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CheckCentral Pagination, API Create/Delete Endpoints, and More!

December 10, 2019

We're excited to announce a number of recent updates to CheckCentral!

We've updated nearly all the pages on CheckCentral to include pagination and filtering to ensure that your data is always easily available. As your organization grows, you will always have fast and simple access to your checks, groups, and more. You can also search for checks by name on your dashboard, to help you get to the information you need as fast as possible!

Pagination on the checks page
Pagination example on the checks page

For organizations looking to automate the set up of their data, the CheckCentral API now supports create and delete endpoints to manage your checks, groups, and users. Access to these endpoints is restricted to API tokens granted the appropriate permissions. As well, we have also added authentication tokens tied to user accounts, which provide access through the API to only the data that that user is permitted to read or modify.

API Access Tokens
API Access Tokens

We've also made many other updates, such as an option to pre-sort newly created check groups in alphabetical order, improvements to PDF reports, the ability to configure Slack notifications for specific check groups, and notification emails now include the original message's attachments.

If you have feedback or questions about these updates or any aspect of CheckCentral, please let us know!

CheckCentral Mobile App Improvements!

August 21, 2019

We're happy to announce that we're rolling out some updates to the CheckCentral mobile apps! The apps are updated with a new framework, and most of the changes are behind the scenes improvements. Here's the full list:

  • Improved device support (including support for Amazon devices)
  • The Microsoft Store (UWP) app now supports push notifications
  • We've made some reliability improvements to the push registration process
  • The Android apps have been posted to the Play Store and Amazon App Store, and iOS is coming soon

If you're not already using the CheckCentral mobile app, we encourage you to try it out. As always, if you have any feedback, we'd love to hear from you!

CheckCentral Mobile App
CheckCentral Mobile App

CheckCentral API Documentation: createUser Endpoint

August 19, 2019

The CheckCentral API provides an endpoint for adding users programmatically. All of the configuration options are available through the API, detailed below. To add a new user through the API, you will require an API token for your organization with Read/Write access. Organization administrators can create tokens through the API portal on your dashboard.

The endpoint is located at https://api.checkcentral.cc/createUser/?apiToken=APITOKEN where the APITOKEN placeholder is replaced with your valid token. The request must be made with the Content-Type header set to application/json. The body of the request should contain the properties below to configure the new user's settings. Any properties not passed will be set to their default value.

For example, to add a new user you could send the following json in the body of the request:

Code

{
  "name": "Person Somename",
  "email": "person@myorg.realdomain",
  "accessLevel": "User",
  "sendWelcomeEmail": true,
  "userGroups": [
    "userGroupID"
  ],
  "notifications": [
    { 
        "type": "failures",
        "services": [
            "sms",
            "push"
        ]
    }
  ]
}

The user data must include an email property as well as an accessLevel at minimum.

The complete list of possible properties for user creation are as follows:

User Structure

Parameter Type/Allowed Values Default

email

The email address of the new user.

The email parameter is required.

String

accessLevel

The access level to grant the new user.

The accessLevel parameter is required.

One of:

  • disabled
  • custom
  • readonly
  • user
  • editor
  • manager
  • administrator

name

The name for the new user.

If the name parameter is not included, the user's name will be set to their email address.

String

sendWelcomeEmail

Pass the sendWelcomeEmail flag to have CheckCentral send an introductory email to the new user.

Boolean false

userGroups

Pass an array of user group IDs to add the user to those user groups. User group IDs can be retrieved with the getUserGroups API endpoint.

An array containing user group IDs.

[]

notifications

Pass an array of json objects to configure which services CheckCentral should use to communicate with the user.

Array[NotificationConfig] []

NotificationConfig

Parameter Type/Allowed Values Default

type

Pass the type of notification to configure.

The type parameter is required for NotificationConfig objects.

One of:

  • digest
  • failures
  • warnings
  • unmatched

services

The list of services that CheckCentral should use to alert the user about the configured type of notification. Any services not included in the array will be disabled for the notification type.

Any of:

  • email
  • sms
  • push
  • pushbullet
  • pushover
[]

Introducing User Groups, Check Group Permissions & More!

July 2, 2019
We’re pleased to announce some great new CheckCentral features that have recently been rolled out. These new features make organizing your checks and users easier than ever.


NEW! Creating User Groups, Setting Security on Check Groups


It is now possible to manage access to your individual CheckCentral check groups thanks to the introduction of user groups, and check group permissions. To get started, simply head to the user groups page via the Organization tab to quickly create new user groups.


Create User Group
Create User Group



Once you have user groups created, they can be used to assign permissions to a check group. Simply visit the check groups page (under the Checks tab) and select the check group you’d like to modify the permissions for. You’ll see a Permissions section where you are able to add a permissions entry for your new user group, specifying what level of access that group should have.


Add Permission
Add Permission



NEW! Improved Organization via Labels


You can now set labels on your checks. Checks with the same label will be grouped together on the Dashboard and Checks page, allowing you to organize checks within a check group.


Check Labels
Check Labels



You’ll see the new Label field when creating or editing a check. You can also set labels in bulk via the Checks page.


Improvements to custom dashboards and more!


Custom dashboards can now be configured to only display specific check groups, making your custom dashboards even more flexible.


As always, we welcome your feedback about these updates, as well as the service as a whole, so please feel free to reach out.

CheckCentral API Documentation: createCheck Endpoint

February 21, 2019

The CheckCentral API provides an endpoint for creating checks programmatically. All of the configuration options are available through the API, detailed below. To create a new check through the API, you will require an API token for your organization with Read/Write access. Organization administrators can create tokens through the API portal on your dashboard.

The endpoint is located at https://api.checkcentral.cc/createCheck/?apiToken=APITOKEN where the APITOKEN placeholder is replaced with your valid token. The request must be made with the Content-Type header set to application/json. The body of the request should contain as many of the properties listed below as required to define the check. Any properties not passed will be set to their default value.

For example, to create a new check that:

  • Receives messages at the address "demo+apicheck@mycheckcentral.cc"
  • Expects messages every two hours
  • Expects messages only on weekdays
  • Is set to Failure unless the message subject is "Message Success" or the message body has the text "No Errors Reported"

you would send the following json in the body of the request:

Code

{
  "name": "An API Check",
  "email_alias": "apicheck",
  "interval_type": "hour",
  "interval_value": 2,
  "active_days": [
    "mon",
    "tue",
    "wed",
    "thu",
    "fri"
  ],
  "success_conditions": {
    "required_conditions": "any",
    "conditions": [
      {
        "message_field": "subject",
        "matches": "exactly",
        "value": "Message Success"
      },
      {
        "message_field": "body",
        "matches": "contains",
        "value": "No Errors Reported"
      }
    ]
  }
}

The check data must include a name property, as well as at least one of email_alias and matching_conditions to allow the check to be matched against incoming messages.

The complete list of possible properties for check configuration are as follows:

Check Structure

Parameter Type/Allowed Values Default

name

The name for the new check.

The name parameter is required.

String

email_alias

The plus alias for the check. This will be used to generate the custom email address for the Check along with your organization account name: account_name+email_alias@mycheckcentral.cc.

At least one of the email_alias or matching_conditions parameters must be specified.

String

matching_conditions

The rules that will be used to match incoming messages. See the definition of a ConditionGroup below.

At least one of the email_alias or matching_conditions parameters must be specified.

ConditionGroup {}

group_id

The ID of the group to assign this check. IDs may be retrieved from the getGroups API endpoint.

String

description

A text description for the check.

String

interval_type

The interval unit CheckCentral will use to calculate the expected arrival time of incoming messages

One of:

  • minute
  • hour
  • day
  • week
  • month
day

interval_value

The number of interval units (see above) used when calculating the expected arrival of incoming messages.

Integer 1

overdue_minutes

How many minutes after the interval has elapsed CheckCentral will wait before flagging the check as failed.

Integer 30

window_start

An optional time of day when messages will begin to be received.

String 00:00

window_end

An optional time of day when messages will cease to be received.

String 00:00

active_days

Pass an array of days to indicate which days the check should expect to receive messages.

An array containing either "all", or any of:

  • sun
  • mon
  • tue
  • wed
  • thu
  • fri
  • sat
[ "all" ]

enabled_notifications

Pass an array of personal notification services to configure the check to send alerts via those services.

An array containing any of:

  • email
  • sms
  • push
  • pushbullet
  • pushover
[]

enabled_notification_channels

Pass an array of organization notification channel IDs to configure the check to send alerts via those services. IDs may be retrieved from the getNotificationChannels API endpoint.

Array[String]

[]

enabled_ticketing_systems

Pass an array of organization external ticketing system IDs to configure the check to create and update tickets via those services. IDs may be retrieved from the getTicketingSystems API endpoint.

Array[String]

[]

notify_returned_to_success

Checks with this flag will send an alert when they are restored to a success state by an incoming message.

Bool true

notify_outside_window

Checks with this flag set to false will only send alerts during the time window and active days configured above.

Bool true

notify_consecutive_alerts

This parameter controls when CheckCentral will send alerts about repeated failure or warning messages.

One of:

  • always
  • first
  • after_n
  • every_nth
always

notify_consecutive_alerts_limit

If notify_consecutive_alerts is set to either after_n or every_nth, this parameter configures how many consecutive failures or consecutive warnings will trigger alerts.

Integer 1

notify_failure_grace_period

The number of minutes this check will wait to send alerts about failures. If the check is returned to successful status before this period elapses, any pending alerts will be cancelled.

Integer 0

default_status

The default status for incoming messages that don't match against any of the conditions below.

One of:

  • success
  • warning
  • failure
failure

success_conditions

The rules that determine whether incoming messages will be set to success. See the definition of a ConditionGroup below.

ConditionGroup {}

warning_conditions

The rules that determine whether incoming messages will be set to warning. See the definition of a ConditionGroup below.

ConditionGroup {}

failure_conditions

The rules that determine whether incoming messages will be set to failure. See the definition of a ConditionGroup below.

ConditionGroup {}

ConditionGroup

Parameter Type/Allowed Values Default

required_conditions

This parameter controls whether incoming messages must meet any or all of the conditions defined below to be considered a match.

One of:

  • all
  • any
"all"

condense_whitespace

If this flag is set, all of the conditions defined in this group will treat multiple whitespace characters as a single space.

Bool false

conditions

The list of conditions for this ConditionGroup to match messages against. See the definition of a Condition below.

Array[Condition] []

Condition

Parameter Type/Allowed Values Default

message_field

Which part of the incoming message will be examined for this condition.

One of:

  • subject
  • body
  • to
  • cc
  • attachments
  • attachment_text
  • from
  • originally_to
subject

matches

What matching rule this condition will use.

One of:

  • contains
  • not_contains
  • exactly
  • empty
  • not_empty
  • has_attachments
  • has_no_attachments
  • filename_contains
  • filename_not_contains
  • filename_exact
  • text_contains
  • text_not_contains
  • complex_match
  • complex_filename_match
  • complex_text_match
contains

value

The value to use with the above matching rule and message component.

String

Checking Website Certificate Expiry Dates with CheckCentral

February 4, 2019
We've recently released a Direct Integration built for checking SSL/TLS certificate expiry dates. The script for this guide will still work, but we would highly recommend using the built-in integration for it. You can get started with the Direct Integration by navigating to your CheckCentral dashboard and clicking Services > Direct Integrations in the top menu.
If you have websites for which you maintain the SSL certificates, this PowerShell script will help more efficiently monitor the expiration status of those certificates. The script can be run from anywhere, as it connects to the public URL for the website, and it will email the results wherever you like. This help guide shows how to configure the script to email the results to CheckCentral and create a companion Check to automate the status parsing.
Checks can be added from various locations in the CheckCentral interface, from the Dashboard, Checks page, Activity page, and the Check Group details page.
  • Begin by clicking "
    Add Check
    ."
Add Check
  • Select "Start Fresh," and click "Start."
Create Check
  • Name the Check. It can be whatever you like, for example
    Website Certificate Expiry Check
    .
  • Select an existing Check Group or create a new one by clicking group_icon.png
    Add Check Group
    .
  • Select an existing Label or create a new one by typing the name in the text field of the dropdown. (optional)
  • Add a description (optional).
  • The Asset ID is used exclusively with certain ticketing systems and is not required for Checks. Asset ID details and ticketing systems are more fully covered by other documents (e.g. Halo Integration (asset ID).)
  • Leave the Asset ID blank.
Your Check so far will look something like this:
Step 1: Identification
Navigate to the next step in CheckCentral by clicking the "Next" button or the tab name.
  • Leave "Scheduled" selected as we will be running the script regularly.
  • Assuming you'll run the script daily, leave the Expected Interval on "1" "Day(s)." If you plan to run the script on another interval, adjust accordingly.
  • The initial expectation time is set by the first email message that is received and processed by its Check. (For example, if a notification email arrives at noon and its Check is set for every half hour, it will expect another notification email at 12:30.)
  • Leave the Set as Overdue setting at "After 30 Minutes." If the script notification email is not received after this amount of time has been exceeded, the Check will be marked as a failure.
Leave Custom Schedule de-selected.
Step 2: Schedule
The Matching step is what matches a notification email to its specific Check. It's also where you'll set the notification's CheckCentral destination email. For CheckCentral to parse notification emails, they must be sent to a "mycheckcentral.cc" address. By default, the email address is [your organization name]@mycheckcentral.cc.
A more unique email address is created using the name given to the Check (with white spaces removed).
  • Leave the default selections enabled.
  • Copy the unique email address for later use by clicking on the Copy icon copy.png.
Do not add any matching rules. The unique email address is sufficient.
Step 3: Matching
The email address will appear different based on your organization name and the name you specified for your check.
The previous Matching step identifies the incoming email to the Check. The Status step looks for indicators of what type of notification you're receiving (e.g. The job was successfully run, it failed, or there were some issues.) The configuration options you choose can vary considerably, but the approach is the same.
The Default Status is what is set when the other Rules in this step don't match. Criteria for the remaining statuses then need to be defined, requiring their own unique one-to-one matches.
  • Leave the Default Status on "Failure."
  • The "Success Criteria" section is where you'll set the criteria that will mark an activity as successful.
  • Click
    Add Success Rule
    .
  • A successful run (no certificates expired or expiring soon) of the script will have the word "SUCCESS" in the email Subject.
  • Set the rule to "Subject contains SUCCESS" by leaving the default dropdown selections and typing
    SUCCESS
    (all caps) in the empty text field.
  • The "Warning Criteria" section is where you'll set the criteria that will mark an activity with a warning.
  • Click
    Add Warning Rule
    .
Step 4: Status
A warning result (certificate(s) expiring soon) from the script will have the word "WARN" in the email Subject.
  • Set the rule to "Subject contains WARN" by leaving the default dropdown selections and typing
    WARN
    (all caps) in the empty text field.
Leave the Condense Whitespace and Combine Attachments checkboxes enabled.
Notification Fields
Notifications are simply how you want to be informed of Check Failures, Warnings, and some other Status changes.
Email, push, chat and other software can be integrated as well as ticketing systems, allowing for automatic ticket creation and management.
Further configuration is required for each to function and is done via the Notifications tab in the main menu. They can be configured before or after Check creation.
For more understanding of Notification setup, see the CheckCentral Beginner's Guide (Notifications).
  • Select the desired means of Notification. If in doubt of the selections here, leave the defaults.
  • From the Save tab, click the "Save Check" button.
With the Check configured in CheckCentral, you need to install the script onto a machine (where it will regularly run).
  • Download the script: CheckWebsiteCertExpiry.zip.
  • Extract it somewhere on the computer (e.g. C:\Scripts). There will be three files: CheckWebsiteCertificateExpiry.ps1, createScheduledTask.ps1, and websites.txt
  • Edit the websites.txt file to contain the list of websites you want the script to check. Save it. Make sure to put one URL on each line.
  • Open a PowerShell console and run the script to make sure it works. For example:

    Code

    .\CheckWebsiteCertExpiry.ps1 -Websites (Get-Content websites.txt) -EmailFromAddress {Email From Address} -EmailToAddress {Check Email Address}
  • Refresh the Check page or Dashboard to see the new Activity for your Check.
  • You're ready to set up the Windows Scheduled Task so the script will automatically run each day.
  • First, edit the parameters at the top of the CreateScheduledTask.ps1 script and save the changes.
  • You'll see the new Scheduled Task in the Windows Task Scheduler. Run it and verify that a second Activity shows up in the CheckCentral Check.
Test
For more detail on Check creation and best practices, see our Check Creation Guide.
For other guides and support contact information, see CheckCentral Support
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