ifAlias column in Spectrum Interfaces tab not displaying complete ifAlias value

Products

• Spectrum
• Network Observability

Issue/Introduction

The ifAlias column in Spectrum Interfaces tab not displaying complete ifAlias value

Environment

Release: Any
Component:

Cause

The ifMib limits the ifAlias attribute to 64 characters. So it the ifAlias configuration of the interface is larger than 64 characters, then only the first 64 will be saved to the ifAlias attribute in the ifMib on the device. 

Resolution

For Cisco devices, the "snmp ifmib ifalias long" parameter can be used when configuring the interface to allow for longer ifAlias values. The following is from the Cisco "SNMP Configuration Guide" document.

Interface Alias

The ifAlias object (ifXEntry 18) is called the Interface Alias. The Interface Alias is a user-specified description of an interface used for SNMP network management. The ifAlias is an object in the Interfaces Group MIB (IF-MIB) that can be set by a network manager to "name" an interface. The ifAlias value for an interface or subinterface can be set using the description command in interface configuration mode or subinterface configuration mode or by using a Set operation from an NMS. Previously, ifAlias descriptions for subinterfaces were limited to 64 characters. (The OLD-CISCO-INTERFACES-MIB allows up to 255 characters for the locIfDescr MIB variable, but this MIB does not support subinterfaces.) A new CLI command, snmp ifmib ifalias long, configures the system to handle IfAlias descriptions of up to 256 characters. IfAlias descriptions appear in the output of the CLI show interfaces command.