The operational status of the MAC sublayer for a
particular interface. The value enabled(1)
signifies that the MAC sublayer for said interface
is operational for both transmitting and receiving
frames -- that is, that the value of both the
receive and transmit layer management state
variables (receiveEnabled and transmitEnabled in
[9]) for said interface are true. The value
disabled(2) signifies that the MAC sublayer for
said interface is not operational for either
transmitting or receiving frames. In particular,
the value of an instance of this object is
disabled(2) whenever the value of the
corresponding instance of the dot3Enabled object
is false(2).
Each alteration of an instance of this object to
the value enabled(1) is analogous to an invocation
of the enableMACSublayer action defined in [9] and
has the effect of starting normal transmit and
receive operations (from the ``idle'' state) on
the associated interface. In particular, such an
alteration has the effect of resetting the PLS for
said interface and of setting the receive and
transmit layer management state variables
(receiveEnabled and transmitEnabled in [9]) to be
true.
Each alteration of an instance of this object to
the value disabled(2) is analogous to an
invocation of the disableMACSublayer action
defined in [9] and has the effect of terminating
transmit and receive operations on the associated
interface. In particular, such an alteration has
the effect of setting the receive and transmit
layer management state variables (receiveEnabled
and transmitEnabled in [9]) to be false. Any
transmissions/receptions in progress are completed
before operation is terminated.