Werk #7763: Introduce labels as host and service properties
| Component | Core & setup |
| Title | Introduce labels as host and service properties |
| Date | Jun 4, 2019 |
| Checkmk Edition | Checkmk Raw (CRE) |
| Checkmk Version | 1.6.0b1 |
| Level | Prominent Change |
| Class | New Feature |
| Compatibility | Compatible - no manual interaction needed |
In addition to existing mechanisms like host tags and host custom attributes that can be used to define custom host properties we have now added the labels.
The labels are similar to the host tags, but not work exactly in the same way. A major difference is, that tags are based on a predefined collection of tags (tag groups, tag ids) in Check_MK. Labels are more flexible and can be created ad-hoc.
The explicit labels attribute is inherited from folders to hosts. Each object may add a set of labels on it's own to the effective labels.
A label has the format key:value. For example os:windows.
Each host can have only one value per key. In case folders and hosts define a value for the same key, the value next to the host will win.
The rulesets "Host labels" and "Service labels" can be used to assign labels to hosts and services in addition to the labels configured using the host attribute. Thes ruleset make it possible to assign lables to hosts and services based on tags and other host / service conditions.
Labels can be created dynamically during runtime. Host labels can be discovered using the HW/SW inventory. To realize this a new HW/SW inventory plugin has been added that works on a generic "<<<labels>>>" section (see #7336).
The first agents that produce this section are the Kubernetes, AWS and Azure special agents. They creates the label sections for all kind of objects that are monitored by Checkmk. This makes Checkmk automatically import the labels configured in the target systems.
Depending on the source of a label it is now colorized in different ways to make the origin of the label transparent to the user.
The effective labels of hosts and service sare currently visible on WATO "Parameters of X" page, mainly for diagnose.
The labels are available on the HW/SW inventory page and can be used as painter, sorter and filter in the status views and reports. The painters have been added to the host and service detail views.
The labels can currently not be used in rule conditions. This will be added in one of the next beta releases.
