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Check metabase-version

Overview

Checks the installed Metabase version against the endoflife.date API and alerts if the version is end-of-life or if newer major, minor, or patch releases are available. By default, alerts 30 days before the official EOL date. The offset is configurable.

Important Notes:

  • The check must run locally on the Metabase server because it reads the version out of the jar.
  • Metabase writes the version into the jar at build time, and the check reads it from there. It does not start a JVM: java -jar metabase.jar version prints the same version, but only after a full Metabase has come up, which takes around 30 seconds and is far beyond what a check may spend.
  • Metabase prefixes every release with the digit of its license, 0 for the open-source edition and 1 for the Enterprise Edition, and both editions ship the same release behind it. The output names the version as the jar names it, so an Enterprise host reports v1.58.24. endoflife.date lists the open-source cycles only, so the check looks the release up without the license digit.
  • Metabase's 58 in v0.58.24 is its major release, not the 0 in front of it. endoflife.date lists cycles as 0.58, so a new Metabase release arrives as a new minor version and --check-minor is the parameter that alerts on it. --check-major never fires for Metabase.
  • The jar is around 500 MB and its index holds a quarter of a million entries, so reading it costs a moment on slow or network-backed storage. The shipped Icinga Director command allows 30 seconds for the check.

Data Collection:

  • Reads the installed Metabase version from version.properties inside /opt/metabase/metabase.jar (configurable via --path)
  • Compares against the endoflife.date API to determine EOL status and available updates
  • Caches endoflife.date responses locally for 24 hours to reduce external requests

Fact Sheet

Fact Value
Check Plugin Download https://github.com/Linuxfabrik/monitoring-plugins/tree/main/check-plugins/metabase-version
Nagios/Icinga Check Name check_metabase_version
Check Interval Recommendation Every day
Can be called without parameters Yes
Runs on Cross-platform
Compiled for Windows No (runs with Python interpreter)
Uses State File $TEMP/linuxfabrik-lib-version.db

Help

usage: metabase-version [-h] [-V] [--always-ok] [--check-major]
                        [--check-minor] [--check-patch] [--insecure]
                        [--no-perfdata] [--no-proxy] [--offset-eol OFFSET_EOL]
                        [--path PATH] [--proxy PROXY] [--timeout TIMEOUT]
                        [--unreachable-severity {ok,warn,crit,unknown}]

Checks the installed Metabase version against the endoflife.date API and
alerts if the version is end-of-life or if newer major, minor, or patch
releases are available. By default, alerts 30 days before the official EOL
date. The offset is configurable.

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -V, --version         show program's version number and exit
  --always-ok           Always returns OK.
  --check-major         Alert when a new major release is available, even if
                        the current version is not yet EOL. Example: running
                        v26 (not yet EOL) and v27 is available.
  --check-minor         Alert when a new major.minor release is available,
                        even if the current version is not yet EOL. Example:
                        running v26.2 (not yet EOL) and v26.3 is available.
  --check-patch         Alert when a new major.minor.patch release is
                        available, even if the current version is not yet EOL.
                        Example: running v26.2.7 (not yet EOL) and v26.2.8 is
                        available.
  --insecure            This option explicitly allows insecure SSL
                        connections.
  --no-perfdata         Suppress the performance data section from the output.
                        The status message and the exit code are unaffected,
                        so alerting keeps working while trending data is
                        dropped.
  --no-proxy            Do not use a proxy, not even one the environment
                        names. Overrides `--proxy`.
  --offset-eol OFFSET_EOL
                        Alert n days before ("-30") or after an EOL date ("30"
                        or "+30"). Default: -30 days
  --path PATH           Full path to Metabase's `metabase.jar`. Default:
                        /opt/metabase/metabase.jar
  --proxy PROXY         Proxy to reach the target through. The scheme defaults
                        to `http` when omitted. Overrides the proxy the
                        environment names (`http_proxy`, `https_proxy`,
                        `all_proxy`) together with the exceptions it lists in
                        `no_proxy`, and is itself overridden by `--no-proxy`.
                        Without either parameter the environment applies.
                        Credentials belong into the environment variable
                        rather than here, because a command-line argument is
                        visible to every user on the host. Example:
                        `--proxy=http://proxy.example.com:3128`.
  --timeout TIMEOUT     Network timeout in seconds. Default: 8 (seconds)
  --unreachable-severity {ok,warn,crit,unknown}
                        State to report when the online source is unreachable.
                        What is used instead - bundled offline data, a cached
                        copy, or nothing at all - is named in the output, and
                        a clean result then only covers what that fallback
                        could confirm. Default: ok

Documentation:
https://linuxfabrik.github.io/monitoring-plugins/check-plugins/metabase-version/

Usage Examples

./metabase-version

Output:

Metabase v0.58.24 (EOL 2027-02-17 -30d, minor 0.63.16 available)

./metabase-version --path=/opt/metabase-enterprise/metabase.jar --check-minor

Output:

Metabase v1.58.24 (EOL 2027-02-17 -30d, minor 0.63.16 available) [WARNING]

States

  • UNKNOWN if there is no jar at --path, if the monitoring user may not read it, if the file is not an archive, or if it is an archive that carries no version.properties.
  • UNKNOWN if the jar names no release. A Metabase built straight from a source checkout looks like that; a released jar always carries its version.

The end-of-life verdict, the --check-major / --check-minor / --check-patch alerts, --offset-eol, --always-ok and what happens when endoflife.date cannot be reached work the same way in every endoflife.date-based version plugin. They are described in Version Plugins. For Metabase, the release number sits behind the license digit, so a new release is a new minor version and --check-minor is the parameter that alerts on it.

Perfdata / Metrics

Name Type Description
metabase-version Number Installed Metabase version as float. "0.58.24" becomes "0.5824". The license digit is part of it, so the same release reads as "1.5824" on an Enterprise Edition host.

Troubleshooting

Metabase not found at ...

The jar is not where the check looked. The Linuxfabrik default is /opt/metabase/metabase.jar; point --path at the jar the systemd unit starts if the installation puts it elsewhere:

systemctl show --property=ExecStart metabase.service

No permission to read ...

Metabase installations often keep the jar readable by its own service account only. Grant the monitoring user read access to the file, or point --path at a readable copy.

... names no release in its version.properties

The jar was built from a source checkout rather than downloaded from Metabase, and carries no release number. Reporting one anyway would put a version on the dashboard that upstream never shipped. Point --path at a released jar, or leave the check off that host.

Credits, License