Checks

Check Latency and Execution Time

Each check command execution logs the start and end time where Icinga 2 (and the end user) is able to calculate the plugin execution time from it.

GetExecutionEnd() - GetExecutionStart()

The higher the execution time, the higher the command timeout must be set. Furthermore users and developers are encouraged to look into plugin optimizations to minimize the execution time. Sometimes it is better to let an external daemon/script do the checks and feed them back via REST API.

Icinga 2 stores the scheduled start and end time for a check. If the actual check execution time differs from the scheduled time, e.g. due to performance problems or limited execution slots (concurrent checks), this value is stored and computed from inside the check result.

The difference between the two deltas is called check latency.

(GetScheduleEnd() - GetScheduleStart()) - CalculateExecutionTime()

Severity

The severity attribute is introduced with Icinga v2.11 and provides a bit mask calculated value from specific checkable object states.

The severity value is pre-calculated for visualization interfaces such as Icinga Web which sorts the problem dashboard by severity by default.

The higher the severity number is, the more important the problem is.

Flags:

/**
 * Severity Flags
 *
 * @ingroup icinga
 */
enum SeverityFlag
{
    SeverityFlagDowntime = 1,
    SeverityFlagAcknowledgement = 2,
    SeverityFlagHostDown = 4,
    SeverityFlagUnhandled = 8,
    SeverityFlagPending = 16,
    SeverityFlagWarning = 32,
    SeverityFlagUnknown = 64,
    SeverityFlagCritical = 128,
};

Host:

    /* OK/Warning = Up, Critical/Unknown = Down */
    if (!HasBeenChecked())
        severity |= SeverityFlagPending;
    else if (state == ServiceUnknown)
        severity |= SeverityFlagCritical;
    else if (state == ServiceCritical)
        severity |= SeverityFlagCritical;

    if (IsInDowntime())
        severity |= SeverityFlagDowntime;
    else if (IsAcknowledged())
        severity |= SeverityFlagAcknowledgement;
    else
        severity |= SeverityFlagUnhandled;

Service:

    if (!HasBeenChecked())
        severity |= SeverityFlagPending;
    else if (state == ServiceWarning)
        severity |= SeverityFlagWarning;
    else if (state == ServiceUnknown)
        severity |= SeverityFlagUnknown;
    else if (state == ServiceCritical)
        severity |= SeverityFlagCritical;

    if (IsInDowntime())
        severity |= SeverityFlagDowntime;
    else if (IsAcknowledged())
        severity |= SeverityFlagAcknowledgement;
    else if (m_Host->GetProblem())
        severity |= SeverityFlagHostDown;
    else
        severity |= SeverityFlagUnhandled;