Introducing Cisco ThousandEyes Agents

Introduction
The core of the Cisco ThousandEyes solution consists of agents and tests. By
understanding their differences and the possibilities they provide, you will be able to
design your first test on the platform.

Cisco ThousandEyes Cloud Agents

Cloud Agents are external vantage points that are managed by Cisco ThousandEyes and
can be used by any customer. Cloud Agents are deployed worldwide, located in almost
200 cities, and almost 60 different countries, with new Cloud Agents constantly
emerging. Cloud Agents are connected to Tier 1, 2, and 3 ISP with some of them also
being connected to the regional data centers of major cloud providers. Most Cloud
Agents are multihomed. While most Cloud Agents only support IPv4, there are some
cloud agents with IPv6 support as well. The current cloud agents world map can be
observed at https://www.thousandeyes.com/product/cloud-agents.

Conclusion
Cloud Agents are very handy for getting started with Cisco ThousandEyes since they
require no setup or management by the user. The only caveat when using Cloud Agents
is that Cloud Agents are not able to see inside the private network of an enterprise, so
they are mostly used for monitoring cloud solutions. Cloud Agents support all test
types, the only limitation is that you cannot use a proxy server for running web layer
tests.

Cisco ThousandEyes Enterprise Agents

Enterprise Agents are internal vantage points that are deployed by the enterprise itself.
They do everything that Cloud Agents do, with the added benefit being that Enterprise
Agents also have insight within the four walls of an enterprise.

Enterprise Agents are pieces of software that come in different form factors and can be
deployed on various different hardware. The deployment is fast and straightforward
since the installation guides are provided for all deployment types. The deployment can
be done anywhere within the enterprise. Some popular places for deployment include
offices, underlying network infrastructure, and on-premises data centers. The spots for
 deployment must be chosen strategically so that all desired areas of an internal
infrastructure are covered. The number of needed Enterprise Agents varies depending
on the internal network complexity. For most enterprises, more than one enterprise
agent is needed to cover everything.

Note
Enterprise agent deployments are not being charged. There is no limit on how many
Enterprise Agents an enterprise is able to have.

Enterprise Agent form factors:

• Physical Appliance
• Virtual Appliance
• Linux Package
• Docker Container
• Cisco Application Hosting
• IaaS Cloud Deployment

Physical Appliance
Physical appliance means that you dedicate a physical device only for Enterprise Agent
use. Cisco ThousandEyes will provide you with all required software, including the
operating system that the agent runs on. You can use one of the devices that are
supported by Cisco ThousandEyes. Currently, you are able to choose between two
consumer-grade devices: An Intel NUC (8th generation and newer) and Raspberry Pi 4
Model B (model with 4 GB or 8 GB of RAM). All supported devices, requirements, and
their potential limitations are listed at https://docs.thousandeyes.com/product-
documentation/global-vantage-points/enterprise-agents/installing/installing-a-physical-
appliance. The tests that are supported are depended upon the hardware platform. For
example, Intel NUC is supported by all tests, but the Raspberry Pi 4 is missing a
BrowserBot functionality, which means that it cannot be used for Page Load and
transaction web layer test. It is always a good idea to read the current documentation
when you are deciding between hardware platforms.

Virtual Appliance
Virtual appliances are widely used because of their ease of deployment and
management and also because there is no need for dedicated hardware. Virtual
appliances are provided as virtual machines (VMs) in Open Virtualization Format (.ova
or .ovf) or in Microsoft Hyper-V format (.zip) and are intended to be imported into the
virtualization software. They require at least 2 GB of RAM, at least 20 GB of storage
space, and a network connection to the internet. Agents that are deployed as virtual
appliances support all test types, assuming that all requirements are met.

The following virtualization platforms are supported:

• VMware ESXi, Workstation, or Player

• Oracle VirtualBox
• Microsoft Hyper-V
 Linux Package
It is also possible to install the enterprise agent on an existing server that is running
Linux. The requirements are at least 2 GB of free RAM, a working internet connection,
and a curl utility installed on the system. The installation is performed by copying
commands that are provided by Cisco ThousandEyes and running them in the Linux
shell. Agents that are deployed as Linux packages support all test types, assuming that
all requirements are met.

The following Linux distributions are officially supported:

• Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7+, 8.1+
• CentOS 7.7+, 8.1+
• Oracle Linux 7.7+
• Amazon Linux 2

Additional information can be obtained at https://docs.thousandeyes.com/product-

documentation/global-vantage-points/enterprise-agents/installing/supported-enterprise-
agent-operating-systems

Docker Container
Docker containers are gaining popularity due to their lightweight isolated environments.
Docker containers are deployed on an existing system, which means that they are not
being shipped with the whole guest operating system that runs in a hypervisor like
virtual appliances do. Opposed to Linux packages, Docker containers are isolated from
the rest of the system which means that the enterprise agent software with all its
dependencies is highly unlikely to cause any issues to the existing system. The
requirements for running Enterprise Agents as Docker containers are at least 2 GB of
free RAM, a working internet connection, and an existing 64-bit Linux operating
system running Kernel Version 3.10 or newer that has the Docker software installed.
Agents that are deployed as Docker containers support all test types, assuming that all
requirements are met.
Note
Docker Engine is available for Linux, Windows 10, and macOS, but Cisco
ThousandEyes only supports Docker for Linux.

Cisco Application Hosting

Cisco network devices that are running Cisco IOS XE can also be used for hosting
Enterprise Agents. Those devices can be used by taking advantage of Docker support
and deploying a Docker container inside the Cisco Catalyst 9000 Series Switches. The
agent can be installed by the CLI or by using the Cisco DNA Center. Agents that are
deployed as a Docker appliance, and without an SSD module in the device, are missing
the BrowserBot support, so they do not support Page Load and Transaction web layer
test. More information can be found at https://docs.thousandeyes.com/product-
documentation/global-vantage-points/enterprise-agents/installing/docker-agent-
installation-for-cisco-catalyst-9000-series-switches
Since Cisco IOS XE is running on top of Linux Kernel, it can be also used for hosting
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) virtual appliances. The supported devices are
limited to Cisco Integrated Services Router (ISR), Cisco Aggregation Services Router
(ASR), or Cisco Catalyst 9000 Series Switch. The supported series with their
requirements are listed at https://docs.thousandeyes.com/product-documentation/global-
vantage-points/enterprise-agents/installing/enterprise-agent-installation-for-cisco-
catalyst-9000-series-switches (Cisco Catalyst 9k) and
at https://docs.thousandeyes.com/product-documentation/global-vantage-
points/enterprise-agents/installing/enterprise-agent-installation-for-cisco-ios-xe-
containers (Cisco ISR and Cisco ASR). Agents that are deployed as KVM appliances
support the full test suite.

IaaS Cloud Deployment

Cisco ThousandEyes also provides an option for deployment into the cloud as an IaaS-
based enterprise agent. Currently, only Amazon AWS cloud is supported. For more
information, visit https://docs.thousandeyes.com/product-documentation/global-
vantage-points/enterprise-agents/installing/iaas-enterprise-agent-deployment-amazon-
aws

Verdict
Cisco ThousandEyes Enterprise Agents are very valuable since they can monitor
internal infrastructure and cloud services. Enterprises can choose between a great range
of deployment types and pick those that fit them the most.

Cisco ThousandEyes Endpoint Agents

Endpoint Agents are end-user experience vantage points that give you a genuine insight
into the digital experience that your customer or employee is having. They also provide
you with the first mile visibility—visibility of the network path that gets users out of
their private networks.

There are two types of Endpoint Agents: Endpoint Agent and Endpoint Agent Pulse.
The Endpoint Agent is meant for deployment within your organization, and the
Endpoint Agent Pulse is meant for deployment outside of your organization, for
example, at your external partner or customer. The key difference is that the Endpoint
Agent is more feature rich and collects more data, and the Endpoint Agent Pulse is
focused on the privacy of your customers and provides you with a slightly poorer
insight. The Endpoint Agent and Endpoint Agent Pulse work in a very similar fashion.

Deployment
Endpoint Agent and Endpoint Agent Pulse come as native programs and are installed on
an end-user device such as a desktop computer, laptop, or workstation.

Endpoint Agent and Endpoint Agent Pulse can be installed on the following operating
systems:
• Windows 7 or higher
• Windows Server 2012 or higher
• macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) or higher

The Endpoint Agent (Endpoint Agent Pulse excluded) also ships with a web browser
extension that is installed on one of the supported web browsers. This extension is
responsible for gathering performance data from the actual web browsing of the user.

The following web browsers are officially supported:

• Google Chrome 41 and higher

• Microsoft Edge 79 and higher
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 and higher

Collecting Data
There are two ways for an Endpoint Agent to collect data. The first way is performing a
scheduled test, which is done similarly that an Enterprise agent or Cloud agent performs
them. With scheduled tests, an agent is included in a set of Layer 3 to Layer 7 synthetic
tests that are performed on a predefined time interval.

There is also an extra way of collecting data, called browser sessions, which only
applies to the Endpoint Agent and does not apply to the Endpoint Agent Pulse. With
browser sessions, an endpoint is using a browser plug-in to monitor a web browsing
experience that a user is getting. For example, the plug-in also measures how long the
user had to wait for the whole website to load. In addition to the web performance data,
the agent also collects some contextual data of the session. This data includes computer
information such as hardware model, OS, browser, CPU and RAM utilization, and the
computer name. Contextual data also includes local network information such as Wi-Fi
or Ethernet parameters, IP address, VPN tunnel parameters, DNS, and gateway used,
and so on. Browser sessions will only collect data from the websites that are a part of
the monitored domains and will only collect this data on the subnets you define,
providing some privacy to the users.

Conclusion
Endpoint Agents are easy to install and require no maintenance. They provide you with
the most valuable insight—user experience. That insight also includes the first-mile
visibility, which enables you to trace down hard-to-find issues with Wi-Fi access points,
gateways, firewalls, VPNs, endpoint device malfunctioning, and user error.
• ting test.