Review: Gomez's Performance Network 6.0 Internet App Monitor

When I tested GPN 6.0, I also looked at a beta of Gomez's new Private Peer agent, a version of the GPN Universal Testing Agent designed to be used on private networks--places where GPN doesn't usually reach, such as a point-of-sale unit or kiosk.

Private Peer agents are directly downloaded and updated from Gomez over HTTP or HTTPS to the test location or can be downloaded and redistributed within a private network. The data collection and reporting functionality is exactly the same for these private agents as it is for regular GPN monitoring engines, in as much as the data is collected by GPN and viewable from the agent and dashboard, but the tests and results of those private agents are available only to the enterprise deploying those agents.

I downloaded an agent and installed it in the lab. It took a few minutes to record our account info and optional user-defined fields. I jumped back to the GPN to configure the newly added agent into some tests. It took just a few minutes.

Private Peer agent groupings are flexible. The groups define target populations through a statical definition of particular agents or dynamically from user-defined fields. For example, by creating user-defined fields, such as "Machinery Hall Lab," "Green Bay Lab," and " Florida Lab," any added agents that match these strings will be added to these groups.

Further, the connection to the agents within these groups doesn't require that all the agents in the group be available at all times. You define a number of agents for GPN to select for each test. This way you get a variety of combinations across a wider population of agents, which strengthens the performance data reported on. The reports are further customizable--you can create subsets or supersets of agent groups by region, bandwidth, agent group or specific agent.