--- title: "Corvil Sensor | Virtual & Cloud Packet Visibility | Pico" description: "Seamless packet-level visibility and analytics for virtual and cloud environments: lightweight agent deploys in seconds without physical appliances or packet brokers." source: https://www.pico.net/products/corvil-analytics/corvil-sensor/ markdown_url: https://www.pico.net/products/corvil-analytics/corvil-sensor.md --- # Corvil Sensor Seamless packet-level visibility and analytics for virtual and cloud environments, extending Corvil Analytics to any infrastructure without physical appliances or packet brokers. - Lightweight agent deploys in seconds across virtual, cloud, and physical environments - Kernel bypass support for high-performance systems with Solarflare - Accurate timestamping before packet forwarding, no packet broker required - Auto-registers and streams selected network data to Corvil Analytics platform ## What is Corvil Sensor? Corvil Sensor extends packet-level visibility to a wide variety of environments without physical appliances and without packet brokers. The lightweight agent is pre-configured and packaged for automated deployment in virtual servers and desktops within seconds. Corvil Sensor automatically registers and streams selected network data to the Corvil Analytics platform, providing seamless visibility, analysis, and operational workflows for managing performance across complex hybrid infrastructures. ## Benefits and related products ### Seamless Visibility Same granular L2-L7 visibility across remote, virtual, and physical environments as hardware appliances. ### Eliminate Blind Spots Extend visibility to on-server application components with kernel bypass support for Solarflare systems. ### Trading Analytics On-prem Corvil Analytics with Intelligence Hub, 600+ decoders, and modular capture-to-intelligence components. ### Corvil AppAgent Application-level instrumentation for multi-hop wire-app-wire latency measurement alongside Sensor. ### Corvil Center Centralized management console: manage Sensor agents alongside hardware appliances from a single interface. ## Where is Corvil Sensor deployed? ### Public cloud monitoring - Zero-cost instrumentation in AWS, Azure, and GCP environments - Same analytics as on-prem, no visibility gap between environments ### Virtualized data centers - Deploy in seconds on virtual servers without packet brokers - Lightweight footprint designed for production trading environments ### Remote offices & desktops - Extend visibility to remote locations without shipping hardware - Auto-register and stream data to central Corvil Analytics platform ### Kernel bypass environments - Solarflare kernel bypass support for high-performance trading systems - Visibility into on-server traffic that network taps cannot capture ## Frequently asked questions Everything you need to know about Corvil Sensor. ### What is Corvil Sensor used for? Corvil Sensor extends packet-level visibility and analytics to virtual and cloud environments where physical appliances cannot be deployed. It is used to monitor performance in public cloud, private cloud, virtualized data centers, remote offices, and desktops, providing the same granular L2-L7 visibility as Corvil hardware appliances. ### How is Corvil Sensor deployed? Corvil Sensor is a lightweight software agent that is pre-configured and packaged for automated deployment. It can be installed on virtual servers and desktops within seconds. Once deployed, it automatically registers with the Corvil Analytics platform and begins streaming selected network data for analysis, no manual configuration required. ### What is the performance overhead of Corvil Sensor? Corvil Sensor has a lightweight CPU and memory footprint designed for production environments. It provides reliable packet capture and delivery with accurate timestamping before packet forwarding. For high-performance systems, kernel bypass support is available for Solarflare network interfaces to minimize overhead. ### Does Corvil Sensor work in public cloud environments? Yes. Corvil Sensor provides zero-cost instrumentation in AWS, Azure, and GCP environments with the same L2-L7 visibility as hardware appliances. It deploys as a lightweight agent alongside your cloud workloads. ### Does Corvil Sensor require a packet broker? No. Corvil Sensor captures and timestamps packets directly before forwarding, eliminating the need for physical packet brokers. This reduces cost and complexity while providing accurate timestamping at the point of capture. ### How does Corvil Sensor integrate with Corvil Center? Corvil Sensor auto-registers with Corvil Center and appears alongside hardware appliances in the management console. It is managed, searched, and analyzed through the same centralized interface, providing unified visibility across all instrumentation points. ### Can Corvil Sensor monitor kernel bypass traffic? Yes. Corvil Sensor supports Solarflare kernel bypass interfaces, providing visibility into on-server application components that traditional network taps cannot reach. This is critical for high-frequency trading systems that bypass the OS network stack. ## Extend visibility to your cloud environments Talk to a Corvil specialist about deploying Corvil Sensor across your virtual and cloud infrastructure.