A system or network adapter is considered to be unstable if it fluctuates too often between up and down states over a short period of time.

The IP Availability Manager monitors a system or network adapter’s state through the SNMP traps it receives and determines when to generate an unstable notification based on a combination of fixed values and user-controlled settings. The IP Availability Manager also calculates a stable time in which to wait before clearing an Unstable notification.

IP Availability Manager monitors the following SNMP traps to determine a change in an object’s state:

  • coldStart and warmStart traps for a system

  • linkUp or linkDown traps for a network adapter

    IP Availability Manager primarily uses linkDown traps for the analysis of unstable network adapters. However, for devices that only send linkUp traps, IP Availability Manager does use linkUp traps. When a device sends both linkUp and linkDown traps, IP Availability Manager uses linkDown traps for the unstable analysis.