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Werk #19976: Network interfaces: ifName is now a separately disableable SNMP section

Component Checks & agents
Title Network interfaces: ifName is now a separately disableable SNMP section
Date Jun 5, 2026
Level Trivial Change
Class New Feature
Compatibility Compatible - no manual interaction needed
Checkmk versions & editions
3.0.0b1
Not yet released
Checkmk Community, Checkmk Pro, Checkmk Ultimate, Checkmk Cloud, Checkmk Ultimate MT

With werk #19971 the shared if64 parser started fetching ifName (OID .1.3.6.1.2.1.31.1.1.1.1) for every SNMP interface device in order to populate the new name attribute and the Use name item appearance. This added an extra interface table to the SNMP walk, which can worsen existing performance issues on devices with many interfaces.

ifName is now fetched by its own SNMP section if_names instead of being part of the main interface section. As a result, it can be disabled independently of the rest of the interface data via the ruleset Disabled or enabled sections (SNMP) (host rule, section name if_names).

The section is enabled by default, so the Use name appearance keeps working out of the box. Disabling if_names removes the additional SNMP traffic; the name attribute is then no longer populated and the Use name item appearance is unavailable for the affected hosts. After changing the setting, the affected hosts need to be rediscovered if the item appearance is in use.

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