Archived - Endpoint Installation using Customized Installers

This article explains the installation of the Endpoint Agent using Customized Installation links that are now deprecated and replaced with generic installers. You can learn more about the Endpoint Agent installation using the generic installers here

As a pre-requisite, you must have the customized installation link to install the agent.

Installation on Windows using Customized Installer

The Windows installer package (MSI) installs all the components necessary for the Endpoint Agent to function. The Windows MSI installer, like any other Windows software package, can be invoked interactively by a user that has administrative privileges on the target machine.

The installation can be done in either of the following ways:

Interactive Installation

You can install the Endpoint Agent interactively by following these instructions:

1. Launch the installer. You will be guided by the wizard through the installation steps. Click the Next button.

2. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard and continue to the next steps.

3. The Feature Selection page of the installer wizard provides a drop-down menu to select the desired extension, and disable support for Extended Network Tests .

From January 31, 2023, the TCP Network Tests installation feature has been included as a part of the Extended Network Tests. The installer will by default, support the Extended Network Tests. More information can be found here.

As the Selection Tree widget is a standard Windows Installer control, with limited ability to customise it; the Will be installed on local hard drive and the Entire feature will be installed on local hard drive options are identical.

Once you have configured the extensions, click Next to continue the installation wizard.

Although browser extensions are an opt-in feature during installation, ThousandEyes does not recommend installing the Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browser extensions via the installer as it might conflict with the existing Group Policy settings.

Suppose you are using Group Policy to manage browser extensions for organization-distributed add-ins. In that case, we recommend not selecting the Browser Extension option during the Endpoint Agent installation and instead adding the browser extension separately.

You can refer to the Install the Endpoint Agent Browser Extension article for alternate methods to install the browser extension.

1. Upon successful installation, the Endpoint Agent doesn’t create any entries under the “Applications Menu”. All the Endpoint Agent products are installed at: C:\Program Files (x86)\ThousandEyes\

Silent Installation

You can install the Endpoint Agent silently, or schedule silent installation as part of an installation script. In such cases, use the following instructions via the command-line:

msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart /qn /l*vx <path_to_log>

For example, the following command will install the Endpoint Agent via the MSI located at C:\Endpoint Agent-x86-1.2.0.msi and will save the installation output to the file C:\ThousandEyesInstall.log:

msiexec.exe /i "C:\Endpoint Agent-x86-1.2.0.msi" /quiet /norestart /qn /l*vx "C:\ThousandEyesInstall.log"

The following sections provide information on additional configuration options, including browser extension installation and TCP support.

Switch	Description	Action
ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport	Extended Network Tests Support	Install Windows driver and enable support for Extended Network tests.
EdgeExtension	Microsoft Edge Browser Extension	Enable support for collecting network metrics for approved pages in Microsoft Edge.
ChromeExtension	Google Chrome Browser Extension	Enable support for collecting network metrics for approved pages in Google Chrome.
IeExtension	Internet Explorer Bowrser Extension	Enable support for collecting network metrics for approved pages in Internet Explore.
Agent	Endpoint Client Agent	Optional Switch for base agent installation. This does not include support for the Extended Network Tests.
TcpNetworkTestsSupport	TCP Network Tests Support	Install Windows driver and enable support for TCP tests.This switch will be deprecated. More information can be found here..

If no Switches are passed, Extended Network Tests will be installed and no Browser Extensions are installed.

To install the extensions via the command-line, add the relevant flags shown in the examples below:

Default

If the MSI is run without any options, the Endpoint agent is installed with support for Extended Network Tests and without any Browser Extensions. msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart

You can also include the reinstallation token: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ENDPOINT_REINSTALLATION_METHOD=MERGE_BY_HOSTNAME ENDPOINT_REINSTALLATION_KEY=<KEY_GOES_HERE>

With Extended Network Tests Support

Install with Extended Network Tests Support and no browser extensions: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart /qn

Install with Extended Network Tests Support and all the browser extensions: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport,IeExtension,ChromeExtension,EdgeExtension"

Install with Extended Network Tests Support and Microsoft Edge browser extension: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport,EdgeExtension"

Install with Extended Network Tests Support and Internet Explorer browser extension: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport,IeExtension"

Install with Extended Network Tests Support and Chrome browser extension: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport,ChromeExtension"

Install with Extended Network Tests Support and Microsoft Edge, and Internet Explorer browser extensions: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport,IeExtension,EdgeExtension"

Install with Extended Network Tests Support with Microsoft Edge, and Chrome browser extensions: mmsiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport,ChromeExtension,EdgeExtension"

Install with Extended Network Tests Support with Internet Explorer, and Chrome browser extensions: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport,IeExtension,ChromeExtension"

Without Extended Network Tests Support

Install with no Extended Network Tests Support and no browser extensions: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="Agent"

Install with no Extended Network Tests Support and all the browser extensions: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="Agent,IeExtension,ChromeExtension,EdgeExtension"

Install with no Extended Network Tests Support but, with Microsoft Edge extension: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="Agent,EdgeExtension"

Install with no Extended Network Tests Support but, with Internet Explorer browser extension: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="Agent,IeExtension"

Install with no Extended Network Tests Support but, with Chrome browser extension: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="Agent,ChromeExtension"

Install with no Extended Network Tests Support but, with Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer browser extensions: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="Agent,IeExtension,EdgeExtension"

Install with no Extended Network Tests Support but, with Microsoft Edge and Chrome browser extensions: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="ChromeExtension,EdgeExtension"

Install with no Extended Network Tests Support but, with Internet Explorer and Chrome bowser extensions: msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="IeExtension,ChromeExtension"

Remove the Support for Extended Network Tests

To remove the support for Extended Network Tests, add the REMOVE=" ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport" to the command. For example:

msiexec.exe /i <path_to_msi> /quiet /norestart REMOVE="ExtendedNetworkTestsSupport"

The Endpoint Agent does not require a machine restart upon installation. But there may be a case where Windows OS requires a reboot, and this can be part of your company’s internal IT policy too. ThousandEyes recommends you to use the /norestart flag in the installation command line. If the silent installation fails, the output log file will contain the necessary information to pinpoint the root cause of the failure.

Installation on MacOS using Customized Installers

The macOS installer (.pkg file) installs all the components necessary for the Endpoint Agent to function except the Chrome extension (for details see Chrome Extension). The macOS .pkg installer, like any other macOS software package, can be invoked interactively by a user who has administrator privileges on the target machine.

The installation can be done in either of the following ways:

Interactive Installation

You can install the Endpoint Agent interactively by following these instructions:

1. Download the .zip file and and unzip it.

   It contains the .pkg file and the installation configuration file, named installation-config.te-endpoint-agent.

2. Install the .pkg file on the target machine.

3. Double-click (open) installation-config.te-endpoint-agent to set the account token and register the agent.

Silent Installation

You can install the Endpoint Agent silently, or schedule silent installation as part of an installation script. In such cases, use the following instructions:

1. Download the .zip file and unzip it.

   It contains the .pkg file and the installation configuration file, named installation-config.te-endpoint-agent.

2. Install the .pkg: installer -pkg <path_to_pkg> -target /

3. Execute: /Applications/ThousandEyes\ Endpoint\ Agent.app/Contents/MacOS/te-agent --applyconfig <path_to_te-endpoint-agent_file>

If the silent installation fails, the output log file will contain the necessary information to pinpoint the root cause of the failure. The installation output log file, which is managed by the system, is /var/log/install.log.

Adding the ThousandEyes Chrome Extension

If you used the .pkg installer interactively, when installation completes, Chrome opens and displays the ThousandEyes browser extension in the Chrome Web Store.

To install the extension to your Chrome profile, click the Add to Chrome button:

Verifying Your Installation

After installation, the extension will be visible in Chrome’s extension page under More Tools” > “Extensions:

If all the components are installed correctly and are running on the target machine, the Chrome extension will appear on the Chrome browser toolbar:

However, if the Endpoint Agent is not installed or if there’s a problem in any of its components, the extension’s icon will appear grayed out.