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IntellaCloud FAQs: Public Cloud Network Visibility
Network visibility impacts every aspect of public cloud monitoring, security, and performance. A cloud-native visibility solution like APCON's IntellaCloud for AWS is critical to capture, optimize, and deliver traffic to the right tools.
To help you learn more about IntellaCloud, we've provided the top frequently asked questions we get from network and security teams.
Question 1: How many instances can we monitor using IntellaCloud?
APCON engineers have tested IntellaCloud on thousands of instances. We've designed the GUI for scalability. Our virtual controller and the monitoring infrastructure scale up as your environment grows. We have not identified a hard number of how many instances IntellaCloud can monitor, but our extensive testing shows you can monitor thousands of instances.
Question 2: How many instances does the IntellaCloud startup environment monitor?
The IntellaCloud startup environment monitors two instances. First, APCON launches a virtual controller (VC) -- an instance that aggregates all of the traffic. A second EC2 instance launches and runs the IntellaCloud software. The two instances are capable of handling between 10 to 15 virtual taps. IntellaCloud spawns additional VC's as your environment scales up, and more traffic comes through each virtual controller to ensure traffic isn't dropped. Additional VC's are required for 10 to 20 Virtual Taps.
Question 3: Do you use VPC mirroring, or is this APCON's solution?
APCON's solution is our TAP based solution that allows you to monitor containers, which we believe is superior to VPC mirroring. APCON's approach also provides key advantages -- elastic monitoring and the ability to send traffic to multiple tools -- beyond the native VPC mirroring that comes from AWS.
Question 4: What kind of containers can you monitor?
With APCON IntellaCloud, you can monitor Docker containers and Linux containers.
Question 5: How can you get these agents installed, and how do you make sure if the agents are getting installed on new instances?
Most of our customers have a golden image they use for AMI types to spawn new instances when they set up their cloud environment. We recommend the AMI has our IntellaCloud VTAP agent pre-installed and ready to monitor when new instances occur.
Question 6: How can I know how much traffic is going to my tool in the cloud, and can I limit the amount of traffic for a given tool?
The current IntellaCloud release has a screen that shows how much traffic goes to each tool. The upcoming IntellaCloud release includes a threshold where you can specify how much traffic you want certain tools to receive. If traffic to the tool exceeds the specified threshold, you will receive an alarm via email or SMS to AWS for better control of your tools.