Collecting Proxy Metrics

When you set up a ThousandEyes test, you specify a target URL that you want to gather information about. If a proxy server, such as cloud proxy, sits between the agent and that target URL, you may want to gather information about the proxy itself. When you collect network measurements to the proxy, you can more easily correlate data between the application and network layers.

This article covers performing network measurements to the proxy, from the point of view of your test settings. For information on agents' proxy settings, see Configuring an Enterprise Agent to Use a Proxy Server.

Proxy-Specific Metrics and Views

For the Web layer tests - HTTP server, page load, transaction, and API tests - you can opt to Perform network measurements to the proxy. When you do, your test results in Cloud & Enterprise Agents > Views include

• The metrics proxy loss, proxy latency, and proxy jitter.

• Path-visualization data showing proxy servers and their details.

When a ThousandEyes agent is behind a proxy server, tests do not gather bandwidth measurements.

For more information, see Viewing Proxy Metrics in Your Test Results.

Configuring to Collect Proxy Metrics

Basic Steps

To collect network measurements to a proxy, do the following basic steps. Variations on these steps are described later in this article.

1. In the ThousandEyes platform, go to Cloud & Enterprise Agents > Test Settings.

2. Select or create an HTTP server, page load, or transaction test. For details on creating or editing a test, see Test Settings. Network tests (agent to server, and agent to agent) will return DNS errors if the target domain is not resolvable by the agents resolvers, while web tests (HTTP server, page load, transaction, or API tests) will use the proxy for DNS resolution when one is present. More details on this can be found in our blog post Measuring Performance With HTTP Proxies or on the Proxy Settings section of Test Settings for Page Load and Transaction Tests.

3. Go to the Advanced Settings tab and find the Proxy Settings section.

4. Select a proxy option.

5. Select Perform network measurements to the proxy.

6. Click Run Once to run the test right away.

7. Inspect the test results. See Viewing Proxy Metrics in Your Test Results.

Selecting a Proxy Option

In addition to selecting the Perform network measurements to the proxy option, take care with your selection in the Proxy Options field.

Your selection here overrides any proxy configuration you might have in Agent Settings.

The Proxy Options dropdown offers the following options:

• Direct

  This option ignores any proxy configuration you might have set up per-agent or otherwise, and sets the test to be run directly to the target URL.

  With this option, you cannot select Perform network measurements to the proxy because no proxy is to be used.

• Enterprise Agent's proxy configuration

  This option specifies that the test should be run using the proxy configuration in your agent's settings (Cloud & Enterprise Agents > Agent Settings). This is the default selection for the Proxy Settings field.

  For more information on how to configure a proxy on your agent, see Configuring an Enterprise Agent to Use a Proxy Server.

With the Enterprise Agent's proxy configuration option, the Perform network measurements to the proxy checkbox is not selected by default.

• Specific proxy configuration

  This option lets you select a proxy configuration for this test, overriding the agents' proxy settings, if any. When you select this option, the additional Proxy Configuration field is displayed, with a dropdown that lists the proxy configurations you have created in Cloud & Enterprise Agents > Agent Settings > Proxy Settings.

  If you have not created any proxy configurations, do that first in order to use this option. For more information on creating a proxy configuration, see Working with Agent Settings.

  With the Specific proxy configuration option, the Perform network measurements to the proxy checkbox is selected by default, because the platform assumes that if you are assigning a proxy configuration for this test, you'll want to see proxy metrics in your test results.

Viewing Proxy Metrics in Your Test Results

Once you have selected to Perform network measurements to the proxy, you'll want to see how proxy metrics are displayed in your test results. Go to Cloud & Enterprise Agents > Views and tour the various ways proxy data is included:

• Network layer > Metric field:

  Proxy metrics Proxy Loss, Proxy Latency, and Proxy Jitter

  
• Network layer > Overview > Map:

  • The data displayed in the Map view responds to the metric you have selected in the Metric field.

  • The details area next to the map displays proxy metrics and a count of how many of your test's agents are using a proxy.

  • When you hover over an agent in the map, the tooltip shows an icon that indicates proxy.

  
• Network layer > Overview > Table:

  • The data displayed in the Table view responds to the metric you have selected in the Metric field.

  • Agents that are using a proxy are listed in the table with an icon that indicates proxy.

  • The table includes proxy metrics and the IP addresses of proxy servers that this test's agents are using.

  
• Network layer > Path Visualization:

  • When you hover over an agent, the tooltip shows proxy metrics.

  • A distinctive purple icon indicates a node that is a proxy.

  • When you hover over a purple proxy node, the tooltip gives information about this proxy.