When set to 'clear' all of the interface statistics are cleared to zero. It will also force a clearing of all protocol, and 'user' statistics that are related to this interface.

Normally, this object will be adjusted if it is associated with physical ports (i.e. 1 - 8)

When read, this object should always return 'cleared' indicating that the clear operation took place. Should the operation be defered, the value will remain as 'clear' until such time as:

1/ all of the statistics have actually been zeroed, and 2/ ifClearStatsTime has been updated with the correct time.

Should an NMS read the object and receive a 'cleared' indication, the SNMP agent will set this object to 'cleared-confirmed'. This aids the NMS in determining whether or not the agent successfully received subsequent clear request.

Normal operation would be:

NMS Agent

set 'clear' --> set to 'clear,' perform clearing . read --> . 'clear' <-- . clearing complete, set to 'cleared' . read --> . 'cleared' <-- set to 'cleared-confirmed' . read --> . 'cleared-confirmed' <-- .

Rules: 1/ NMS must read 'cleared-confirmed' BEFORE attempting to set 'clear'. 2/ After setting 'clear' the NMS must read 'cleared'. then the NMS must read 'cleared-confirmed'. In this manner, if a 'clear' command was missed by the agent, the variable will still be set to either 'cleared' or 'cleared-confirmed'.