This read-write enumerated value indicates how a connection was established or is managed - as a manually provisioned PVC, a switched SVC, a soft PVC (SPVC), or one dynamically created/managed by a routing controller such as PAR, PNNI, or TAG. Admins use this to distinguish statically configured connections from those set up automatically by a signaling or routing protocol, which affects whether the admin should expect the connection to persist or be dynamically torn down/rerouted. For example, a connection showing pnni was set up by the PNNI routing controller rather than manually provisioned, so an admin wouldn't expect to manage its VPI/VCI directly.