Distributed Telemetry - Switch Telemetry Agent

Overview

Distributed Telemetry (DT) is UFM Telemetry mode when the whole fabric telemetry is sampled from managed switches and hosts.

• Managed switch samples itself and hosts connected directly to it

• Each managed switch TI reports to one of several host TIs via MADs

• If a fabric GUID/Port can be sampled, but not sampled by a switch, host TI will sample it.

The whole process is orchestrated by UFM Telemetry Manager (UTM) on the top load balancer.
Switch telemetry is organized as a docker container (Switch Agent) with a telemetry package inside.

Terminology

Switch Telemetry docker image contains:

• Switch Agent is an HTTP server running inside of the container.

• Switch Telemetry Instance (Switch TI) that can be started or stopped within the container

To deploy/remove Switch Agent = to deploy/remove Switch Telemetry Container. 

Deployment

The deployment process is described in UFM Telemetry Manager (UTM). 

After preparing the setup enable Distributed Telemetry in utm_config.ini , as explained in the chapter Configuration File .

Running Distributed telemetry via HTTP API

For the sake of simplicity, the commands are listed here in UTM standalone mode only.

To get help for all HTTP API endpoints use /help  endpoint:

curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/help

UTM HTTP API allows users to:

• get the status of Switch Agent/Telemetry instances

• deploy/remove Switch Agent containers

• start/stop Switch Telemetry inside of deployed containers

• set switches IP list to be periodically monitored.

Recommended flow to work with Distributed Telemetry:

• Deploy:

• Cleanup:

Detailed instructions for Switch Agent and Switch Telemetry are listed in the following subsections.

API for Switch Agents

• Get the status of the managed switches in JSON format.

  Bash

  # all managed switches
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/managed_switches_status
  
  # managed switches set to periodic monitoring only:
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/managed_switches_status?monitored_only=1
  

  
  /status  endpoint provides JSON object per managed switch, which shows basic info about the switch, status of Switch Agent, and Switch Telemetry (If Switch Agent is installed to the switch).
  
  

• In the case of non-default switch credentials, upload them into UTM.

  Bash

  curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8888/set_switch_creds?ip={SWITCH_IP}&user={SWITCH_USER}&pass={SWITCH_PASSWORD}"
  

  
  

• Set switch IP list for periodic monitoring. Monitoring updates switch information for /managed_switches_status  endpoint.

  Bash

  # monitor only IP1,IP2:
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/switch_mon_list?ip_list=IP1,IP2
  
  # monitor all managed switches
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/switch_mon_list?ip_list=all
  

  
  

• Deploy switch agents to a list of managed switches.

  Bash

  # deploy to all the managed switches:
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/deploy_switch_agents?ip_list=all
  
  # deploy to switches with IPs IP1 and IP2:
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/deploy_switch_agents?ip_list=IP1,IP2
  

  
  

• Remove switch agents from a list of managed switches

  Bash

  # deploy to all the managed switches:
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/remove_switch_agents?ip_list=all
  
  # deploy to switches with IPs IP1 and IP2:
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/remove_switch_agents?ip_list=IP1,IP2 
  

  
  

API for Switch Telemetry:

• Start switch telemetry. Note at least one managed host TI should run.

  Bash

  # for all running Switch Agents
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/start_switch_telemetry 
  
  # at a specific switch IP:
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/start_switch_telemetry?ip=IP1
  

  
  

• Stop switch telemetry:

  Bash

  # for all running Switch Agents
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/stop_switch_telemetry
  
  at a specific switch IP:
  curl -sk https://127.0.0.1:8888/stop_switch_telemetry?ip=IP1
  

  
  

Last updated: June 03, 2026