A method is implemented by a network device in a network for monitoring a segment of the network without direct access to an internal configuration or state of the segment. The method includes receiving a request to perform a monitoring task on a monitoring zone within the network. The monitoring zone includes a subset of network devices of the network. The monitoring zone has an ingress data path that carries ingress traffic into the monitoring zone and an egress data path that carries egress traffic out of the monitoring zone. The method further includes configuring the network to mirror the ingress traffic or the egress traffic to a configurable probe in the network and configuring the configurable probe to perform the monitoring task on the monitoring zone, where the configurable probe is configured to perform the monitoring task based on analysis of the mirrored ingress traffic or the mirrored egress traffic.