Getting Started with Obkio Network Monitoring

This documentation article is the first one everyone should read when getting started with Obkio's solution. It is a step-by-step tutorial on configuring the solution to help new users understand the basics and get everything up and running quickly.

Throughout this article, there are links to more detailed articles that explain how things work in greater detail. You don't need to follow and read all these articles to finish this tutorial as they are listed only as references for later.

The tutorial will guide you through the first steps to configure:

• 1x Public Monitoring Agent
• 1x Software Monitoring Agent (Windows or Linux)
• 1x Network Monitoring Session

Your first monitoring session will allow you to start continuously monitoring your network performance, and establish a performance history and baseline. This is the first step to audit your network performance and troubleshoot intermittent network issues affecting user performance.

1. Sign up for our free 14-day trial (more info on the Free 14-day Trial page).
2. Once you've signed up, you will be automatically redirected to our Web App.

P.S. We understand that a 14-day trial might be short in some cases. If you need to extend your trial period or postpone your trial to another time, just contact us and we will work that out for you.

Monitoring Agents are in charge of running tests to measure network and application performance.

We have several agent types but in this tutorial, we will focus on:

• The Public Monitoring Agent that is hosted by Obkio in a public cloud
• The Software Agent which can be installed on either Windows or Linux.

To create your first monitoring agent in the Web App:

1. Click on Agents in the left menu
2. Click on the Create new agent button in the middle of the screen. You are now in the agent type selection screen.
3. For this tutorial, select Public then Next.
4. Select a public monitoring agent of your choice (ex: at AWS or Azure).
5. Then click on Next.
6. Now it's time to give the agent a name. Let's call it Public.
7. No need to change any advanced parameters for this tutorial so let's click Create.

Woohoo, you just created your first monitoring agent!

To monitor network performance, we need two agents. This is required to be able to measure performance metrics such as packet loss, latency and jitter. Learn more at Network Performance Monitoring.

1. click on the + icon at the top right corner of the agents list page.
2. Then click Create new agent.
3. This time, select Software
4. Then click Next. You are now in the Agent Mode selection screen.
5. For this tutorial, select Client Only since a public monitoring agent can only be configured as the server. This can be changed later on if you want to change the configuration to accept incoming connection on the agent.
6. Now it's time to give the agent a name. Let's call it Software.
7. No need to add a location or contact details for this tutorial so let's click Create.

You should now see the Installation Instructions page. For this tutorial, let's focus on the Windows Installation but you can give the Linux version a try if you want.

You can take a look at the complete Windows Installation Guide but for this quick tutorial, we recommend that you stay on this page and follow the installation instructions below:

1. Write down the Agent ID that you see in the Windows tab of the page.
2. Download the installation wizard for x86 64-bits.
3. Run the installation wizard and type the Agent ID you wrote down in step 1 when asked for it.

That's it! The agent is now installed on your computer!

At this point, both monitoring agents in the App should be green and a public IP address should be available for the Software agent.

If this is not the case, your firewall might have strict outbound security rules that need to be changed. Learn more by visiting the Firewall Configurations page.

Since all the network monitoring sessions are created through templates, let's start with your first Network Monitoring Template:

1. Click on Monitoring in the left-hand menu
2. Click on the Create new monitoring template button in the middle of the screen
3. Give the template a name (ex: First Template)
4. Select the agent Software in the first list
5. Select the agent Public in the second list
6. Click Create

It's done, you've created your first network monitoring template!

If you click on Monitoring in the left-hand menu, you should see your first network monitoring session.

The status icon might be grey but after about 5 minutes, it should be green. Click on the session to see the details.

If you don't see any data, your firewall might have strict outbound security rules that need to be changed in order to allow the monitoring traffic (port 23999/UDP) to go out. Learn more by visiting the Firewall Configurations page.

That's the end of this first tutorial but not the end of your Obkio journey. With this tutorial, you were able to create two monitoring agents, one public and one software. You were also able to create a network monitoring template that automatically created a network monitoring session.

With your first monitoring session, you can now start to continuously monitoring your network performance, and establish a performance history and baseline. This is the first step in auditing your network performance and troubleshooting intermittent network issues that affect end-user experience.

At this point, you can install more public and software monitoring agents and add them in the same template. In the template, make sure you keep the public monitoring agents in one list and the software monitoring agents in the other list.

With more monitoring agents and sessions, it will become easier for you to understand where a network issue is located when it occurs. Take a look at the related articles below that will help you understand more about how this all works. At this point, we recommend you continue your Obkio journey with the next onboarding tutorial: Identify Issues with a Two Sessions Setup.

Finally, if you need any help, get in touch with our Support Team.