What is Assurance? Why do I need it? Why does it need to be independent from my network?

Assurance, or性能保证,is actually two things: It’s a methodology and an outcome. The方法is a specific, thorough and objective way to measure the performance of your network beyond what has been possible with typical network tools such as network management and monitoring tools. Theoutcomeis that you have the ability to efficiently manage network performance to meet end-user and organizational needs by having an ongoingunderstandingof the true performance of the end-user’s perspective. The methodology and outcome are重要because you must be able to measure something in order to be able to manage it, and henceassureit.

A common conundrum network operators and technical support agents face is that the tools they use to monitor and troubleshoot the components of a network reveal that everything is operational. Yet even under such conditions end users will experience problems and submit trouble tickets. Similarly, for solutions that use IoT – the solution is not operating as needed despite network monitors confirming everything is working. This is为什么you need性能保证– so you can know whether your network is performing as necessary to support a myriad of use cases that require connectivity between end users, things (IoT), data, services and applications.

Inside Out or Outside In?
虽然有几种方法来测试和评估网络性能，但只有一种方法可以做到这一点，这是彻底的，客观才能避免刚才提到的难题，因为典型的工具仅提供了内外的视角。换句话说，只要查看网络组件就会向最终用户和云提供从网络内部和云的视图。在此观点中存在巨大的价值。然而，它既不彻底也不是目标，因此需要在外面的视野中加强，这真正代表人们如何体验网络。实际上，提供的重要视图是通过网络或边缘到云端的端到端。

Testing from the outside-in is the only way to replicate how end users interact with the network. Assessing network performance from outside-in also can cover all wireless access points and all wired topologies. This method is the only way for you to fully understand并保证这种经历是满足需求和期望。换句话说，为了完全测试网络性能，必须复制相同的交互最终用户具有网络建立连接，正在验证和交换数据。这是一个主要的函数性能保证sensors.

Sensors such as those included with theAruba User Experience Insight解决方案是用于复制最终用户交互的专用网络客户端，捕获相应的活动并生成度量。此外，与来自其他供应商的传感器不同，Aruba的传感器是可编程的，执行自动化故障排除，并利用我们的云托管的分析，以便通过网络沿着边缘到公共和私有云来彻底和客观地了解从边缘的点的性能。

As an analogy, consider security vulnerability and penetration testing. The only way to truly assess if security measures are blocking unwanted access, traffic and malicious activity is to try defeat security measures from the outside-in, so you can objectively know if your security measures are operating collectively and holistically as needed. This same principal applies to performance assurance.

网络独立性
Performance assurance should be implemented independent from your network because:

• 您不能依赖于遇到问题的网络才能明确地传达它遇到问题。
• It can readily provide its benefits even if your network includes (or may include) non-Aruba components, or components from more than one vendor.

互操作性
Insights from an independent assurance solution augment traditional network management and monitoring tools, so it is ideal for the insights to be available to other solutions to provide unified visibility, alarms/alerts and troubleshooting. Insights from Aruba’s solution will soon be available via an API. Aruba uses this API to bring the insights intoAruba Central,making it真正统一的网络运营，保证和安全平台。Aruba’s customers and third parties will be able to use the API to extend the capabilities of their systems and solutions too.

概括
Network monitoring and network management historically answers these questions:

• What is the status of each component of my network?
• 我的网络的整体状态是什么？
• What devices are connected and what traffic are they generating?
• What is the topology?

性能保证还回答了上述两个问题，通过提供对此问题的答案来增强您的理解和效益：

• What is actual performance experienced by end-users, their client devices and IoT devices using my network?

我希望这些信息有助于您了解最终用户体验见解对于有效地管理网络以及为什么网络 - 独立的性能保证解决方案是至关重要的Aruba User Experience Insight必须是网络运营方法的组成部分。

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