What Is Cisco ThousandEyes and How Does It Work on Cisco Switches?
Selene Gong
Cisco ThousandEyes is a digital experience monitoring (DEM) platform used to gain end-to-end visibility across the internet, cloud, and SaaS applications. On Cisco Catalyst 9300 and 9400 switches, ThousandEyes runs as a container-based Enterprise Agent on the management processor, ensuring continuous monitoring without impacting data plane performance. This integration allows network teams to proactively identify, troubleshoot, and optimize network and application performance directly from the network infrastructure they already own.
What is Cisco ThousandEyes used for?
Cisco ThousandEyes is used to monitor, visualize, and troubleshoot the performance of networks and SaaS applications across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. It helps identify outages, measure latency and packet loss, verify ISP and cloud SLAs, and monitor end-user experiences for critical services like Office 365, AWS, and Zoom.
What are the benefits of using Cisco ThousandEyes on Cisco Switches?
Deploying ThousandEyes on Cisco Catalyst switches offers:
End-to-End Visibility: Gain insights across on-premises, cloud, SaaS, and internet paths.
Faster Troubleshooting: Quickly isolate root causes of outages and degradations.
Performance Optimization: Predict and prevent performance issues before users are impacted.
Efficient Deployment: No additional hardware is needed; uses Catalyst switches as vantage points.
SD-WAN Integration: Works with Cisco SD-WAN to monitor overlay and underlay paths.
Support for Remote Work: Leverages Endpoint Agents for visibility into remote user performance.
What are the capabilities of ThousandEyes?
Cisco ThousandEyes provides:
Synthetic testing for network and application paths.
Visualization of packet loss, latency, and jitter across paths.
SaaS and cloud monitoring.
Endpoint monitoring for user device performance.
Integration with Cisco SD-WAN for dynamic path optimization.
Which Cisco switches support ThousandEyes?
Cisco Catalyst 9300 and 9400 series switches natively support ThousandEyes Enterprise Agents when using Cisco DNA Advantage licenses. These switches allow ThousandEyes to run as a container-based agent without requiring additional appliances.
How is ThousandEyes licensed on Cisco switches?
ThousandEyes licensing on Cisco switches operates as:
Embedded Licensing: Included with Cisco DNA Advantage licenses, allowing embedded Enterprise Agent usage without separate ThousandEyes licenses (limited to vantage point usage).
Non-Embedded Licensing: Purchased via Cisco GPL for additional Cloud and Endpoint Agent monitoring, Internet Insights, and advanced vantage points.
How does ThousandEyes compare to Splunk?
Splunk is designed for log management, SIEM, and security event analytics, while ThousandEyes specializes in network path visibility and digital experience monitoring through synthetic tests and real-user monitoring. They are complementary: Splunk analyzes machine and log data, while ThousandEyes monitors the live performance of networks and SaaS applications.
What is the ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent used for?
The ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent is used to monitor end-user device connectivity, Wi-Fi quality, ISP performance, and application experience, providing visibility into remote worker environments and branch user experience.
How to deploy ThousandEyes on Cisco Catalyst switches?
Deploying ThousandEyes Enterprise Agents on Cisco Catalyst 9000 platforms can be done through several methods, offering flexibility depending on your network management approach:
Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly Cisco DNA Center): This is the preferred automation platform, providing a centralized user interface to deploy and manage the entire lifecycle of the ThousandEyes application across multiple Catalyst 9000 switches simultaneously. Cisco Catalyst Center streamlines deployment, ensures consistency, and helps maintain the security of compute resources.
Web User Interface (WebUI): For individual switch deployments, the network operator can use the Catalyst 9300 or 9400 Series WebUI to upload and configure the ThousandEyes Docker app.
Cisco IOS XE Command-Line Interface (CLI): Offers a granular control method for installation and configuration, including setting static or dynamic IP addresses and proxy settings for the Enterprise Agent.
YANG Models: For customized automation, Cisco IOS XE provides YANG models for hosting applications on Catalyst 9000 switching platforms.
Preloaded Images: Cisco Catalyst 9300 and 9400 series switches shipped after April 2021 may have the Embed version of the ThousandEyes Enterprise Agent already preloaded in the flash:Apps folder, simplifying initial setup.
After successful deployment, network operators can log into the ThousandEyes dashboard to perform network and application performance tests.
FAQ
Q1: What is the use of Cisco ThousandEyes? ThousandEyes is used for monitoring, visualizing, and troubleshooting network and SaaS application performance to ensure consistent user experience.
Q2: What are three benefits that Cisco ThousandEyes offers? 1. End-to-end visibility 2. Faster root cause analysis 3. Performance optimization
Q3: What are the capabilities of ThousandEyes? It includes synthetic testing, SaaS monitoring, endpoint monitoring, SD-WAN integration, and path visualization.
Q4: What are the primary functions of ThousandEyes in network monitoring and troubleshooting? To detect packet loss, measure latency, monitor application availability, and visualize network paths for identifying performance issues.
Q5: What is the difference between Splunk and ThousandEyes? Splunk analyzes logs and security data; ThousandEyes actively monitors network and application paths using synthetic and real-user tests.
For advanced configurations, Cisco Catalyst switches, and licensing options supporting ThousandEyes for proactive network monitoring and troubleshooting, visit router-switch.com for consultation and procurement.
