ThousandEyes releases periodic software updates and performs occasional maintenance.  While we endeavor to update the system unobtrusively, some changes require us to take offline all or part of the platform, Cloud Agents or other infrastructure. Additionally, unplanned outages can infrequently occur. Customers who wish to receive information on updates, maintenance that requires downtime or unplanned outages can selectively subscribe to emails and to our ThousandEyes Operations Twitter feed.

Updates to the product, which introduce new features and bug fixes, typically occur on alternate Tuesdays, starting at 6 PM, Pacific time, but may also occur at other times. We post Release Updates to the Release Notes section of the Customer Success Center's Knowledge Base.  Release Updates provide valuable information about newly available features and bug fixes.

When planned maintenance downtime is scheduled, we post an article in the Maintenance Announcements section of the Knowledge Base, as well as posting a message in the Notifications feature of the platform.  The Notifications feature is accessed through the bell icon on the menu bar of the platform's web interface:

During unplanned outages, we post an article in the Announcements section of the Knowledge Base, as well as tweeting from our @ThousandEyesOps handle.

Subscribing to email notifications

Users wishing to receive information on upgrades or on maintenance which which requires downtime can subscribe to email notifications for the relevant sections of the Knowledge Base.  Whenever a new article is posted in a section, subscribers will receive an email notification to the email address used as the ThousandEyes login.

• Release Updates are posted in the Release Notes section of the Knowledge Base, which is under Product News and Updates.
• Planned maintenance announcements are posted in the Maintenance Announcements section, which is under Platform Operations.
• Unplanned maintenance issues are posted in the Announcements section, which is under the Product News and Updates.

To subscribe to the Release Notes, Maintenance Announcements or Announcements sections:

1. Log into ThousandEyes using the email address you wish to receive the email announcements
   You cannot subscribe an email address that does not correspond to an account in the ThousandEyes application.
2. Click the Help link to open the Customer Success Center
3. Click the Profile tab to display your Profile Settings
4. In the Email Notification section, select the Release Notes, Maintenance Announcements and/or Announcements checkboxes
5. Click the Update Subscriptions button to save your changes

Distribution of email to multiple recipients

Customers who wish to distribute email notifications to multiple users can configure a forwarding rule within their email system which resends a received email.  Alternatively, customers can create an account in ThousandEyes whose username is the email address associated with a distribution list within their email system, for example netops-thousandeyes-notifications@example.com.

Following the Twitter feed

For information on unplanned outages, you can follow the ThousandEyes Operations' Twitter handle: @ThousandEyesOps.  The Twitter feed will provide information on unplanned events as well as scheduled maintenance.  To subscribe to the Twitter handle, go to the ThousandEyes Ops Twitter page, then click the Follow button:

Following a Twitter feed requires a Twitter account.  To unfollow the feed, consult Twitter's support documentation for unfollowing.

Integration of a Twitter feed with messaging tools such as Slack is possible, allowing the feed's tweets to be distributed to people automatically.  Here is an example of an integration with the tool that distributes the feed's tweets:

• Slack: https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/205346227-Adding-Twitter-to-Slack