Endpoint Agent Installation on Cisco Webex Devices (RoomOS)

Cisco's RoomOS is the cloud-connected operating system that enables your Cisco devices to deliver great hybrid work experiences – enhancing productivity and collaboration. The Endpoint agents are natively incorporated into RoomOS devices and provide hop-by-hop network path visibility when these devices are part of the meetings. These agents can be activated explicitly using Control Hub, the same integration used for Windows and macOS clients. Therefore, network administrators get a familiar troubleshooting experience.

This document lets you learn how to set up the Endpoint agents on RoomOS devices.

Pre-requisites

  • Activate the ControlHub integration by following all the steps mentioned here.

  • Get the connection string for the account group you want the agent on the device to register with. Please make sure that this account group corresponds to the one where ControlHub integration was enabled in the previous prerequisite step.

  • Ensure sufficient Endpoint licenses (Advantage or Essentials) as this integration consumes one Endpoint license per device.

  • The version for RoomOS device firmware must be RoomOS 11.7.1.6 16945c93906 or higher.

From November 14, 2023, the installation will support deployments with Proxy. For Proxy support, the version of RoomOS device firmware must be RoomOS 11.10.0.18 64aface44e2.

Supported RoomOS Devices

Room Devices:

  • Room Bars and Kits:

    • Cisco Room Bar

    • Cisco Room Panarama

    • Cisco Room 55

    • Cisco Room 55 Dual

    • Cisco Room 70

    • Cisco Room 70 Panorama

    • Cisco Room 70 G2

    • Cisco Webex Room USB

    • Cisco Room Navigator

    • Cisco Room Bar Pro

    • Cisco Room Kit

    • Cisco Room Kit Pro

    • Cisco Room Kit Plus

    • Cisco Room Kit EQ

    • Cisco Room Kit Mini

  • Codecs:

    • Cisco Codec EQ

    • Cisco Codec Pro

    • Cisco Codec Plus

  • Boards:

    • Cisco Board Pro

    • Cisco Board 85S

    • Cisco Board 55

    • Cisco Board 55S

    • Cisco Board 70

    • Cisco Board Pro 55

    • Cisco Board Pro 75

    • Cisco Board 70S

Desks Devices:

  • Cisco Desk Mini

  • Cisco Desk Pro

  • Cisco Desk

You can find the complete list of supported devices here

Getting Started

  1. To enable the Endpoint agent on select devices (you can skip this step if you intend to enable the agents for all the devices in the organization):

    First, enable the feature for the organization:

    • On the left navigation bar, select Devices in the Management Section.

    • At the top of the screen, choose Settings.

    • In the ThousandEyes section, turn on the Enable ThousandEyes Agent toggle.

    • Do not click the Add button for the Connection String. That needs to be done on the individual device configuration shown in the next steps.

    To activate a single device:

    • On the left navigation bar, select Devices in the Management Section.

    • Search for the device that you intend to enable.

    • On the right-hand side, in the Configuration Section, select All Configurations.

    • In the search bar, type ThousandEyes Connection String.

    • Enter the connection string you obtained in the first step.

  • Select Next, then Apply, and then Review.

  • Repeat the steps for the devices you would like to enable.

  1. To enable the Endpoint agents on all the devices:

    • On the left navigation bar, select Devices in the Management Section.

    • At the top of the screen, choose Settings.

    • In the ThousandEyes section, turn on the Enable ThousandEyes Agent toggle.

    • Click the Add button.

    • Enter the connection string you obtained in the first step.

  • Save the changes to activate all the devices. Also, any new devices added in the future will get activated automatically.

It takes about 10 minutes for an agent activated through ControlHub to register in ThousandEyes. This happens only for the first time an agent is enabled. However, you can restart the device to register the agent instantly.

  1. Upon activating the agents, go to the Agent Settings section in the ThousandEyes application and make sure the agent is registered. You will see the devices listed by their SEPMAC name (Ethernet address).

Configuring Endpoint Agent Tests

Once you have installed the agent, you should enable the appropriate test set. The ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent offers Synthetic Tests, which are a combination of scheduled and dynamic tests. Synthetic tests provide ThousandEyes-certified templates that allow you to quickly configure tests for commonly used applications and services.

To access the synthetic tests, navigate (within the ThousandEyes application) to the Endpoint Agents > Test Settings section and click the Monitor Application button in the Tests tab, nested in the Synthetic Tests tab.

You can select the pre-configured template for the desired application. For example, Webex, Webex calling, and Webex Video Integration with Microsoft Teams (VIMT)/ Video Mesh Node(VMN) calls can be monitored with the Webex template. Similarly, Microsoft Teams Rooms can be monitored using the Microsoft Teams template.

Webex calling is only supported in Webex 2.0 Limited Preview, you can learn more about it here.

https://docs.thousandeyes.com/whats-new/changelog#webex-dynamic-test-2.0-limited-preview

These templates can further be configured and customized. For detailed instructions on test configuration, see Configuration Options for Synthetic Tests.

How to verify Endpoint Agents are sending data?

Once the agents are activated and devices have participated in a few meetings you can go to the ControlHub troubleshooting page to verify the integration is working and that agents are sending data.

Deleting the Endpoint Agent

You can delete an agent from the ThousandEyes application within the Endpoint Agents > Agent Settings section. The detailed instructions can be found here.

The Agent Status Settings offer configuration options to manage and handle the statuses of endpoint agents automatically. It's important to note that, unlike Windows and macOS, it's not possible to uninstall the endpoint agent installed on Cisco RoomOS devices.

For deletion of Endpoint Agents:

  • Endpoint agents deleted via the ThousandEyes dashboard can be recovered only if the agent version is 1.166.0 or higher. Also, it may take the agents up to one hour to start functioning again post-recovery.

  • Endpoint agents with the version below 1.166.0 cannot be recovered if deleted.

  • If you cannot recover the Endpoint agent, you can use ControlHub to reactivate it. However, it might show up as a duplicate of the previously removed agent in filters until the data produced by the deleted agent becomes obsolete.

Limitations

  • This installation works only on the current portfolio RoomOS-11 devices and does not support DX/SX/MX.

Next Steps

After completing this integration, the following links will help you in getting the most out of the ThousandEyes Endpoint Agents:

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