Monitor Remote Linux Server Health via SSH

MCP System Health Monitoring

A robust server monitoring system built on the Multi-Channel Protocol (MCP) framework, designed for seamless integration with Claude and other AI assistants.

Overview

MCP System Health Monitoring provides real-time health and performance metrics for remote Linux servers. It establishes SSH connections to collect system metrics including CPU usage, memory utilization, disk space, network statistics, security metrics, and more.

Features

• Comprehensive Metrics Collection: CPU, memory, disk, network, security metrics, and more
• Real-time Monitoring: Live system status checks and performance insights
• Multi-Server Support: Monitor multiple servers from a single MCP instance
• Threshold-based Alerts: Automatic detection of critical system conditions
• SSH Connection Management: Efficient connection pooling and reuse
• Security-focused: Monitor for failed login attempts, suspicious processes, and security updates
• MCP Integration: Ready for AI assistant interaction via the MCP protocol

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• MCP Python SDK
• SSH access to target servers

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/mcp-system-health.git
   cd mcp-system-health
   

2. Create a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv
   

   Activate the virtual environment

   • On macOS/Linux:

     source venv/bin/activate
     

   • On Windows:

     venv\Scripts\activate
     

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Configuration

Create a configuration file for each server you want to monitor:

{
  "hostname": "server1",
  "ip": "192.168.1.100",
  "ssh_port": 22,
  "username": "admin",
  "key_path": "~/.ssh/id_rsa"
}

Alternatively, you can use the command-line launcher to dynamically create configurations.

Usage

Using the Launcher

./mcp_launcher.py --username=admin --key-path=~/.ssh/id_rsa --servers=192.168.1.100,192.168.1.101

Command-line Options

• --username: SSH username (required)
• --password: SSH password (either this or key-path required)
• --key-path: Path to SSH private key (either this or password required)
• --ssh-port: SSH port (default: 22)
• --servers: Comma-separated list of server IPs (required)
• --repository: Path to existing server repository
• --log-level: Logging level (debug, info, warning, error)

Integration with MCP Clients

To use the MCP System Health server with MCP clients like Claude, you'll need to add the server configuration to your client's MCP settings.

Claude Integration

Add this configuration to Claude's MCP settings and restart for changes to take effect:
You can use either password or key_path

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "system-health": {
      "command": "/path/to/your/venv/bin/python3",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/your/system-health-mcp-server/src/mcp_launcher.py", 
        "--username=your_ssh_username", 
        "--password=your_ssh_password",
        "--key-path=~/.ssh/id_rsa",
        "--servers=server1.example.com,server2.example.com", 
        "--log-level=debug"
      ],
      "description": "System Health MCP Server for monitoring remote servers"
    }
  }
}

#Using as a Library
#Configure your servers, you can use either password or key_path
from src.server import serve

server_configs = [
    {
        "hostname": "server1",
        "ip": "192.168.1.100",
        "ssh_port": 22,
        "username": "admin",
        "password": "password",
        "key_path": "~/.ssh/id_rsa"
    }
]

#Start the MCP server
await serve(server_configs)

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes the following tools:

1. system_status: General system status information
2. cpu_metrics: Detailed CPU metrics
3. memory_metrics: Memory usage and swap statistics
4. disk_metrics: Disk usage for all or specific mount points
5. network_metrics: Network interface statistics
6. security_metrics: Security-related metrics
7. process_list: List of top CPU-consuming processes
8. system_alerts: Current alerts based on threshold violations
9. health_summary: Comprehensive health summary

Alert Thresholds

The system provides automatic alerts based on these default thresholds:

• CPU:

  • Critical: Usage ≥ 90%
  • Warning: Usage ≥ 80%
  • Warning: Load average > 1.5 × core count
  • Warning: I/O wait > 20%

• Memory:

  • Critical: Usage ≥ 95%
  • Warning: Usage ≥ 85%
  • Warning: Swap usage ≥ 80%
  • Warning: Free memory < 1GB (on systems with ≥ 2GB)

• Disk:

  • Critical: Usage ≥ 95%
  • Warning: Usage ≥ 85%
  • Warning: Free space < 1GB (on disks ≥ 10GB)
  • Warning: Inode usage ≥ 90%
  • Warning: Disk I/O utilization > 80%

• Security:

  • Warning: Failed logins > 10
  • Critical: Security updates > 5
  • Warning: Security updates ≥ 1
  • Warning: System not updated for ≥ 30 days
  • Critical: Suspicious processes detected
  • Warning: Unusual ports open

Security Considerations

• Prefer key-based authentication over password authentication
• Use dedicated monitoring accounts with limited permissions
• Store SSH credentials securely
• Run the MCP server on a secure, trusted host

Limitations

• Currently only supports Linux-based servers
• No historical data storage (metrics are real-time only)
• No notification system for alerts (alerts are only available via tool calls)
• Limited customization of alert thresholds

Troubleshooting

• Ensure SSH credentials are correct
• Check that target servers allow SSH connections
• Verify that the user has sufficient permissions to execute system commands
• Enable debug logging for more detailed output