on - edited on by
Tyler Langston
- Introduction
- Pre-requisites & Assumptions
- Architecture
- Deployment
- Verification
- Resources & Additional Support
Introduction
ThousandEyes’ flexibility allows you to place Enterprise Agents virtually anywhere your company has a network presence. However, deploying these Agents in cloud environments like Azure can introduce unwanted administrative and operations overhead.
This guide will show you how an Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template can reduce the overhead in the agent deployment process.
Pre-requisites & Assumptions
This article assumes you have the following knowledge, tools & access:
Azure
- An existing Azure subscription
- A Virtual Network and Subnet capable of hosting the ThousandEyes Agent
ThousandEyes
- Your ThousandEyes Account Group Token
- The name of the Resource Group hosting the existing Virtual Network
- The name of the existing Virtual Network
- The name of the existing Subnet within the Virtual Network
Architecture
The rule of thumb for an ideal agent placement is to deploy the Virtual Machine as close to the resources handling the workflows as possible. Here are a few examples:
Connectivity over Expressroute
Connectivity over S2S VPN
Deployment
1. Log in to your Azure Portal
2. On the search bar, look for and select the ‘Deploy a custom template’ option
3. Select ‘Build your own template in the editor’
4. Copy and paste the following JSON in the template editor, then click on Save:
{
"$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {
"accountGroupToken": {
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "The token for the ThousandEyes account group that the Enterprise Agent will belong to. You can find your ThousandEyes account group token under ThousandEyes Agent Settings."
}
},
"enableBrowserTests": {
"defaultValue": true,
"type": "Bool",
"metadata": {
"description": "Allow enabling ThousandEyes Browser test capabilities (Page Load and Transaction)."
}
},
"hostname": {
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "Specify the VM hostname, this will also be the Agent name."
}
},
"VMSize": {
"defaultValue": "Standard_B2s",
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "Select the size of the Agent VM. Standard_B1s - 1 vCPU, 1 GB Mem; Standard_B2s - 2 vCPU, 4 GB Mem; Standard_D2_v2 - 2 vCPU, 7 GB Mem"
}
},
"ubuntuOSVersion": {
"defaultValue": "22.04-LTS",
"allowedValues": [
"22.04-LTS"
],
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "This will use a fully patched image of your selected Ubuntu version. The \"Ubuntu Pro for Azure\" option is required to deploy this image."
}
},
"enableAutoPatch": {
"defaultValue": "Yes",
"allowedValues": [
"Yes",
"No"
],
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "Auto Patch is a feature that safely and automatically patches your virtual machine OS to maintain security compliance."
}
},
"adminUsername": {
"defaultValue": "thousandeyes",
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "Specify the admin user name for the VM."
}
},
"SSHPublicKey": {
"type": "SecureString",
"metadata": {
"description": "Public key used to SSH to the Agent."
}
},
"proxyType": {
"defaultValue": "None",
"allowedValues": [
"None",
"STATIC"
],
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "If using a proxy, specify the proxy type. Default is none."
}
},
"proxyHost": {
"defaultValue": "",
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "If using a proxy, specify the proxy host and port (host:port)"
}
},
"proxyUser": {
"defaultValue": "",
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "If using a proxy, specify the proxy user (if required)."
}
},
"proxyPass": {
"defaultValue": "",
"type": "SecureString",
"metadata": {
"description": "If using a proxy, specify the proxy password (if required)."
}
},
"virtualNetworkResourceGroup": {
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "Resource group of the existing VNet"
}
},
"virtualNetworkName": {
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "Existing VNet Name"
}
},
"subnetName": {
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "Existing Subnet Name"
}
},
"nicName": {
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "Name for the new VM's NIC"
}
},
"publicIPAddressName": {
"type": "String",
"metadata": {
"description": "Public IP Address Name for the new VM"
}
}
},
"variables": {
"imagePublisher": "[if(equals(parameters('ubuntuOSVersion'),'22.04-LTS'),'canonical','Canonical')]",
"imageOffer": "[if(equals(parameters('ubuntuOSVersion'),'22.04-LTS'),'0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy','UbuntuServer')]",
"imageSku": "[if(equals(parameters('ubuntuOSVersion'),'22.04-LTS'),'22_04-lts',parameters('ubuntuOSVersion'))]",
"imageVersion": "latest",
"nicName": "[parameters('nicName')]",
"vmName": "[parameters('hostname')]",
"existingvnetId": "[resourceId(parameters('virtualNetworkResourceGroup'),'Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks',parameters('virtualNetworkName'))]",
"subnetId": "[concat(variables('existingvnetId'),'/subnets/',parameters('subnetName'))]",
"publicIPAddressName": "[parameters('publicIPAddressName')]",
"publicIPAddressType": "Dynamic",
"linuxConfiguration": {
"disablePasswordAuthentication": true,
"ssh": {
"publicKeys": [
{
"path": "[concat('/home/', parameters('adminUsername'), '/.ssh/authorized_keys')]",
"keyData": "[parameters('SSHPublicKey')]"
}
]
},
"provisionVMAgent": true,
"patchSettings": {
"patchMode": "[if(equals(parameters('enableAutoPatch'),'Yes'), 'AutomaticByPlatform', 'ImageDefault')]"
}
},
"bbotArg": "[if(parameters('enableBrowserTests'), ' -b ', '')]",
"proxyTypeArg": "[if(equals(parameters('proxyType'), 'None'), '', concat(' -t ', parameters('proxyType'), ' '))]",
"proxyHostArg": "[if(empty(parameters('proxyHost')), '', concat(' -P ', parameters('proxyHost'), ' '))]",
"proxyUserArg": "[if(empty(parameters('proxyUser')), '', concat(' -U ', parameters('proxyUser'), ' '))]",
"proxyPassArg": "[if(empty(parameters('proxyPass')), '', concat(' -u ', parameters('proxyPass'), ' '))]",
"proxyHttp": "[if(empty(parameters('proxyUser')), concat(parameters('proxyHost')), concat(parameters('proxyUser'), ':', parameters('proxyPass'),'@', parameters('proxyHost')))]",
"proxyEnv": "[if(empty(parameters('proxyHost')), '', variables('proxyHttp'))]",
"cloudInitWriteProxyApt": "[concat('\n- path: /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/90proxyapt\n append: false\n content: |\n Acquire::http::proxy \"http://',variables('proxyEnv'), '\";', '\n Acquire::https::proxy \"http://',variables('proxyEnv'), '\";')]",
"cloudInitWriteProxyEnv": "[concat('\n- path: /etc/environment\n append: true\n content: |\n http_proxy=',variables('proxyEnv'),'\n https_proxy=',variables('proxyEnv'))]",
"teReleaseFile": "[concat('\n- path: /etc/te-release\n append: true\n content: |\n DISTRIB_FAMILY=AZURE_ARM\n DISTRIB_RELEASE=86fbdd9')]",
"customDataProxy": "[concat('#cloud-config', '\n\nwrite_files:', variables('cloudInitWriteProxyApt') , variables('cloudInitWriteProxyEnv'), variables('teReleaseFile'),'\n\nruncmd:', '\n- export http_proxy=',variables('proxyEnv'),'\n- export https_proxy=',variables('proxyEnv'), '\n- curl -Os https://downloads.thousandeyes.com/agent/install_thousandeyes.sh\n- chmod +x install_thousandeyes.sh\n- sudo ./install_thousandeyes.sh ', variables('bbotArg'), variables('proxyTypeArg'), variables('proxyHostArg'), variables('proxyUserArg'), variables('proxyPassArg'), parameters('accountGroupToken'))]",
"customDataNoProxy": "[concat('#cloud-config', '\n\nwrite_files:', variables('teReleaseFile') , '\n\nruncmd:\n- curl -Os https://downloads.thousandeyes.com/agent/install_thousandeyes.sh\n- chmod +x install_thousandeyes.sh\n- sudo ./install_thousandeyes.sh ', variables('bbotArg'), parameters('accountGroupToken'))]",
"networkSecurityGroupName": "default-NSG",
"customData": "[if(equals(parameters('proxyType'), 'None'), variables('customDataNoProxy'), variables('customDataProxy'))]",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]"
},
"resources": [
{
"type": "Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses",
"apiVersion": "2019-06-01",
"name": "[variables('publicIPAddressName')]",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"properties": {
"publicIPAllocationMethod": "[variables('publicIPAddressType')]"
}
},
{
"type": "Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces",
"apiVersion": "2019-06-01",
"name": "[variables('nicName')]",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"dependsOn": [
"[variables('publicIPAddressName')]"
],
"properties": {
"ipConfigurations": [
{
"name": "ipconfig1",
"properties": {
"privateIPAllocationMethod": "Dynamic",
"publicIPAddress": {
"id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses',variables('publicIPAddressName'))]"
},
"subnet": {
"id": "[variables('subnetId')]"
}
}
}
]
}
},
{
"type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines",
"apiVersion": "2021-03-01",
"name": "[variables('vmName')]",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"dependsOn": [
"[variables('nicName')]"
],
"properties": {
"hardwareProfile": {
"VMSize": "[parameters('VMSize')]"
},
"osProfile": {
"computerName": "[variables('vmName')]",
"adminUsername": "[parameters('adminUsername')]",
"linuxConfiguration": "[variables('linuxConfiguration')]",
"customData": "[base64(variables('customData'))]"
},
"storageProfile": {
"imageReference": {
"publisher": "[variables('imagePublisher')]",
"offer": "[variables('imageOffer')]",
"sku": "[variables('imageSku')]",
"version": "[variables('imageVersion')]"
},
"osDisk": {
"createOption": "FromImage"
}
},
"networkProfile": {
"networkInterfaces": [
{
"id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces',variables('nicName'))]"
}
]
}
}
}
]
}
5. Fill out the following information, then click on ‘Review + create’:
- Resource Group: The resource group hosting the existing resources
- Region: The region hosting the existing resources
- Account Group Token: Your ThousandEyes Account Group Token
- Hostname: Name of the new Agent VM
- SSH Key: We recommend adding an existing SSH key, so we can connect to the VM right after the deployment is complete
- Virtual Network Resource Group: The name of the resource group hosting the existing virtual network
- Virtual Network Name: The name of the existing virtual network
- Subnet Name: The name of the existing subnet within the virtual network
- NIC Name: Name of the NIC to be created for the new Agent VM
- Public IP Address Name: Name of the public IP address to be created for the new Agent VM
6. Once the final validation is completed, click on 'Create' to begin the deployment.
7. Wait until the deployment is completed, you should see a Virtual Machine, a Network Interface and a Public IP address being created; this process should take 3-5 minutes.
Verification
1. Go to the newly created Virtual Machine and verify the following items:
- VM status is ‘Running’
- Make sure the VM has a public IP address assigned to it
2. You should see the new Agent registered on the ThousandEyes platform after 3-5 minutes
3. Your new Agent is ready to run tests!
- Security Consideration Warning: Verify access control is properly configured! While the new VM will inherit the Network Security Groups/Rules assigned to the virtual network, we always recommend verifying that access control is properly configured, especially while accessing the new Public IP.
Resources & Additional Support
More information about network requirements for Enterprise Agents can be found here.
Need more support?
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