What is the purpose of the ssh-agent command in SSH?

The purpose of the ssh-agent command in SSH is to manage SSH keys in memory. It acts as a key manager that holds private keys used for public key authentication. By using ssh-agent, users can load their private SSH keys into the agent once and then utilize them for establishing SSH connections without needing to repeatedly enter their passphrase each time they initiate a connection.

When you run ssh-agent, it starts a background process that allows you to add your private keys with the ssh-add command. Once the keys are added, the ssh-agent manages them and automatically supplies the correct key upon request when you connect to other systems via SSH. This improves convenience and security, as it reduces the need to enter passwords or passphrases and protects keys from exposure.

The other options relate to different functionalities not performed by ssh-agent. For instance, while creating key pairs is an important aspect of SSH, that task is handled by the ssh-keygen command. Transferring files securely is typically done using scp or sftp, rather than through ssh-agent. Logging SSH access attempts is a function typically managed by the SSH daemon and other monitoring tools, not by the ssh-agent itself.