In one embodiment, a proxy forwards a first request from a manager for an object in a management information base to an agent in a network device, the object describing a characteristic of the network device. The proxy receives the object from the agent and categorizes the object in a category of a plurality of categories based on a characteristic of the object. At least two categories in the plurality of categories are associated with different time-to-live values. The proxy caches the object from the agent with a time-to-live value in a cache, the time-to-live value associated with the category. Then, the proxy returns the object to the manager. The proxy responds to a second request for the object using the cached object while the time-to-live value is valid without having to forward the second request to the agent.