An agent in network management is described as which of the following?

• A. A physical device that monitors traffic.
• B. A protocol used to manage devices.
• C. Network management software running on a managed device; by design has local knowledge of management information on the managed device and communicates that information via SNMP.
• D. A script that automates backups.

Answer: (C)

In network management, an agent is software that runs on the device being managed and holds its local management data, exposing that information to the management system using SNMP. This means the agent knows the device’s current state and configuration and responds to SNMP requests (and can send alerts) to keep the manager informed. The description fits best because it captures both the on-device presence of management information and the use of SNMP to communicate it.

The other options don’t fit as well: a physical device that monitors traffic is a hardware probe rather than an on-device agent; a protocol used to manage devices is SNMP itself, not the agent; and a script that automates backups is just a utility, not the on-device management component that provides SNMP-accessible data.