide is one click away: sliding from the right, the green “Getting started” button will give you access to multiple features. Whether you need to add more hosts, customize services, or set up notifications, the Guide is the interface to control and customize your monitoring environment. Help is present inside the Onboarding Guide in the form of the official docs, video tutorials, and access to the Checkmk Forum. In case you have doubts or are unsure how something works, help is always reachable.

The best part? Once you complete the onboarding, your monitoring capabilities are accessible from anywhere, at any time. That’s the power and convenience of a SaaS solution. Add to that the much reduced learning curve, the fast time-to-value, forgetting about device compatibility, and infinite scalability, you will have an easier and faster time to get into monitoring than ever with Checkmk Cloud.