Werk #13610: Notification spooler connections can now be encrypted
| Component | Notifications | ||||||||
| Title | Notification spooler connections can now be encrypted | ||||||||
| Date | Jan 18, 2022 | ||||||||
| Level | Prominent Change | ||||||||
| Class | New Feature | ||||||||
| Compatibility | Incompatible - Manual interaction might be required | ||||||||
| Checkmk versions & editions |
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Notification spooler (mknotifyd) connections communicated via a plain text procotol since its introduction. This is ok for local connections or in secure networks.
To secure the connections users had the choice to use TLS (e.g. via stunnel), SSH, VPN or another solution that encrypts the communication in their local setup.
To improve the security for all users it is now possible to configure the encryption via TLS directly in Checkmk. An analyze configuration test will create a CRITICAL message about unencrypted mknotifyd connections.
After an update from Checkmk version 2.0 the encryption setting for existing, outgoing connections is "Use unverified TLS encryption, fall back to plain text" and "Plain text communication" for existing, incoming connections. This way mknotifyd connections remain functional after an update and may be migrated gradually to encrypted connections in larger setups.
To encrypt mknotifyd connections between two sites, you have to update both sites to Checkmk version 2.1. Afterwards you have to adapt the "Notification spooler configuration" in the "Global settings". For incoming and outgoing connections you have to set the "Encryption" to "Encrypt communication with TLS". After an activate changes the communication is encrypted. For new incoming and ougoing connections "Encrypt communication with TLS" is the default.
Internally, mknotifyd connections use the internal CA that is used by livestatus as well. To support outgoing connections from a remote site to a central site, the CA of the central site is added to the "Trusted certificate authorities for SSL" in the "Global settings" for new sites and during an update from version 2.0.