Description: The status of the locally-held information on a particular SNMP party. Setting an instance of this object to the value 'valid(1)' has the effect of ensuring that valid local knowledge exists for the corresponding party. For valid local knowledge to exist, there must be corresponding instances of each object in this table and in the partyTable. Thus, the creation of instances in the partyTable (but not in the aclTable or viewTable) occurs as a direct result of the creation of instances in this table.

Setting an instance of this object to the value 'invalid(2)' has the effect of invalidating all local knowledge of the corresponding party, including the invalidating of any/all entries in the partyTable, the partySecretsTable, the aclTable, and the viewTable which reference said party.

It is an implementation-specific matter as to whether the agent removes an invalidated entry from the table. Accordingly, management stations must be prepared to receive from agents tabular information corresponding to entries not currently in use. Proper interpretation of such entries requires examination of the relevant partySecretsStatus object.