Werk #22191: Network interfaces: service details reveal index, description and alias
| Component | Checks & agents | ||
| Title | Network interfaces: service details reveal index, description and alias | ||
| Date | Aug 20, 2026 | ||
| Level | Trivial Change | ||
| Class | New Feature | ||
| Compatibility | Compatible - no manual interaction needed | ||
| Checkmk versions & editions |
|
The summary of a network interface service shows a single bare value in
brackets, for example [tun0]. That value can come from the interface's
index, description (ifDescr), alias (ifAlias) or name (ifName),
and until now there was no way to tell which one it was — nor whether
the device populates the other fields at all. Deciding whether the
discovery ruleset Network interfaces and switch ports should switch
the option Appearance of network interface from Use index to Use
description or Use alias therefore required an SNMP walk or
guesswork.
The details of every interface service now spell this out:
Index: 3
Description: tun0
Alias: not set
Service item based on: description (ifDescr)
Index, Description and Alias are always listed, with not set
where the device leaves a field empty, so it is visible which fields
the device actually fills. Name is added when the device reports
ifName. The Service item based on line states which field the
service item was derived from; it is missing for services that were
discovered before that information was recorded, and for interface
groups, whose accumulated attributes carry no per-device naming.
The service summary is unchanged, and so is $SERVICEOUTPUT$ in
notifications. $LONGSERVICEOUTPUT$ now carries the block above in
place of the bracketed value that was previously repeated there.