An EthSoamPeer has a persistent defect condition. A notification (fault alarm) is sent to the management entity with the OID of the EthSoamPeer that has detected the fault. The management entity receiving the notification can identify the system from the network source address of the notification, and can identify the EthSoamPeer reporting the defect by the indices in the OID of the variables in the notification: tnEthSoamInstance - Also the index of the EthSoam Peer status table entry (tnEthSoamPeerStatusTable). tnEthSoamPeerStatusMepId - Also the index of the EthSoam Peer status table entry (tnEthSoamPeerStatusTable).