SNMP agents

An SNMP agent, also called an out-of-band agent, is software that runs on a switch and can be used to monitor and manage systems and devices in your network. IBM Spectrum Control uses SNMP to retrieve information about specific switches, such as Cisco switches, and the fabrics that the switches are members of.

IBM Spectrum Control uses SNMPv3 (preferred) or SNMPv1 to probe Cisco switches to collect performance data. Some switches are configured to use SNMPv3 by default.