This value is a unique index for entries in the rcIpBgpTmpAfPathAttrTable. It is assigned by the agent at the point of creation of the rcIpBgpTmpAfPathAttrTable row entry. While its value is guaranteed to be unique at any time, it is otherwise opaque to the management application with respect to its value or the contiguity of rcIpBgpTmpAfPathAttrIndex row instance values across rows of the rcIpBgpTmpAfPathAttrTable.

Note well that this index is used to distinguish unique sets of Path Attributes sent as part of BGP NLRI. The implementor is thus encouraged to make this index unique per set of all received path attributes. This value may be used to index tables in extension MIBs that share the property of belonging to the same received Path Attribute tuple.