In the rapidly evolving cloud computing landscape, visibility into network paths is more than a luxury—it's a necessity. With most applications and services now leveraging some form of public cloud resources, this visibility becomes more difficult because the paths and performance metrics for these types of application traffic can get masked once they enter a provider’s network. This makes it challenging for ITOps teams to identify and troubleshoot network issues in these instances, and they are unable to pinpoint the exact area of problem due to this lack of visibility.
To help solve this challenge (and as part of our ongoing effort to increase visibility into and through cloud networks), we are highlighting some recent advancements in ThousandEyes’ cloud monitoring capabilities:
These features provide insight into the different services and locations that traffic may be traversing within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) network and allow for the most accurate performance measurement to and from these zones.
AWS Network Path Enrichment
With this new AWS Network Path Enrichment, you will see additional details surfaced within a ThousandEyes path visualization (displayed using Views 2.0) when traffic traverses into the AWS network. When ThousandEyes detects an IP address within a discovered AWS network, we can visually identify the AWS services that are being used with dedicated icons for AWS services, including S3, EC2, Route53, and Cloudfront.
In addition to identifying which AWS services are being used, ThousandEyes will now also show the AWS region that is being traversed to help you understand geographic routing and the locations an application is being served from.
AWS Global Accelerator Identification and Performance
AWS Global Accelerator (AGA) is a service used to improve the performance of your applications for local and global users. An important aspect in understanding the performance of an application that leverages Global Accelerator is mapping which node(s) and locations the user is being routed to and the latency and response time for each.
AWS Network Path Enrichment will identify Global Accelerator nodes within a path visualization and display discovered performance and statistics about them. One important metric here is observed versus expected TCP latency. In situations where a Global Accelerator is being used, ThousandEyes runs an end-to-end test between an agent and the end destination to determine actual TCP latency. This is then compared against the expected value as retrieved from the AWS API. These two values are then compared to show any discrepancies, indicated by a yellow ring around the Global Accelerator node icon.
Additionally, by comparing the expected response time obtained from the diagnostic API with the actual response time, measured against the target server, ThousandEyes can provide a benchmark that allows you to infer the quality of an AGA deployment.
In addition to providing critical service and node identification for monitored traffic that is traversing through the AWS network, ThousandEyes also has Cloud Agents deployed in many AWS regions that let you test performance and simulate user experience to and from these locations.
ThousandEyes Cloud Agents are set up and maintained by the ThousandEyes team, giving you the ability to test performance globally at different points of presence that span multiple regions, ISPs, and networks, without any management overhead. We are constantly adding new Cloud Agents in various locations for customers to leverage, and, specifically within the AWS infrastructure, we have recently deployed agents supporting AWS Local Zones.
AWS Local Zones
AWS Local Zones are a type of AWS infrastructure deployment that places compute, storage, database, and other select services closer to large population, industry, and IT centers, enabling you to deliver applications that require single-digit millisecond latency to end users.
We have been deploying ThousandEyes Cloud Agents into AWS Local Zones in multiple regions, which can be leveraged as source and target agents in a ThousandEyes network test. These agents are managed by the ThousandEyes team so no setup is required to use them. As new agent locations come online, they can be used immediately in new tests. These agents allow you to accurately simulate and measure performance as close to the application or your users as possible in order to assess user experience and troubleshoot any performance issues.
Unparalleled Visibility Into AWS Networks and Services
With AWS Network Path Enrichment and the ThousandEyes Cloud Agents within AWS Local Zones, ThousandEyes can provide the most complete visibility into applications hosted on, and network traffic that is entering, the AWS infrastructure. This data allows you to better understand the infrastructure components and geographic locations that users and traffic are traversing within the AWS network. Additionally, you can benchmark and verify performance targets for critical applications.
Come see us at AWS re:Invent (Booth #1621) to learn how ThousandEyes can help optimize your AWS cloud deployment for the best user experience possible. Want even more? Join our Lightning Talk on the exhibit floor, details below.
NET102-S | Extending ThousandEyes visibility to the AWS network
Date & Time: Nov. 28 | 3:30 PM - 3:50 PM (PDT)