Endpoint Agents

The ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent is an application that is installed on Windows or macOS machines to collect network- and application-layer performance data when users access specific websites from within monitored networks.

Introduction to Endpoint Agents

Endpoint Agents allow customers to leverage regular end-user desktops and laptops as test devices for measuring internal and external application performance. As Endpoint Agents can be deployed on and off-premise to readily available machines in any location or network, performance measurements can be run from almost every possible user environment.

Deploying Endpoints gives you the ability to identify and diagnose end-user issues in near real-time. Unlike Enterprise Agents, Endpoint Agents run natively on Windows and Mac OSX operating systems and can be deployed on mass using standard automated deployment tools. Figure 1 below shows a typical example of deployment locations for Endpoint, Enterprise and Cloud Agents.

Figure 1. Example Endpoint, Enterprise and Cloud Agent deployment locations

Endpoint Agents include the following features that are responsible for measuring the application performance:

  • Synthetic Tests: A synthetic test template combines scheduled and dynamic tests to monitor a specific application. All the major applications have a defined synthetic test template, and you can also create a custom template for applications that do not have a predefined template.

    • Scheduled Tests - Scheduled tests run from Endpoint Agents at regularly scheduled intervals. These tests run without user interaction and can be deployed on Network (agent-to-server tests) and Web (HTTP server tests) layers.

    • Dynamic Tests - Dynamic Tests are similar to Scheduled Tests but, in addition they allow you to configure an Endpoint Agent to dynamically create tests to IP addresses and ports it detects when an application opens a connection.

  • Real User Tests - Endpoint Agents record in-browser and network performance metrics whenever users navigate to monitored domains from monitored networks.

  • Network Access - This feature records the performance of the Endpoint's physical wired or wireless connections, gateways, VPNs, proxies, and DNS servers.

You have full control of when and under what conditions the tests run. For example, a Scheduled Test deployed to a laptop can be switched on or off as it (the laptop) transits through different locations, wireless and wired networks, VPNs and proxies. Similarly, the Real User Test recordings will only occur when the Endpoint Agent is on a specified network and also limited by configured target domains.

All the collected data and metrics are displayed in one intuitive Endpoint Agent > Views page. The Views page separates Scheduled Tests, Dynamic Tests, Real User Tests, and Network Access data by layers and the interactive timeline presents performance data that can be used to rapidly search through historical data. An example of the Views page, the interactive timeline, layers, metrics, and filters can be seen in Figure 2 below. With your Endpoint Agent data, you can create proactive alerts, email, and create highly customizable dashboards. All Endpoint Agent data is available via our API.

Figure 2. An example of just one of the many ways interactive data is presented: Endpoint Agent > Views

There are two types of Endpoint Agents: Endpoint Agent and Endpoint Agent Pulse. The key difference between the two is that Endpoint Agent Pulse does not include the real user test feature. Throughout this article and the subsequent articles, all topics discussed apply to both products unless explicitly mentioned.

This article further explains: where and how to deploy Endpoint Agents, configuration options, how to run tests, end-user tools and experience, how to navigate your way through the UI and the layers of test views, how to create dashboards, how to troubleshoot deployments and operations, user permissions and much more.

Deploying Endpoint Agents

Typically, organizations have multiple teams that manage their IT estate so to assist in the deployment and planning stages and to ensure the right teams are involved do check the pre-deployment requirements. the teams who manage functions such as software deployments, end-user access control, VPN-access, proxies and anti-virus systems must be involved as early as possible, so the Endpoint deployment runs smoothly. Use the following links for detailed instructions on how to install Endpoint Agents.

Endpoint HTTP proxy support

The Endpoint Agent (and pulse) support the use of HTTP proxies. The network performance from an Endpoint Agent to a proxy is automatically measured during Scheduled Tests (as a part of synthetic tests) or Real User Test results. The network performance tests consist of a hop-by-hop path trace and end-to-end latency, loss, and jitter tests. Network tests are unable to reach the final target when a proxy is in use (Figure 3 below shows a proxy in use and the Network layer tests unable to reach the final target), therefore, all network tests are performed to the proxy instead.

Real User Tests proxy

The proxy used by Browser Sessions is not configurable but automatically detected from the host system. See Figures 3 and 4 below for examples of how we present proxy data.

Figure 3. Details view showing proxy measurements: Endpoint Agents > Views > Browser Sessions > Visited Pages > Session

Figure 4. Endpoint proxy displayed in Path Visualisation view: Endpoint Agents > Views > Browser Sessions > Network > Path Visualization

Scheduled Tests proxy

You can configure and store multiple proxy configurations and apply them to all tests or set a unique per test proxy. The proxy configuration supports static assignments, PAC files and Basic and NTLM proxy authentication methods. To apply a saved proxy configuration for all scheduled tests use the settings on the Endpoint Agent > Agent Settings page or for a per test proxy scenario apply a proxy configuration on the Endpoint Agent > Test Settings page. This was mentioned previously but as a reminder here it is again: we currently only support HTTP proxies and if you need to use Endpoint with an HTTPS proxy get in touch with our Customer Engineering Team for further assistance.

For detailed instructions on proxy configurations and options see the Proxy Configuration article. For more details on how to navigate through the Views page to see your proxy measurements head to the Test, Real User Test, and Network Access Views and metrics section.

Endpoint Agent updates

We usually ship Endpoint Agent updates every 2 weeks for both the Windows and Mac OSX operating systems. The Endpoint applications have auto-update process that runs at regular intervals to check, download, and install package updates. The Chrome browser extension automatically updates whenever a new Endpoint version is published in the Chrome Store. For full details on how the Endpoint Agent update process works see the How does the Endpoint Agent work article.

Endpoint Agent permissions

We have several endpoint-related permissions for user and user group management. For full details on how to create custom roles with Endpoint permissions see the Role-based Access Control article.

To provide administrators with more granular control over displaying information that could identify an end-user or resource, the permission View endpoint data that identifies the user has been split into the following three permissions:

  • View endpoint data that identifies Endpoint Agents - Allows users to see the names of Endpoint Agents in the views. Users without this permission will see a numeric ID instead of the agent name.

  • View endpoint data that identifies users - Allow users to view the name of the user on a computer where the Endpoint Agent is installed. Users without this permission will see a numeric ID instead of the name of the user on the computer with the Endpoint Agent. The "Users" option will not be available as a filter.

  • View endpoint data that identifies the network - Allow users to view the names of the IP networks being monitored as well as SSIDs and names and addresses of network devices such as routers, firewalls, and proxies. Users without this permission will see a numeric ID instead of the network or device name or address.

By default, all existing roles will have all of these permissions enabled.

By default, agent names are taken from the name of the computer. Often, the computer name contains the name of the computer's primary user. In this scenario, to avoid identifying an end-user through the agent name, administrators can either remove this permission or change the agent name in the Endpoint Agent > Agent Settings page.

Introduction to the Endpoint Agent Capabilities

Scheduled Tests

Endpoint Agent and Pulse both run web-layer HTTP-server and network-layer Agent-to-Server Scheduled Tests types. Both test types are only IPv4 compatible. Scheduled tests can run at set intervals from a minimum of 1 minute to a maximum of 1 hour. All scheduled tests perform network-layer end-end and path trace tests. If a proxy is being used the network layer tests will target the proxy and not the end target. Scheduled Tests can be configured to run several types of checks against your target e.g. verify SSL, page content or HTTP response codes.

Endpoint Agent in conjunction with its web-browser plugin can be configured to monitor end-users web Browser Sessions automatically or end-users can manually start recording their Browser Sessions using their browser extension. When recording Browser Sessions the agent will also perform network-layer end-end and path trace tests and collect Network Access data. For full details on scheduled test configuration options see the Creating Scheduled Tests on Endpoint Agents article.

Dynamic Tests

Dynamic Tests (previously called Automated Session Tests) collect data from applications that are developed on Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platforms; for example, Webex or Zoom. These tests are dynamic, so they execute only when a user uses an application on their device (therefore, the system and network resource utilization is optimal). The data collected from these tests can be used for troubleshooting issues faced by the user while using the application. Dynamic tests are a part of Synthetic tests and for instructions on how to configure and manage the Synthetic tests see the Configuring options for Synthetic Tests article.

Real User Tests

Real User Tests can be started manually using the browser extension or configured to automatically collect data by specifying groups of Monitored Domains. There is no limit to the number of tests you can record. We currently only support probes for IPv4 targets. For instructions on how to use the real user tests to manually record a Browser Session see the Endpoint Agent end-user experience article and for instructions on configuring automatic real user tests see the Real User Tests article.

Network Access

The Network Access data can be used for troubleshooting errors seen in Real User Tests recordings or it can be used to proactively track how your Endpoint Agents' local network services are performing. The Network Access layer has two parts, Network Topology and Wireless. Network Topology visualizes the devices in use by Endpoint Agents for Real User Tests and Wireless displays a table of information about wireless data such as SSID, signal strength, channel, and much more. Network Access data is continuously collected whilst an Endpoint Agent is online and accessing websites defined in the monitored domain set (Endpoint Agents > Monitoring Settings > Browser Sessions). The devices in the Network Access topology include Endpoint Agents' gateway devices, DNS servers, and proxy or VPN servers. Currently, Network Access data can only be generated for IPv4 targets.

Working with Endpoint Agent Views

The Endpoint Agent > Views page has four layers: Scheduled Tests, Dynamic Tests, Real User Tests, and Network Access. Each layer contains a menu of sub-layers, a timeline, options to display data in tables, and data filters. Depending on the Views layer you have selected you also get geographical maps, network topology diagrams, path visualizations, and sliders that scroll into view when table data is selected. There is a lot of information being presented in a very organized and easy-to-follow format. From the current moment in time, the timeline holds up to 31 days of data. If you wish to keep the data for longer than 31 days, you have the option to create Snapshots. Snapshots let you share test data with anyone, regardless of whether they subscribe to the ThousandEyes platform or not.

The following sub-sections contain screenshots and article links, the articles explain how to navigate and leverage the features of the Views layers, for example, they show you how to select tests, sift through the timeline, select metrics, and what your metrics mean, apply filters (e.g. find data on an Endpoint Agent), find proxy performance data, check page load page waterfall data, use the path visualizations, check wireless strength and display session or Visited Page details.

Views, Scheduled Tests

  • Views - Scheduled Tests: HTTP Server and Network type tests, Path Visualizations, Maps and Tables

Figure 6. Scheduled test results view: Endpoint Agent > Views > Scheduled Tests > HTTP Server

Views, Browser Sessions

If a Visited Page and Session is selected a detailed slide-out window appears.

  • Views - Real User Tests > Visited Pages: Web pages recorded manually with the browser extension or automatically via a Monitored Network and Domain groupset.

  • Views - Real User Tests > Sessions: Web sessions recorded manually with the browser extension or automatically via a Monitored Network and Domain groupset.

Figure 7. Real User Tests Visited Pages: Endpoint Agent > Views > Browser Sessions > Visited Pages > Sessions

Views, Network Access

Figure 8. Network Access layer: Endpoint Agent > Views > Network Access > Network Topology

Views, Dynamic Tests

  • Views - Dynamic Tests: Network type tests, Path Visualizations, Maps and Tables.

Figure 9. Dynamic Test results view: Endpoint Agent > Views > Dynamic Tests > Network

Dashboards for Endpoint Data

Dashboards are simple to use and fully customizable to display your Endpoint Agent data in a style suited for your target audience. Dashboards also assist in running on-demand or scheduled to automatically generate reports at regular intervals. Check out these helpful articles on the topics below:

Alerting

For your Scheduled Tests, you can customize your Alert Rules. Simply put, alerting is configured out of the box to alert you when you need information about tests that are failing. If you need to get more granular or change some of the notification rules, check out the Alerts article for more information on fine-tuning and managing alerts.

API

You can access the API to consume the results and data captured by an Endpoint Agent. To know more about the Endpoint API articles, follow this link.

Endpoint data collection and metrics

The Data collected by Endpoint Agent article describes what data is generated and collected when running your Endpoint Agent, Scheduled Tests, Browser Sessions and by the Network Access layer.

Reference articles

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