---
title: "Agents Overview"
slug: "agents-overview"
description: "Explore Kentik's Universal Agent for streamlined monitoring, data collection, and enhanced security across Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, and RHEL environments."
updated: 2026-07-06T23:29:12Z
published: 2026-07-06T23:29:12Z
canonical: "kb.kentik.com/agents-overview"
stale: true
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.kentik.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Agents Overview

This article provides an overview of software agents used with Kentik.

> [!NOTE]
> **Note:** The software agents described here are available for both Debian/Ubuntu and CentOS/RHEL.

## About Kentik Agents

> [!WARNING]
> **IMPORTANT**: The Universal Agent will gradually replace all legacy Kentik agents. Kentik recommends [migrating to the Universal Agent](/v1/docs/migrate-from-kproxy-to-universal-agent) to take advantage of the latest performance optimizations and security updates.

Kentik uses various software agents to gather data and perform tasks supporting the platform. These tasks include:

- **NMS Metrics**: Collecting data via SNMP and Streaming Telemetry (see [**Universal Agent**](/v1/docs/agents-overview#universal-agent)).
- **Flow Encryption**: Securing data in transit (see [**Universal Agent**](/v1/docs/agents-overview#universal-agent)).
- **Host Traffic**: Collecting and sending flow directly from a host (see [**Universal Agent**](/v1/docs/agents-overview#universal-agent)).
- **Synthetic Monitoring**: Performing active network testing (see [**Kentik Synthetics Agents**](/v1/docs/synthetics-agent)).
- **Kubernetes**: Monitoring container orchestration clusters, (see [**Kentik Kubernetes Agents**](/v1/docs/kentik-kubernetes-agents)).
- **Data Export**: Sending enriched records to external systems (see [**Using Kentik Firehose**](/v1/docs/using-kentik-firehose)).

The following table provides a quick reference to help you identify the correct agent based on your specific monitoring use case and deployment environment:

| Agent Type | Primary Use Case | Environment |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Universal Agent | SNMP, Flow, Telemetry | Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, RHEL) |
| Synthetics Agent | Connectivity & Latency Testing | Global / Private Nodes |
| Kubernetes Agent | Pod & Service Visibility | K8s Clusters |
| Firehose | High-volume Data Export | Cloud / On-Prem |

## Universal Agent

The [**Universal Agent**](/v1/docs/universal-agents) is Kentik’s next-generation observability solution. Unlike legacy specialized agents, the Universal Agent is a single, unified software package that can perform multiple monitoring tasks.

Once installed, you don’t need to download new binaries to expand your monitoring scope; you simply enable or disable specific [**Capabilities**](/v1/docs/universal-agents#agent-capabilities) via configuration.

### What are Capabilities?

Think of Capabilities as modular features within the Universal Agent. Instead of managing five different services, you manage one agent that can be toggled to handle:

- **Standard Infrastructure:** Collecting Flow, SNMP, and Streaming Telemetry.
- **Host Visibility:** Monitoring local host traffic and performance.
- **Secure Proxy:** Encrypting and tunneling data from your private network to the Kentik platform.

### Key Benefits

- **Simplified Maintenance:** Update one agent to get the latest features across all monitoring types.
- **Reduced Footprint:** Lower CPU and memory overhead compared to running multiple standalone agents.
- **Dynamic Scaling:** Turn on [**Agent Capabilities**](/v1/docs/universal-agents#agent-capabilities) as your network grows without needing to redeploy infrastructure.