---
title: "Private probes | Grafana Cloud documentation"
description: "Learn about Synthetic Monitoring private probes and find requirements, setup instructions, configuration options, monitoring guidance, and troubleshooting information."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# Private probes

A private probe is a Synthetic Monitoring [probe](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/observe-and-act/testing/synthetic-monitoring/introduction/#probes) that you install in your environment or another location you choose. It runs checks against the applications and services you monitor by sending requests and recording the responses.

Unlike [public probes](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/observe-and-act/testing/synthetic-monitoring/create-checks/public-probes/) operated by Grafana Labs, private probes are only accessible to you and only write data to your Grafana Cloud account. Private probes are instances of the open source Grafana [Synthetic Monitoring Agent](https://www.github.com/grafana/synthetic-monitoring-agent).

This section includes the following topics:

- [Set up a private probe](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/observe-and-act/testing/synthetic-monitoring/set-up/set-up-private-probes/set-up/)  
  Register a Synthetic Monitoring private probe, install the agent using APT, YUM, Docker, or Kubernetes, and assign checks to run from your environment.
- [Network and resource requirements](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/observe-and-act/testing/synthetic-monitoring/set-up/set-up-private-probes/network-and-resource-requirements/)  
  Review Synthetic Monitoring private probe firewall access for service connections, script imports, and monitored targets, and estimate CPU and memory requirements.
- [Configure](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/observe-and-act/testing/synthetic-monitoring/set-up/set-up-private-probes/configure/)  
  Configure Synthetic Monitoring private probe feature flags, access to private IP addresses, browser check requirements, and anonymous usage statistics reporting.
- [Monitor private probes](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/observe-and-act/testing/synthetic-monitoring/set-up/set-up-private-probes/monitor-private-probes/)  
  Collect Prometheus-style metrics from the Synthetic Monitoring Agent to monitor private probes with Prometheus or Grafana Alloy.
- [Troubleshoot](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/observe-and-act/testing/synthetic-monitoring/set-up/set-up-private-probes/troubleshoot/)  
  Troubleshoot Synthetic Monitoring private probes by checking agent versions, authentication, API connectivity, logs, and metrics, and find community or account support.