Werk #10689: Checkmk Python may be installed with Windows Agent

Component Checks & agents
Title Checkmk Python may be installed with Windows Agent
Date Mar 19, 2020
Checkmk Edition Checkmk Enterprise (CEE)
Checkmk Version 2.0.0i1
Level Prominent Change
Class New Feature
Compatibility Compatible - no manual interaction needed

With this release Checkmk monitoring software has got a possibility to install and to use Python-3 together with the Windows Agent.

It is now possible to develop agent plugins on Windows using Python. It is now also possible to build real cross-platform plugins (like e.g. mk_logwatch)

The Checkmk Python can be installed either automatically(the default), if any of deployed plugins need it, or manually, if a user of the Checkmk software needs Python-3 functionality on the host.

At the moment the Checkmk Python has version 3.8.1 and will be deployed in the directory %ProgramData%\checkmk\agent\modules\python-3.8. The Python will be updated in the future versions together with the agent. We also ship a collection of useful Python modules, at the moment pyyaml and colorama.

Also it is possible to install arbitrary Python modules using Checkmk Python's pip.

By default the Checkmk Python will be used as interpreter for all plugins with extension .py. It is possible to change this behaviour with WATO and .py scripts will be interpreted using Windows system Python.

All plugins with extension .checkmk.py will be interpreted with Checkmk Python if Checkmk Python is installed.

Important: Checkmk Python doesn't interfere with Windows Operation System (registry, installer, paths, etc) and may be removed at any moment. It means two important consequences: 1. The Windows Control Panel doesn't have a dedicated entry for Python. It is installed as a component of the Checkmk Windows Agent. 2. Checkmk Python isn't added to the Windows PATH environment variable.

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