What does VPN bypass URL do?
The network_isp shown in Operata is the network used to send data from the agents Operata browser extension to Operata, on https://api.operata.io.
Whenever an agent uses a VPN the agents network IP address is allocated by the VPN, this masks the 'real' they are using and shows all VPN connected agents as using the same network (the network_isp for all agents will be the same; zScaler for example).
Without this data you cannot establish where or how the agent is connecting to the network to fully understand any network related issues.
VPN configuration summary
In summary your VPN client should be configured as below..
Route *api.operata.io over the VPN - this is the data shown in the network.isp column
Route *agent-service.operata.io outside the VPN - this is the data shown in the agent.isp column)
How does this work?
We capture the Agent's 'real' network details
Operata has created a 'bypass url' (https://agent-service.operata.io/lookup) that simply captures the IP address of the device making a request to it.
There are also IP addresses for this service
IP addresses for https://agent-service.operata.io:
- 15.197.68.217
- 166.117.173.134
At the start of every call the Operata Browser extension makes a call to this url and captures the IP address.
Where a Customers VPN client has been configured to route calls to this bypass url via the agent network (not the VPN) then details of the agents 'real' network will be collected, Operata also does an ISP look-up and presents the data in Cavas as the agent_isp.
A good place to confirm this is working is in the Networks Applications Equipment dashboard, navigate to Network/Agent Network where you will see network_isp and agent_isp details.
Note: VDI (with or without HDX) and other network configurations need to be considered and may change the interpretation of the details in both network_isp and agent_isp.
What do customers need to do to enable this feature?
The agents VPN client configuration needs to be updated to pass calls to https://agent-service.operata.io/lookup via the Agents local network (not the VPN) this configuration is commonly known as VPN split tunnelling.
Route *api.operata.io over the VPN
Route *agent-service.operata.io outside the VPN
There are also IP addresses for this service
IP addresses for https://agent-service.operata.io:
- 15.197.68.217
- 166.117.173.134
No data is passed to the VPN URL - it is simply an endpoint that the Agent client used to capture the IP address used to call it.
Please contact Operata if you need any other details..