The ID statement is used within a definition to assign a unique numeric identifier (ID) to the definition. The DMI refers to the ID when naming items at the API level and when mapping to network management protocols. The ID statement is required for the attribute and table definitions and optional for the group definition. The MIF allows only one ID statement for each definition.

Note: The component, path, and enumeration definitions do not use the ID statement. The component ID is assigned to the component by the service layer when the component is installed.

The syntax for the ID statement is:

id = n

n is defined by the component developer. The value of n must be a non-zero 32-bit unsigned integer. The ID must be unique only within the scope of the definition in which it is specified. For example, all the attributes within a particular group must have different ID values, but IDs are not required to be unique across groups.

Because components and management applications use IDs for communication, users are not allowed to change the values of an ID.