Network Interface Card General Statistics

All the network interface cards described in this chapter export a collection of kernel statistics information. In the previous sections describing individual network interfaces, we described kernel statistics that are unique to each interface. This section describes the kernel statistics common to all interfaces. You can use either the kstat(1M) utility or the netstat(1M) utility to gather statistics about each interface.

In many cases, these statistics help establish whether packets are moving properly through the interfaces or whether the interface is in a state that will even allow packets to be communicated properly.

Table 5-70. General Network Interface Statistics

kstat name	Type	Description
ipackets	counter	The number of packets received by the interface
ipackets64	counter	A 64-bit version of ipackets so a larger count can be kept
rbytes	counter	The number of bytes received by the interface
rbytes64	counter	A 64-bit version of rbytes so a larger count can be kept
multircv	counter	The number of multicast packets received by the interface
brdcstrcv	counter	The number of broadcast packets received by the interface
unknowns	counter	The number of packets that are received by an interface but cannot be classified to any Layer 3 or above protocol available in the system
ierrors	counter	The number of receive packet errors that led to a packet being discarded
norcvbuf	counter	The number receive packets that could not be received because the NIC had no buffers available
opackets	counter	The number of packets transmitted by the interface
opackets64	counter	A 64-bit version of opackets so a larger count can be kept
obytes	counter	The number of bytes transmitted by the interface
obytes64	counter	A 64-bit version of obytes so a larger count can be kept
multixmt	counter	The number of multicast packets transmitted by the interface
brdcstxmt	counter	The number of broadcast packets transmitted by the interface
oerrors	counter	The number of packets that encountered an error on transmission, causing the packets to be dropped
noxmtbuf	counter	The number of transmit packets that were stalled for transmission because the NIC had no buffers available
collisions	counter	The number of collisions encountered while transmitting packets
ifspeed	state	The current speed of the network connection in megabits per second
Mac_mtu	state	The current MTU allowed by the driver, including the Ethernet header and 4-byte CRC