Behaviour For "ifdown" Command

Hi,

I had a question regarding the way "ifdown" script works in SUSE.

In Suse 9.1, if we make three virtual interfaces, eth0:0, eth0:1 & eth0:2, in that order itself, and then after some time do an "ifdown eth0:0", all the three virtual interfaces created above are removed.
But if i do "ifdown eth0:1" OR "ifdown eth0:2", only the specified virtual interface is removed, rest two of them remain there as it is.

So in summary, if one created 'n' number of virtual interfaces (on a particular interface) as defined above, and did an ifdown on the virtual interface made first, all the 'n' virtual interfaces are removed, whereas if any other (any but first virtual interface) is removed using ifdown, then only that interface is removed.

This was the behavior on SUSE 9.1.

ON Suse 10.2, the behavior is a bit different.
On 10.2, ir-respective of which virtual interface is created first, if we do an ifdown on any of the virtual interface created all the virtual interfaces created on that particular interface are removed.

I was trying to find some documentation on this behavior change of ifdown to confirm my observations.
Any help in this context will be appreciated.

Also just for info, on red hat & fedora, ifdown command can not be given for a virtual interface like eth0:0, only for interfaces like eth0. eth1.. etc.

Thanks in advance.
Gaurav Sharma