Add Monitoring Points

Monitoring Points are lightweight software agents that execute the active synthetic probes necessary to monitor your network and web application performance. They are the source of all synthetic network traffic and can also be a target of testing.

Monitoring architecture

Cloud Network Insights uses a centralized management model with Monitoring Points.

  • Google Cloud project - the central control where you enable Cloud Network Insights. You use this project to do the following:
    • Download Monitoring Point installation packages (Docker, Helm, OVA/QCOW2)
    • View the status and inventory of all your deployed Monitoring Points
    • Access Cloud Monitoring dashboards for metrics
    • Configure Alert Policies and Notification Channels in Google Cloud Observability based on logs from AppNeta
  • Monitoring locations - the target hosts in the environments you want to monitor. This is where you install the Monitoring Points.

Deployment locations

When installing Monitoring Points in the monitoring locations, select critical network segments, such as a central VPC, remote branch office, or specific cloud region. The following environments are supported:

  • Google Cloud VPC networks in the same or different projects
  • Remote branch offices or retail locations
  • On-premises data centers
  • Other cloud environments, for example, AWS or Azure

If you need help to determine where to install Monitoring Points to target strategic web application deployment, use VPC Flow Logs or vm_flow metrics in a performance dashboard to understand where traffic is flowing in your network. We don't recommend installing Monitoring Points on the project with Cloud Network Insights enabled or directly with the workloads you want to monitor. For more information, see Best Practices or AppNeta's Deployment Best Practices.

Supported Monitoring Point types

Cloud Network Insights supports the following Monitoring Point types.

Monitoring Point type Best for Link to AppNeta documentation
Containers Docker container Lightweight and ideal for cloud instances.
Linux VMs, Google Compute Engine instances, or any Docker-enabled host, including on-premises environments.		 c50-Docker/Podman
Kubernetes (Helm) Best for orchestrated environments.
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, or on-premises Kubernetes clusters.		 c50-Kubernetes (Helm)
Virtual Machines VMware (OVA) Deploys as a full virtual machine.
On-premises data centers running VMware ESXi or vCenter.		 v35-VMware
KVM (QCOW2) Telco clouds or private Linux clouds.
Linux-based virtualized environments such as OpenStack, custom Linux hypervisors.		 v35-KVM

Before you begin

In addition to the Cloud Network Editor (roles/networkmanagement.cloudNetworkInsightsEditor) role, the deployment environment and Monitoring Points have specific networking requirements to ensure that the Monitoring Point can be installed successfully and communicate back to Cloud Network Insights control plane.

Review the requirements in the following sections.

Firewall requirements

Since we recommend installing Monitoring Points behind your firewalls, you might need to modify your firewall rules. Monitoring Points require outbound internet access to communicate back to the Cloud Network Insights control plane.


Protocol
Port
Description

TCP
443 (HTTPS)
Required. Connectivity to the Cloud Network Insights control plane

UDP
123 (NTP)
Required. Network Time Protocol. The Monitoring Point will fail to connect if time is not synced

UDP/TCP
53 (DNS)
Required. Domain Name Service to resolve Cloud Network Insights endpoints

UDP
3239, 33434
Test Traffic. Required for standard Network Path monitoring (dual-ended)

ICMP
Echo
Test Traffic. Required for single-ended paths (for example, pinging 8.8.8.8).

For more information, see Firewall Configuration from AppNeta.

Monitoring Point requirements

Review the AppNeta Monitoring Point specifications to ensure that you can successfully deploy them.

Deploy Monitoring Points

When you're ready to deploy Monitoring Points in your network, do the following:

  1. Download the Monitoring Point installation bundle from Google Cloud.
  2. Install the Monitoring Point using instructions from AppNeta.

Deploy containers (c50)

Get the installation bundles, and then install them on the target host.

Get the install bundles

Get the installation bundles and ensure that the bundle is on the target host.

gcloud

Use this method if your target host has Google Cloud CLI installed.

gcloud alpha network-management network-monitoring-providers \
monitoring-points download-install-script \
--network-monitoring-provider=PROVIDER_NAME --location=global \
--monitoring-point-type=MP_TYPE \
--hostname=HOST_NAME \
--output-file=compose.HOST_NAME.tar.gz

Replace the following:

  • PROVIDER_NAME: the provider name, external by default.
  • MP_TYPE: the Monitoring Point container type.
    • Enter CONTAINER for Docker or Podman
    • Enter HELM for Helm (Kubernetes)
  • HOST_NAME: the name of the host you're installing the Monitoring Point on.

Terminal

Use this method if you can access the target host in a terminal with sudo or administrator credentials and can copy and paste commands. You must first generate the command to copy by doing the following:

  1. Open the console and navigate to Network Intelligence Center > Cloud Network Insights.
  2. On the Monitoring Points tab, click Add monitoring point.
  3. In the Platform Type list, select Docker/Podman or Helm (Kubernetes), and then click Continue.
  4. Enter the Hostname of the container. This is the name of the host you're installing the Monitoring Point on.
  5. In Download the Monitoring Point, select Run a command on the host.
  6. Generate the authentication token:
    • Click Open shell and generate token. You might need to authorize Cloud Shell.
    • To generate a token, press Enter, and then copy and paste it in the text field.
  7. Open a terminal to your target host using administrator credentials, and run the generated command to download the installation bundle.

The curl command is valid for one hour.

Manual

Use this method if you need to download the installation bundle locally and manually transfer the file to the target host.

  1. Open the console and navigate to Network Intelligence Center > Cloud Network Insights.
  2. On the Monitoring Points tab, click Add monitoring point.
  3. In the Platform Type list, select Docker/Podman or Helm (Kubernetes), and then click Continue.
  4. Enter the Hostname of the container. This is the name of the host you're installing the Monitoring Point on.
  5. In Download the Monitoring Point, select Download locally.
  6. Click Download Monitoring Point.
  7. Move the installation bundle to the target host.

Install the container

Once the install bundle is on the target host, follow the instruction from AppNeta to install the Monitoring Point.

You can't change the configuration settings for containers. If you need to change the proxy, NTP, or timezone settings later, you delete the Monitoring Point and add a new one.

Deploy virtual machine (v35)

Get the Monitoring Point images and then deploy them using VMware vSphere (vCenter or ESXi) or Linux KVM (QCOW2).

Get image and configuration

Get the Monitoring Point images and configuration files by doing the following.

Local download

  1. Open the console and navigate to Network Intelligence Center > Cloud Network Insights.
  2. On the Monitoring Points tab, click Add monitoring point.
  3. In the Platform Type list, select either KVM or VMware, and then click Continue.
  4. Enter the Password for the virtual machine.
  5. Choose your IP Configuration.
    • If the target network assigns IP addresses automatically, select Obtain settings using DHCP.
    • If you want to use a static IP address, select Static IP.
  6. Complete the following IP configuration fields. Fields are based on what you selected for the IP Configuration.
    • IP Address: The IPv4 address that you want to assign to the Monitoring Point.
    • Network Mask:The subnet mask (for example, 255.255.255.0).
    • Network Gateway: The default gateway IP address.
    • DNS 1: The IPv4 address of your primary DNS servers (for example, 8.8.8.8).
    • DNS 2 (optional): A backup name server to ensure connectivity if the primary fails (for example, 1.1.1.1)
    • Domain name: The default DNS search domain for the Monitoring Point.
    • Hostname: The unique name for this Monitoring Point.
    • Timezone (optional): The timezone of the virtual machine the Monitoring Point is installed on.
    • NTP 1 (optional): The primary Network Time Protocol address (IP or FQDN).
    • NTP 2 (optional): A backup time server used if the primary address is unreachable.
  7. Click Continue.
  8. In Download the Monitoring Point, select Download locally.
  9. Click the Download Monitoring Point button to download a ZIP file containing your configuration.
    • For KVM: Contains an ISO file (boot/config drive).
    • For VMware: Contains a JSON file (deployment parameters).
  10. Download the disk image by clicking one of the following. The available options depends on your selected Platform Type.
    • Download vCenter
    • Download ESXi
    • Download KVM Base Image
  11. Move the configuration file and the disk image to your hypervisor management station.

On host download

  1. Open the console and navigate to Network Intelligence Center > Cloud Network Insights.
  2. On the Monitoring Points tab, click Add monitoring point.
  3. In the Platform Type list, select either KVM or VMware, and then click Continue.
  4. Enter the Password for the virtual machine.
  5. Choose your IP Configuration.
    • If the target network assigns IP addresses automatically, select Obtain settings using DHCP.
    • If you want to use a static IP address, select Static IP.
  6. Complete the following IP configuration fields. Fields are based on what you selected for the IP Configuration.
    • IP Address: The IPv4 address that you want to assign to the Monitoring Point.
    • Network Mask:The subnet mask (for example, 255.255.255.0).
    • Network Gateway: The default gateway IP address.
    • DNS 1: The IPv4 address of your primary DNS servers (for example, 8.8.8.8).
    • DNS 2 (optional): A backup name server to ensure connectivity if the primary fails (for example, 1.1.1.1)
    • Hostname: The unique name for this Monitoring Point.
    • Timezone (optional): The timezone of the virtual machine the Monitoring Point is installed on.
    • NTP 1 (optional): The primary Network Time Protocol address (IP or FQDN).
    • NTP 2 (optional): A backup time server used if the primary address is unreachable.
  7. Click Continue.
  8. In Download the Monitoring Point, select Run a command on the host.
  9. Generate the authentication token:
    • Click the Open shell and generate token button. You might need to authorize Cloud Shell.
    • Press Enter to generate a token, and then copy and paste it in the text field in Generate the command.
  10. Open a terminal to your target host using administrator credentials, and run the generated command to download the configuration files.
  11. Download the disk image by clicking one of the following. The available options depends on your selected Platform Type.
    • Download vCenter
    • Download ESXi
    • Download KVM Base Image
  12. If necessary, move the configuration file and the disk image to your hypervisor management station.

Deploy the Monitoring Point

Once you have the images, follow the instructions from AppNeta to deploy the Monitoring Point.

After deploying the virtual machine, record the MAC Address of the primary network adapter (eth0 or Network Adapter 1) from your hypervisor (vCenter or KVM).

  • Username: admin
  • Default Password: The MAC address in UPPERCASE with no colons (for example, 00505681450A).

You need these credentials if you need to sign in to the Monitoring Point's local web administration interface to troubleshoot connectivity issues.

Configure the web proxy

If your network requires a proxy for outbound access, you must configure it after the virtual machine is powered on.

Verify the install

Open the Google Cloud console and navigate to Network Intelligence Center > Cloud Network Insights. After 2–5 minutes, the Monitoring Point appears in the table with the status Active. If it doesn't appear, see Troubleshooting.

Remove Monitoring Points

To remove a monitoring point, delete it in AppNeta. For more information about removing a Monitoring Point, see the AppNeta documentation

What's next

After you add Monitoring Points, it's time to create monitoring policies to populate Cloud Network Insights with data.