Enterprise Agents
Last updated
Last updated
The ThousandEyes platform uses global vantage points to obtain data on the availability and performance of network-based resources. An Enterprise Agent is ThousandEyes software running on a Linux platform deployed and managed by a ThousandEyes customer for their exclusive use (in contrast to Cloud Agents, which are managed by ThousandEyes and shared by customers), to test targets from inside your network, or from within infrastructure within your control.
Enterprise Agents require modest hardware resources, and so are easily deployed in your own network, in data centers, branch offices or in IaaS provider environments. They can be deployed in several ways: as virtual machines running in software hypervisors or IaaS environments, virtual services on virtualized networking platforms, as Linux packages, as Docker containers, or as ISO images onto supported hardware platforms.
The Linux-package Enterprise Agent runs on any compatible version of Linux. For the current list of Linux distributions that support the Enterprise Agent Linux package, check Supported Agent Operating Systems.
Once the package is installed on the host and configured, it runs as a service. For Enterprise Agents that are installed using the Linux-package approach, the only software that is kept up to date is the software required by the agent code.
For instructions on installing the agent using a Linux package, see Linux Package Method.
ThousandEyes provides an Enterprise Agent Docker image from hub.docker.com, which runs on Docker installed on Linux. Docker running on Windows and Mac is not currently supported. The image is based on the Alpine Linux operating system.
The virtual appliance is a virtual machine providing a pre-installed agent and operating system (Ubuntu Linux) for customers to rapidly deploy into a hypervisor platform. The virtual appliance contains a web-based management console, which allows users with any level of technical experience to configure network, proxy and other settings.
To install a virtual appliance, you must have a hypervisor available. For more information, see Enterprise Agents Hypervisor Installation.
The virtual appliance runs Ubuntu Linux server, and have the unattended-upgrades package installed by default, ensuring all critical security fixes are automatically installed on the device.
unattended-upgrades requires internet access and access to the Ubuntu repositories to operate. For more information on firewall configuration requirements for ThousandEyes, see Firewall Configuration for Enterprise Agents.
Two distribution options are available:
The industry-standard .ova template format
A Microsoft Hyper-V .zip file
Both distribution types can be downloaded from the Add > New Agent page.
In addition, you can preconfigure virtual appliances for your exclusive use. This binds your account token to the agent, such that it cannot be modified - and requires less configuration during Enterprise Agent deployment.
ThousandEyes offers ISO images of the Virtual Appliance which can be installed on inexpensive hardware, for customers who need physical hardware in addition to the ThousandEyes Agent software. The current hardware platforms are Intel NUC and Raspberry Pi, for supported versions and hardware configurations.
Enterprise Agents can be grouped into agent clusters. Clusters allow you to add capacity to a single logical agent as needed.
When a test is assigned to the cluster, the cluster software assigns the test to the Enterprise Agent in the cluster that has the least utilization for the type of test being assigned. Note that clustering does not provide a failover mechanism. If one member of the cluster goes offline or experiences similar issues, the tests of that cluster member are not reallocated to the other members of the cluster.
For more information on agent clusters, see Working with Enterprise Agent Clusters.
For details, see Enterprise Agent Hardware Requirements.
For firewall rule recommendations for Enterprise Agents, see this article.
If you are interested in the types of data that ThousandEyes agents collect, see this article.
