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Shared Ethernet Adapter statistics

Learn about general Shared Ethernet Adapter statistics, such as VLAN IDs and packet information, and view examples.

Statistic descriptions

Table 1. Descriptions of Shared Ethernet Adapter statistics
Statistic Description
Number of adapters Includes the real adapter and all of the virtual adapters.
Note: If you are using Shared Ethernet Adapter failover, then the control channel adapter is not included.
Shared Ethernet Adapter flags Denotes the features that the Shared Ethernet Adapter is currently running.
THREAD
The Shared Ethernet Adapter is operating in threaded mode, where incoming packets are queued and processed by different threads; its absence denotes interrupt mode, where packets are processed in the same interrupt where they are received.
LARGESEND
The large send feature has been enabled on the Shared Ethernet Adapter.
JUMBO_FRAMES
The jumbo frames feature has been enabled on the Shared Ethernet Adapter.
GVRP
The GVRP feature has been enabled on the Shared Ethernet Adapter.
VLAN IDs List of VLAN IDs that have access to the network through the Shared Ethernet Adapter (this includes PVID and all tagged VLANs).
Real adapters
Packets received
Number of packets received on the physical network.
Packets bridged
Number of packets received on the physical network that were sent to the virtual network.
Packets consumed
Number of packets received on the physical network that were addressed to the interface configured over the Shared Ethernet Adapter.
Packets fragmented
Number of packets received on the physical network that were fragmented before being sent to the virtual network. They were fragmented because they were bigger than the outgoing adapter's Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU).
Packets transmitted
Number of packets sent on the physical network. This includes packets sent from the interface configured over the Shared Ethernet Adapter, as well as each packet sent from the virtual network to the physical network (including fragments).
Packets dropped
Number of packets received on the physical network that were dropped for one of the following reasons:
  • The packet was the oldest packet on a thread's queue and there was no space to accommodate a newly received packet.
  • The packet had an invalid VLAN ID and could not be processed.
  • The packet was addressed to the Shared Ethernet Adapter interface, but its interface had no filters registered.
Packets filtered (VLAN ID)
Number of packets that are received on the physical network and that were not sent to the virtual network because of an unknown VLAN ID.
Packets filtered (Reserved address)
Number of packets that are received on the physical network that were not bridged to any of the trunk virtual Ethernet adapters because the destination MAC address is a reserved multicast address that is only useful for bridges.
Virtual adapters
Packets received
Number of packets received on the virtual network. In other words, the number of packets received on all of the virtual adapters.
Packets bridged
Number of packets received on the virtual network that were sent to the physical network.
Packets consumed
Number of packets received on the virtual network that were addressed to the interface configured over the Shared Ethernet Adapter.
Packets fragmented
Number of packets received on the virtual network that were fragmented before being sent to the physical network. They were fragmented because they were bigger than the outgoing adapter's MTU.
Packets transmitted
Number of packets sent on the virtual network. This includes packets sent from the interface configured over the Shared Ethernet Adapter, as well as each packet sent from the physical network to the virtual network (including fragments).
Packets dropped
Number of packets received on the virtual network that were dropped for one of the following reasons:
  • The packet was the oldest packet on a thread's queue and there was no space to accommodate a newly received packet.
  • The packet was addressed to the Shared Ethernet Adapter interface, but its interface had no filters registered.
Packets filtered (VLAN ID)
In a shared high availability mode, the number of packets that are received on the virtual network and that were not sent to the physical network because they did not belong to the VLAN that is bridged by the shared Ethernet adapter.
Output packets generated Number of packets with a valid VLAN tag or no VLAN tag sent out of the interface configured over the Shared Ethernet Adapter.
Output packets dropped Number of packets sent out of the interface configured over the Shared Ethernet Adapter that are dropped because of an invalid VLAN tag.
Device output failures Number of packets that could not be sent due to underlying device errors. This includes errors sent on the physical network and virtual network, including fragments and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) error packets generated by the Shared Ethernet Adapter.
Memory allocation failures Number of packets that could not be sent because there was insufficient network memory to complete an operation.
ICMP error packets sent Number of ICMP error packets successfully sent when a big packet could not be fragmented because the don't fragment bit was set.
Non IP packets larger than MTU Number of packets that could not be sent because they were bigger than the outgoing adapter's MTU and could not be fragmented because they were not IP packets.
Thread queue overflow packets Number of packets that were dropped from the thread queues because there was no space to accommodate a newly received packet.
The Transmit statistic counts the sum of transmitted statistics for all Shared Ethernet Adapters. The Receive statistic counts the sum of received statistics for all Shared Ethernet Adapters. For example, consider the following setup, where a Shared Ethernet Adapter has a real and a virtual adapter:
  • ent5 = SEA
  • ent0 = Real adapter
  • ent1 = Virtual adapter

If a VIOClient receives 100 MB from a server, the Shared Ethernet Adapter's real adapter records 100 MB on its Receive statistic, and the Shared Ethernet Adapter's virtual adapter records 100 MB on its Transmit statistic. In this setup, the Shared Ethernet Adapters record 100 MB for Transmit and 100 MB for Receive statistics.

If a VIOClient sends 300 MB to a server, the Shared Ethernet Adapter's real adapter records 300 MB on its Transmit statistic, and the Shared Ethernet Adapter's virtual adapter records 300 MB on its Receive statistic. In this setup, the Shared Ethernet Adapters record 300 MB for Transmit and 300 MB for Receive statistics.

In a threaded mode, a section follows with the statistics for each queue of each thread that handled packets. There is one queue per thread if QoS is disabled and 7 queues per thread if QoS is enabled. Up to 8 queues per thread are displayed if QoS mode is changed. You can use these statistics to verify whether the packets are distributed evenly between queues, whether the queues are sized correctly, and whether there are sufficient number of threads.

Table 2. Descriptions of Shared Ethernet Adapter per-queue statistics
Statistic Description
Queue full dropped packets Number of packets that were dropped from this thread queue because there was no space to accommodate a newly received packet.
Queue packets queued Number of packets that are currently queued in this thread queue.
Queue average packets queued Average number of packets present in this thread queue after a newly received packet is queued. A value of N indicates that on an average, there were N-1 packets already present in the queue when a new packet was queued.
Queue packets count Total number of packets that have passed through this thread queue.
Queue max packets queued Maximum number of packets that was handled by this thread queue.

Example statistics

-------------------------------------------------------------
Statistics for adapters in the Shared Ethernet Adapter ent5
-------------------------------------------------------------
Number of adapters: 3
SEA Flags: 00000001
    < THREAD >
VLAN Ids :
    ent3: 15
    ent2: 14 100 101
Real Side Statistics:
    Packets received: 10763329
    Packets bridged: 10718078
    Packets consumed: 10708048
    Packets fragmented: 0
    Packets transmitted: 181044
    Packets dropped: 0
    Packets filtered(VlanId): 0
    Packets filtered(Reserved address): 45243
Virtual Side Statistics:
    Packets received: 363027
    Packets bridged: 181044
    Packets consumed: 0
    Packets fragmented: 0
    Packets transmitted: 10900061
    Packets dropped: 0
    Packets filtered(VlanId): 0
Other Statistics:
    Output packets generated: 181983
    Output packets dropped: 0
    Device output failures: 0
    Memory allocation failures: 0
    ICMP error packets sent: 0
    Non IP packets larger than MTU: 0
    Thread queue overflow packets: 0


        SEA THREADS INFORMATION

        Thread .............. #0
    SEA Default Queue #8 
    Queue full dropped packets: 0
    Queue packets queued: 0
    Queue average packets queued: 1
    Queue packets count: 1811500
    Queue max packets queued: 8

        Thread .............. #1
    SEA Default Queue #8 
    Queue full dropped packets: 0
    Queue packets queued: 0
    Queue average packets queued: 1
    Queue packets count: 1105002
    Queue max packets queued: 15

        Thread .............. #2
    SEA Default Queue #8 
    Queue full dropped packets: 0
    Queue packets queued: 0
    Queue average packets queued: 1
    Queue packets count: 2213623
    Queue max packets queued: 12

        Thread .............. #3
    SEA Default Queue #8 
    Queue full dropped packets: 0
    Queue packets queued: 0
    Queue average packets queued: 1
    Queue packets count: 502088
    Queue max packets queued: 12

        Thread .............. #4
    SEA Default Queue #8 
    Queue full dropped packets: 0
    Queue packets queued: 0
    Queue average packets queued: 1
    Queue packets count: 654478
    Queue max packets queued: 12

        Thread .............. #5
    SEA Default Queue #8 
    Queue full dropped packets: 0
    Queue packets queued: 0
    Queue average packets queued: 1
    Queue packets count: 2735294
    Queue max packets queued: 12

        Thread .............. #6
    SEA Default Queue #8 
    Queue full dropped packets: 0
    Queue packets queued: 0
    Queue average packets queued: 1
    Queue packets count: 2104371
    Queue max packets queued: 12
Parent topic: Reference information for the Virtual I/O Server

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Last updated: Thu, April 05, 2018