Which protocol is utilized for discovering devices such as switches and printers?

The correct choice is SNMP, which stands for Simple Network Management Protocol. SNMP is widely used for network management and is crucial for discovering devices like switches and printers. It allows for monitoring and managing network devices by enabling network administrators to gather information about device status, performance, and configuration.

SNMP works by using a manager-agent framework, where the manager sends requests to the agent (the device being monitored) and receives responses, which include various metrics and properties of the device. This is particularly effective for switches and printers, which often support SNMP to provide valuable operational data, such as traffic load, error rates, and print queue information.

While the other protocols listed have their specific applications—SSH (Secure Shell) is primarily used for secure command-line access to devices, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is a foundational protocol for establishing connections over a network, and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) is primarily used for managing Windows-based systems—they do not focus on the discovery and management of network devices in the same way that SNMP does. Thus, SNMP stands out as the most suitable protocol for this purpose.