# What is an agent?

Agents are organizational elements created remotely or locally to contain a series of monitoring elements. They usually represent a device or server. An agent can have one or several IP addresses associated with it, and its name cannot be repeated with any other, **although its alias can**. Each agent belongs to a primary group, and to as many secondary groups as needed.

<p class="callout info">Agents have different statuses, which are determined by the status of their monitoring elements or modules.</p>

The agent's task is to serve as the container for data extraction tools for a specific monitored machine or device.