title: SNMP: ifAdminStatus vs ifOperStatus
body: <p>I have a question about ifAdminStatus and ifOperStatus. Here is an output of my network interfaces state using ifAdminStatus:</p>
  
  <pre><code>snmpwalk -Os -c public -v 1 192.168.1.1 1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.7ifAdminStatus.1 = INTEGER: up(1)
  
  ifAdminStatus.12 = INTEGER: down(2)
  ifAdminStatus.13 = INTEGER: up(1)
  ifAdminStatus.14 = INTEGER: up(1)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And here is the same list using ifOperStatus:</p>
  
  <pre><code>snmpwalk -Os -c public -v 1 192.168.1.1 1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.8
  
  ifOperStatus.12 = INTEGER: down(2)
  ifOperStatus.13 = INTEGER: down(2)
  ifOperStatus.14 = INTEGER: down(2)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>As you can see an ifAdminStatus reports that #13 and #14 are up but ifOperStatus reports them both down. I know for a fact that #13 is up and passing packets though it ( it's my PPPoE Internet connection interface). According to cisco documentation "<strong>If ifAdminStatus is down(2) then ifOperStatus should be down(2).</strong>" Which doesn't seems to be the case here...</p>
  
  <p>My question is - why the reported statuses are different and is it safe to use just ifAdminStatus to tell if the interface is up and running instead of ifOperStatus?</p>
  
  <p>thanks!</p>
  
  <p>Here is snmpwalk with additional interfaces info:</p>
  
  <pre><code>snmpwalk -Os -c public -v 1 192.168.1.1 1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1
  [.....]
  ifIndex.12 = INTEGER: 12    
  ifIndex.13 = INTEGER: 13
  ifIndex.14 = INTEGER: 14
  [.....]
  ifDescr.12 = STRING: etherip0
  ifDescr.13 = STRING: ppp0
  ifDescr.14 = STRING: tun1
  [.....]
  ifType.12 = INTEGER: ethernetCsmacd(6)
  ifType.13 = INTEGER: ppp(23)
  ifType.14 = INTEGER: other(1)
  </code></pre>