Ifconfig - What causes RX "overruns:"?
 

Redhat 3AS - 2.4.21-20.0.1.ELsmp:
Wondering what is happening when the value of RX "overruns" is received in ifconfig output. Most other servers in the same environment have 0 for this value. For example:
/sbin/ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:55:AC:50:BD
inet addr:9.56.224.215 Bcast:9.56.224.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3052148219 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:1970 frame:0
TX packets:3063670720 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:3689947545 (3519.0 Mb) TX bytes:336691240 (321.0 Mb)
Interrupt:42 Base address:0x1000

We have had instances where the NIC on this server has gone offline. At that time, the RX "overruns" value has been 12,000 plus. Just wondering the possible cause of RX overruns, and if this could be the cause of the network interface to go off-line (can be restarted by restarting the network service, or by unplugging the ethernet cable then plugging it back in).

Thanks in advance for your advice.
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the rate with which data is coming to your server exceeds the limit that the server's NIC can handle - I would blame it on NIC, what kind of NIC do you have? How old is it? And how it is setup - 100/full, autonegotiation, etc?