Updated diff based of feedback from jmc@: +conciseness -duplication Ingo Schwarze wrote on Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 08:36:07PM +0200: > David Gwynne wrote on Mon, Sep 11, 2023 at 06:52:56AM +1000: >> On 7 Sep 2023, at 08:00, Steven Shockley wrote:
>>> When running netstat -I [interface], what do the "fails" and "errs" >>> columns mean? When my firewall is under network load, the output >>> interface fails and total errs increases. >> fails are the sum of qdrops and errs. qdrops are when the network >> stack drops packets getting packets on or off the driver, and errs >> are problems the driver has with packets. netstat -eI foo0 shows the >> errors on their own, netstat -dI foo0 shows the drops on their own. >> >> if it's qdrops then it's a software performance/configuration >> problem. if it's errs then it's something in the driver reporting >> errors. if the driver provides kstats then you might be able to >> figure out if it's a dodgy cable or something like that. > Let's make sure this information does not get lost again. > > David, are you OK with the following patch? > > Rationale: > * The "either" is just wrong. The SYNOPSIS explicitly says that > -I/-i and -w can be combined, and it works, too. > * When documenting -I, saying "used with wait" is wrong, too, > but in the opposite way. Using -I without -w works quite well. Index: netstat.1 =================================================================== RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/netstat/netstat.1,v retrieving revision 1.98 diff -u -r1.98 netstat.1 --- netstat.1 4 Jan 2023 19:12:34 -0000 1.98 +++ netstat.1 12 Sep 2023 21:01:32 -0000 @@ -143,21 +143,24 @@ .Fl w is specified as well. .It Fl d -With either the interface display (options +With the interface display (options .Fl I or .Fl i ) or an interval (option .Fl w ) , -show only the number of dropped packets. +show only the numbers of packets dropped by the network stack +.Pq queue drops , +which usually result from software performance or configuration problems. .It Fl e -With either the interface display (options +With the interface display (options .Fl I or .Fl i ) or an interval (option .Fl w ) , -show only the number of errors on the interface. +show only the numbers of errors detected by the interface driver. +Errors can, for example, result from hardware problems. .It Fl F When showing routes, only show routes whose gateway are in the same address family as the destination. @@ -190,9 +193,14 @@ .It Fl I Ar interface Show information about the specified .Ar interface ; -used with a -.Ar wait -interval as described below. +can optionally be combined with a +.Fl w Ar wait +interval. +By default, the sums of all failures are shown, including both +interface driver errors as reported by +.Fl e +and queue drops as reported by +.Fl d . .It Fl i Show the state of interfaces which have been auto-configured (interfaces statically configured into a system but not
