Although I still like the idea of virtual probes, I found out that it wouldn't help me in this case, as Microsoft's cloud block ICMP traffic. :-( regards Klaus On 27.03.2015 09:30, Klaus Darilion wrote:
Hi!
I just found an old thread about virtual probes: https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/ripe-atlas/2013-June/000849.html
I second the problems of virtual hosts and that the results may not as good as other probes result, but there is a big advantage for virtual probes - I can host them in the cloud.
For example, I just wanted to debug routing issues from the Microsoft Cloud in Brazil to our server. Unfortunately there are no probes in this Cloud's AS. With a virtual probe it would be quite easy. I order an VM with Microsoft, and have my probe in the chosen datacenter. The probe could be tagged with "VM" to show that it is running on shared resources.
Of course the VM will produce extra costs, but there may be sponsors, and the smallest VM is usually enough. For example , one possibility would be, that the sponsor donates the money, e.g. 10-20€ per month, and chooses the cloud location. RIPE will then rent the VMs and run the probes. With several sponsors we could get a nice cloud coverage, and we could deploy probes in networks where the provider does not want to hosts physical probes.
regards Klaus