AgentX Protocol

The AgentX protocol enables subagents to connect to the master agent. The protocol also enables the master agent to distribute received SNMP protocol messages to the subagents.

The AgentX protocol defines an SNMP agent to consist of one master agent entity and other subagent entities. The master agent runs on the SNMP port, and sends and receives SNMP messages as specified by the SNMP framework documents. The master agent does not access the subagents' management information directly. The subagents do not handle SNMP messages, but subagents do access their management information. In short, the master agent handles SNMP for the subagents, and only handles SNMP. The subagent handles manipulation of management data but does not handle SNMP messages. The responsibilities of each type of agent are strictly defined. The master agent and subagents communicate through AgentX protocol messages. AgentX is described in detail by RFC 2741. See http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2741.txt

The SMA performs in the role of the master agent. Subagents that you create can add management objects to the agent.