This read-only enumeration (notConfigured(1), okay(2), alarm(3), failed(4)) reports the LMI state of the virtual channel, with failed(4) specifically distinguishing a connection that is actually broken in a PNNI network from one merely in alarm(3) where the underlying PNNI connection is not actually broken; this distinction applies only in the PNNI environment. An administrator uses this to quickly assess a channel's health, and in PNNI deployments specifically to tell apart a soft alarm condition from a confirmed hard failure. For example, in a PNNI network a channel reporting alarm(3) rather than failed(4) tells an administrator the underlying connection is still intact despite the alarm condition, unlike a channel reporting failed(4).