About Symantec ESM agents

Symantec ESM agents consist of a module server and a communications component that is attached to the server.

In the Symantec ESM system, the agent gathers and interprets the data that pertains to the security of the host computer. The agent returns this data in response to a policy run request from a manager.

Security modules in the policy analyze the configuration of the following:

Workstation
Server
Computer where the agent resides
Computer where the agent acts as a proxy

The agent server gathers the resulting data and returns it to the manager that initiated the request. The manager responds by updating the appropriate files in its database.

Symantec ESM agents do the following:

Store snapshot files of computer-specific and user account information
Make user-requested corrections to the files
Update the snapshot files when corrections occur