An agent is a separate program that works in conjunction with the JavaTest harness to run tests on a system other than the one that is running the JavaTest harness.

If you plan to run the tests on the system on which you are running this interview, do not use the JavaTest agent.

Use the JavaTest agent if you are configuring a test run when the JavaTest harness runs on a separate computer, using one of the reference VMs, while an agent runs the tests in separate VMs on the system under test.

Alternatively you can configure a test run when the JavaTest harness runs on a separate computer, using one of the reference VMs, and is used only to complete the JCK configuration interview for the subsequent use on a separate computer on the system under test. For this particular case you do not need to use the JavaTest agent.

Note
For more information, refer to the "Running JCK Tests" chapter of the Java Compatibility Kit User's Guide.