Sharing Test Data
Last updated
Last updated
The ThousandEyes platform provides the Sharing menu for sharing test data. You can share test data with other ThousandEyes users and with people who do not use the platform. Collaborating with the same graphical view of test results allows you to troubleshoot with any colleague, partner, or provider, whether they are a ThousandEyes user or not.
This article explains options for sharing test data, including snapshots, live shares, and exporting data. Use snapshots to share test data with anyone, even if they are not ThousandEyes users. Live shares only permit sharing of test data with other ThousandEyes users. This article also discusses the export data option, which extracts data from our API without requiring an API query or additional tools outside the ThousandEyes platform.
The Shared by ThousandEyes screen at Sharing > Shared by ThousandEyes provides shareable test configurations, as opposed to sharing test result data. These sample configurations are useful for creating new tests without having to configure everything from scratch. To learn more about Shared by ThousandEyes, see Working with Test Settings: Shared by ThousandEyes.
For sharing data with people regardless of whether they are subscribed to the ThousandEyes platform, the Snapshot feature allows you to provide a URL, called a sharelink, to a read-only ThousandEyes test results web page. This test results page is viewable by anyone who has the sharelink. You can revoke this link at any time. Snapshots display up to four days of test data in a standard test results page format. Snapshots are automatically deleted one year from date of creation.
To create a Snapshot, go to the results page of the test you would like to share. On the timeline, click a test round that begins, ends or is in the middle of the data of interest, then select the Share button at the upper right corner of the page:
Clicking on the Share button will display the sharing panel, with the Snapshot Sharing tab active:
Select the length of the data window to be shared, up to two days.
Select the location in time of the data window you selected in the previous step. Options are "starting at", "around", and "ending at".
Optionally, you may send an email from the ThousandEyes platform with the sharelink. Enter the email address of the recipient.
If sending an email message from the previous step, you may optionally include a note in the body of the email. Enter the text of the note in this field.
Click the Link to this snapshot link to display the sharelink. Copy the link to your clipboard and paste into a document, a chat or any other application.
Click the Share button to email your sharelink to the email recipients. If you do not need to email the sharelink and only wish to copy the sharelink, you can click the Cancel button. Sharelink creation does not require clicking the Share button.
Recipients of the sharelink will see the timeline set to the same round and View set to the same one as used at the creation of the snapshot.
To remove a sharelink created by a user in your account group, navigate to Sharing > Snapshots. On the Shared by users in my account group tab, locate the row with the name of the test that was shared. Click the Trash icon to invalidate the link. You will be prompted to confirm deletion, since the deletion cannot be undone.
Once the deletion is confirmed, people who possess the sharelink will no longer be able to view the data.
To access older snapshots, click the Snapshot button and select View All Snapshots from the drop-down menu.
The side modal includes a list of all historical snapshots that have been saved:
As shown in the previous image. the Sharing > Snapshots page provides functionality in addition to the delete function.
The Shared by users In my account group tab has a table with the following columns:
Test Name: The name of the test from which the Snapshot was taken.
Snapshot Date: The range in time of the Snapshots data, specified by a date and time, followed by a + - or ± depending on which setting of 'starting at", 'ending at" or "around' (respectively) was used at the time the Snapshot was created (see #2 from the "Sharing panel", above).
Create Date: The date and time of Snapshot creation.
Visits: The number of times the sharelink has been accessed.
Click any of the column headings to sort by that column. Click a second time to reverse the order of the sort in the chosen column.
Clicking a row to expand it will display the following:
The Snapshot's sharelink (URL)
Most recent visits: This section displays the most recent accesses of the Snapshot. The date of the visit is displayed in hours since the visit. If the user is a ThousandEyes user and has recently logged in, the user's ThousandEyes name and login ID (email address) are displayed, along with the IP address of the visitor's client.
Allow only ThousandEyes users to comment: This box can be checked to prevent sharelink users who do not have ThousandEyes accounts from using the Comments feature. Snapshot recipients can make comments and communicate with the Snapshot creator via the Messenger panel, available on the Snapshot page. Click the Messaging tool icon in the upper right corner of a Snapshot page to display the Messenger panel:
When Snapshot recipients leave comments, the Snapshot's creator will receive email notification.
The Shared... tab provides a listing of sharelink that other users of the ThousandEyes platform have shared with you. The columns have the same definitions as above, with the substitution of the Created By column, which shows the ThousandEyes name of the test creator, as determined by the Name field of the user's Profile page.
To create a snapshot from Endpoint Agent test results, navigate to the Views tab in the Endpoint Agents menu. On the timeline, click on a test round that begins, ends or is in the middle of the relevant data, then select the Save and Share button on the upper corner of the page.
Clicking on the Save and Share button will display the saving and sharing panel.
Snapshot Name
The name of the snapshot to be shared.
Data Range
The length of the data window to be share(up to two days), and the location in time of the data window you selected. Possible options are:
starting at
around
ending at
DATA TO SHARE
This section provides you the options to include or exclude data from certain test types. The options include:
Automated Session Tests: Check to enable the data from the automated session tests to be included in the snapshot.
Scheduled Tests: Check to enable the data from the scheduled tests to be included in the snapshot.
Browser Sessions: Check to enable the data from the browser sessions to be included in the snapshot.
Local Networks: Check to enable the data from the local networks to be included in the snapshot.
By default the snapshot captures the last viewed/visited agent for automated session tests and scheduled tests. However, this can be edited by selecting the desired agents in the corresponding Endpoint Agents > Views section.
PRIVACY
This section provides you the options to customize the privacy. The options include:
Anonymize data that identifies users: Check to remove the identification on the users from the data shared in the snapshot.
Anonymize data that identifies visited pages: Check to remove the identification of the visited web pages from the data shared in the snapshot. This option is only enabled if you have selected to share the Browser Sessions data.
Link sharing off
Toggle the Link sharing off to display the sharelink, Copy the link to your clipboard and paste into a document, a chat or any other application.
Click the Save button to save your snapshot data to the sharelink. Sharelink creation requires clicking the Save button.
To create a snapshot from the Devices view , go to Views tab in the Devices menu, On the timeline, click on a test round that begins, ends or is in the middle of the data of interest, then select the Save and Share button on the upper corner of the page.
Clicking on the Save and Share button will display the saving and sharing panel.
Select the name of the snapshot to be shared.
Select the length of the data window to be shared, up to two days.
Select the location in time of the data window you selected in the previous step. Options are "starting at", "around", and "ending at".
Check to enable the data from the devices to be included in the snapshot.
Toggle the Link sharing off to display the sharelink. Copy the link to your clipboard and paste into a document, a chat or any other application.
Click the Save button to save your snapshot data to the sharelink. Sharelink creation requires clicking the Save button.
To create a snapshot from the Internet Insights view , go to Views tab in the Internet Insights menu, On the timeline, click on a test round that begins, ends or is in the middle of the data of interest, then select the Save and Share button on the upper corner of the page.
Clicking on the Save and Share button will display the saving and sharing panel.
Select the name of the snapshot to be shared.
Select the length of the data window to be shared, up to 6 hours.
Select the location in time of the data window you selected in the previous step. Options are "starting at", "around", and "ending at".
Check to enable the data from the Internet Insights and Network to be included in the snapshot.
Check to enable the data from the affected tests to be included in the snapshot.
Select the affected tests that you want to include in the snapshot.
Toggle the Link sharing off to display the sharelink,
Click on Copy to copy the link to your clipboard and paste into a document, a chat or any other application.
Click the Save button to save your snapshot data to the sharelink. Sharelink creation requires clicking the Save button.
If the desired recipient of your data is a ThousandEyes customer but not a user in your account group (your current account group's name is found by clicking on the User Menu icon in the upper right corner of the ThousandEyes interface) then you can provide them with a Live Share. A Live Share is a read-only view of a test's results web page, allowing access to current data, and past data starting from the time of the share's creation. The Live Share's test can be displayed on the recipient's Dashboard, can be the source for new reports, and can in other ways (though not all ways, e.g. the test can't be deleted) be treated as a test that belongs to that user's account group. As with a sharelink, you can terminate the Live Share at any time. Live Shares must first be accepted by the desired recipient in order for the shared test to appear in their account.
To create a Live Share for other ThousandEyes users, or to accept a Live Share, go to Cloud & Enterprise Agents > Test Settings:
Click the "Pending Shares" link at the top of the Test Settings page to display a panel listing all Live Shares other ThousandEyes users have sent to you, awaiting your acceptance. You may accept them or decline them.
A listing of account groups within your Organization, if your Organization has multiple account groups (the link will not be displayed if your Organization has only one Account Group). Check the box next to an account group you want to grant access to the Live Share. The link will indicate the number of account groups with access to the Live Share, out of the total number of account groups in your Organization.
For users outside your Organization, click the "Share with other customers" link to display a panel which will allow you to email your desired recipient. Use the email address which is used by them as their ThousandEyes login. The link will change to "X other customers" where X is the number of Organizations which have received and accepted the Live Share. All account groups within the Organization will have access to the Live Share.
To delete Live Shares that you provided to another account group, click the "X of Y account groups" link per step 2 above to display the listing of account groups. Uncheck the box of the account group you no longer wish to have access to the Live Share.
To delete Live Shares that you provided to a different Organization, click the "X other customers" link per step 3 above to display a panel to edit and delete your LIve Share recipients:
Click the Trash icon to delete a recipient. The Live Share will no longer be available to that Organization.
Another method to provide access to your data is to use the ThousandEyes API. Clicking the Share button on a test results page displays the sharing panel, which contains the Snapshot Sharing tab and the Export Data tab. The latter tab allows you to select a period of data (up to 1 hour) to display, making a query to the ThousandEyes API automatically, and opening a new browser window to display the results. The data is rendered in either JSON or XML format You can copy the results to your clipboard and paste into a document, or saved as a file via your browser's Save menu option.
