Check systemd-units-failed

Overview

Checks for failed systemd units by running systemctl --state=failed. Reports any unit that is in a failed active state or failed sub state.

Data Collection:

  • Executes systemctl --state=failed --no-pager --no-legend

  • Units can be excluded from the check via --ignore, which supports glob patterns according to Python’s fnmatch module (e.g. --ignore "sshd@*.service")

Fact Sheet

Fact

Value

Check Plugin Download

https://github.com/Linuxfabrik/monitoring-plugins/tree/main/check-plugins/systemd-units-failed

Nagios/Icinga Check Name

check_systemd_units_failed

Check Interval Recommendation

Every minute

Can be called without parameters

Yes

Runs on

Linux

Compiled for Windows

No

Help

usage: systemd-units-failed [-h] [-V] [--always-ok] [--ignore IGNORE]
                            [--test TEST]

Checks for failed systemd units. Alerts when any unit is in a failed state.
Specific units can be excluded from the check via --ignore with regular
expressions.

options:
  -h, --help       show this help message and exit
  -V, --version    show program's version number and exit
  --always-ok      Always returns OK.
  --ignore IGNORE  Unit name to exclude from the check. Can be specified
                   multiple times. Supports glob patterns according to
                   https://docs.python.org/3/library/fnmatch.html. Example:
                   `--ignore "dhcpd.service"`. Default: []
  --test TEST      For unit tests. Needs "path-to-stdout-file,path-to-stderr-
                   file,expected-retc".

Usage Examples

./systemd-units-failed --ignore=openipmi.service --ignore=dhcpd.service

./systemd-units-failed --ignore=sshd@*.service

Output:

1 failed unit: ipmievd.service

unit            ! load   ! active ! sub    ! description
----------------+--------+--------+--------+----------------
ipmievd.service ! loaded ! failed ! failed ! Ipmievd Daemon

States

  • OK if no units are in a failed state.

  • WARN if at least one unit has a failed active state or failed sub state.

  • --always-ok suppresses all alerts and always returns OK.

Perfdata / Metrics

Name

Type

Description

systemd-units-failed

Number

Number of failed units

Troubleshooting

If you cannot fix the underlying issue and simply want to reset the status of a failed unit:

systemctl reset-failed ipmievd.service

Credits, License