| Description | This object is an 'alias' name for the interface as
specified by a network manager, and provides a non-volatile
'handle' for the interface.
On the first instantiation of an interface, the value of
ifAlias associated with that interface is the zero-length
string. As and when a value is written into an instance of
ifAlias through a network management set operation, then the
agent must retain the supplied value in the ifAlias instance
associated with the same interface for as long as that
interface remains instantiated, including across all re-
initializations/reboots of the network management system,
including those which result in a change of the interface's
ifIndex value.
An example of the value which a network manager might store
in this object for a WAN interface is the (Telco's) circuit
number/identifier of the interface.
Some agents may support write-access only for interfaces
having particular values of ifType. An agent which supports
write access to this object is required to keep the value in
non-volatile storage, but it may limit the length of new
values depending on how much storage is already occupied by
the current values for other interfaces. |