Provider Labels
The Labels feature has been upgraded to Tags. All your existing labels have been automatically migrated to the new tagging system with no action required on your part. Existing labels were converted to a tag key with an empty value (for example, a label named subnet-10 is now a tag with the key subnet-10 and no value). You can now manage all tags centrally by navigating to Manage > Tags.
Due to recent platform-wide naming, navigation, and URL changes in the product, you may notice some discrepancies between the product and the screenshots displayed in our technical documentation. The instructions and actual pages in the product are still valid and haven’t changed. Please bear with us as we update our screenshots to better match the in-product experience. See the full scope of changes on Naming and Navigation Menu changes - Summary List.
Provider tags are a quick way to pre-select the providers you care about, in order to surface those providers when viewing data coming from Internet Insights. As with other types of tags for tests and agents, provider tags are customer-defined and are visible within your account group.
After defining provider tags in Internet Insights > Catalog Settings on the Tags tab (or Manage > Tags), you can use these tags on the Internet Insights pages, as well as in alert rules and when creating custom dashboards. Tags are also visible in the Internet Insights packages and provider listings.
Use Cases for Provider Tags
Simple: A customer wants to see only the providers that they care about, so they create a provider tag called “primary providers” and select that one tag as a filter wherever Internet Insights data is shown.
Multiple branch offices: A bank or financial institution has around 20 locations that represent major branch offices in different cities around the world. For example, a New York headquarters might have 2-3 providers, including 1-2 backup providers for failover. One way to use provider tagging would be a “tier 1 providers” tag for the primary providers, and a “tier 2” for the other ones, or to use separate provider tags by region depending on whether the branches use the same providers or not.
Provider evaluation: A brick-and-mortar retailer with outlets and distribution centers throughout North America wants to diversify their infrastructure. They are evaluating a number of potential providers as backups or failovers for better disaster preparedness. They might create one tag called “existing providers” and another for “potential providers” and then create a complex dashboard with dozens of widgets side by side, in order to compare the two provider groups. They can then update this entire dashboard just by editing a tag.
Where Can I Use Provider Tags?
Specifically, provider tags are available in the following areas of the ThousandEyes platform:
On the Internet Insights > Overview map, you can filter by Affected Provider.
On the Internet Insights > Service Views screen at the top, you can click Add a Filter, choose Affected Provider, and then choose one or more provider tags.
On the Internet Insights > Catalog Settings tabs for Packages and Providers, if the same provider or package has multiple tags associated, hover over the tag icons to see the tag names.
On the Manage > Alerts > Alert Rules screen, on the Internet Insights tab, you can quickly set up alert rules for all your favorite providers. Under Settings, change the Catalog Providers option to Specific in order to see the providers on the drill-down at the bottom.
On both Reports and Dashboards, any widget that includes Internet Insights as a data source. Fill out the top options in order to see the drill-down options for Catalog Providers with the provider tags.
Creating and Editing Provider Tags
Use the Tags tab in Internet Insights > Catalog Settings (or Manage > Tags) to add or edit provider tags. You need permission to edit tags as described in Managing Roles in order to create or modify provider tags.
To create a new provider tag:
Go to the Internet Insights > Catalog Settings page or Manage > Tags.
Click the Tags tab (if in Catalog Settings).
Click the Add New Tag or Add tag button.
In the side panel:
Specify the tag key and value (or name).
Choose a tag display color.
Select catalog providers. Use the Search box to find providers by name.
Click Save Changes or Save.
To edit an existing provider tag, go to the Tags tab or Manage > Tags, click the row of the tag you want to edit, make your changes in the side panel and click Save.
On the Tags tab, where all the tags are listed, use the ellipsis menu to Duplicate or Delete a provider tag, as shown below.
Viewing Provider Tags in the Catalog
To view the tag names that are associated with providers and packages, go to Internet Insights > Catalog Settings and hover over the tag icon for the list entry, as shown below.
Using Provider Tags
This section describes how to use provider tags from Internet Insights in other parts of the ThousandEyes platform.
Filtering by Provider Tags on Overview
On Internet Insights > Overview, use the Affected Provider filter at the top of the screen, as shown in the image below.
To filter the Internet Insights Overview map by provider tag:
Choose Internet Insights > Overview.
Click Affected Providers at the top.
In the pop-out panel:
Use the checkboxes on the right to select from provider tags that you have created. The list updates to show only providers that match your tag selections.
Expand the list of providers on the left and choose the providers to show.
Click elsewhere on the screen to close the pop-out panel.
If you don’t see any provider tags, it means that your organization hasn’t configured any tags for your account group.
Filtering by Provider Tags on Views
On the Internet Insights > Service Views screen, the Affected Provider filter is available on both Network and Application outages view layers.
To filter the Internet Insights Views by provider tag:
Choose Internet Insights > Service Views.
At the top, click Add a filter and choose Affected Providers.
In the pop-out panel:
Use the checkboxes on the right to select from provider tags that you have created. The list updates to show only providers that match your tag selections.
Expand the list of providers on the left and choose the providers to show.
Click elsewhere on the screen to close the pop-out panel.
Using Provider Tags in Alert Rules
Provider tags are available in the alert rules for Internet Insights only.
To create an alert rule using provider tags:
Choose Manage > Alerts > Alert Rules.
Click the Internet Insights tab.
Click Add New Alert Rule in the upper right.
In the pop-out panel, choose an Alert Type and enter a rule name.
Change the Catalog Providers from Any to Specific.
Click the provider selection drop-down.
Select one or more provider tags from the checkboxes on the right.
Select the providers to include in the alert rule in the checkboxes on the left.
Using Provider Tags on Dashboards and Reports
One way to use provider tags on dashboards is to set up side-by-side comparisons with different provider groups. You can create a widget and then duplicate it and use a different provider tag, without having to hand-select preferred providers each time.
To use provider tags when creating dashboard:
Choose Dashboards.
Open or create a dashboard and click + Add Widget. Choose a widget type that supports Internet Insights.
On the pop-out panel:
Choose Internet Insights as the data source.
Make selections for Category and Metric, as well as other items such as Measure.
In the section titled DRILL DOWN, choose Catalog Providers and then use the provider selector to choose providers using tags. You can add more filters if desired.
Click Save.
Provider type designations such as SaaS and SECaaS are used in ThousandEyes to separate out the provider packages on the Packages tab in Internet Insights > Catalog Settings. The provider type can affect visibility in the Internet Insights views when switching between Network Outages and Application Outages, since not all provider types show up in both places.
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