NVIDIA nmlx5 ESXi Driver Counters | ESXi Driver User Manual

Introduction

This document describes the statistics counters for the NVIDIA nmlx5 native ESXi driver. It is based on the Linux “Understanding mlx5 ethtool Counters” article. Counters that are identical to Linux reuse the Linux descriptions, while ESXi-specific counters are described based on the Adapters PRM or, when not available there, inferred from the driver source.

Counter Types

Informative – Counts traffic and is used for load estimation and debugging.
Acceleration [A] – Counts traffic accelerated by the driver or hardware. These counters are counted in addition to the corresponding informative counter.
Error – An increment may indicate an issue.

Interfaces

The Interfaces column indicates where each counter can be observed:

Uplink – The counter value contributes to a field shown by esxcli network nic stats get -n vmnicX. The counter name itself is not printed there; its value is aggregated.
Private – Per-NIC private statistics, which provide the main human-readable counter dump. Command: localcli --plugin-dir /usr/lib/vmware/esxcli/int networkinternal nic privstats get -n vmnicX
nmlxcli – The nmlxcli management CLI: -r/--ring-stats-q/--queue-stats-F/--flows-stat
RDMA – RDMA device statistics exposed through the vmkernel RDMA stats interface. Command: esxcli rdma device stats get -d vmrdmaX

Other Markers

[A] – Acceleration counter.
[SW-inferred] – Driver software counter with no PRM or Linux reference; the description is inferred from the source code.

Naming Conventions

Ring/channel RX and TX counters are printed as: RX<i><field> / TX<i><field>
Software Port, vPort, Physical Port, and PCIe counters use the field name directly.
Per-priority counters use priority index p (0–7); PFC counters use %s = global or prio<p>.

Ring / Channel Counters

Per-ring/per-channel counters. RX counters are collected from the receive queue (RQ), and TX counters are collected from the send queue (SQ).

Ring RX Counters (`RX[i]_*`)

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`RX[i]_packets`	Number of packets received on ring `i`.	Informative	Private, nmlxcli
`RX[i]_bytes`	Number of bytes received on ring `i`.	Informative	Private, nmlxcli
`RX[i]_csumComplete`	Packets received with `CHECKSUM_COMPLETE` on ring `i` [A].	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`RX[i]_csumUnnecessaryInner`	Packets received with inner encapsulation and `CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY` on ring `i` [A].	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`RX[i]_csumNone`	Packets received without hardware checksum acceleration on ring `i` [A].	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`RX[i]_wqeErr`	Number of incorrect opcodes received on ring `i`.	Error	Private, nmlxcli
`RX[i]_buffAllocErr`	Number of failures to allocate a buffer for received packets on ring `i`.	Error	Private, nmlxcli
`RX[i]_encap`	Number of received packets carrying inner tunnel encapsulation on ring `i`. [SW-inferred]	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`RX[i]_dropped`	Number of packets dropped by the driver receive path on ring `i`. [SW-inferred]	Error	Private, nmlxcli
`RX[i]_outOfBuffer`	Number of times the receive queue on ring `i` had no software buffers available for incoming adapter traffic.	Error	Private, nmlxcli, Uplink

Ring TX Counters (`TX[i]_*`)

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`TX[i]_packets`	Number of packets transmitted on ring `i`.	Informative	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_bytes`	Number of bytes transmitted on ring `i`.	Informative	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_tsoPackets`	Number of TSO packets transmitted on ring `i` [A].	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_tsoBytes`	Number of TSO bytes transmitted on ring `i` [A].	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_tsoInnerPackets`	Number of TSO packets with inner encapsulation transmitted on ring `i` [A].	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_tsoInnerBytes`	Number of TSO bytes with inner encapsulation transmitted on ring `i` [A].	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_csumPartialInner`	Packets transmitted with inner encapsulation and `CHECKSUM_PARTIAL` on ring `i` [A].	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_nop`	Number of NOP WQEs inserted into the SQ of ring `i` when reaching the end of the cyclic buffer. This is a normal condition.	Informative	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_encap`	Number of transmitted packets that were tunnel-encapsulated on ring `i`. [SW-inferred]	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_csumNone`	Packets transmitted without hardware checksum acceleration on ring `i`.	Informative	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_stopped`	Number of events where the SQ on ring `i` became full. If this increases, check the number of buffers allocated for transmission.	Error	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_wake`	Number of events where the SQ on ring `i` transitioned from full to not full.	Error	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_dropped`	Number of transmitted packets dropped on ring `i`, for example due to DMA mapping failure. If this increases, check the number of buffers allocated for transmission.	Error	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_xmitMore`	Number of packets sent with the `xmit_more` indication set, meaning no doorbell was issued, on ring `i` [A].	Acceleration	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_mBufChainsHandled`	ENS: Number of mbuf packet chains handled by the SQ on ring `i`. [SW-inferred]	Informative	Private, nmlxcli
`TX[i]_mBufSGsHandled`	ENS: Number of mbuf scatter-gather elements handled by the SQ on ring `i`. [SW-inferred]	Informative	Private, nmlxcli

Software Port Counters

Software aggregation of per-ring counters, along with additional driver-level software counters.

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxSwPackets`	Number of packets received, aggregated in software across all rings.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`rxSwBytes`	Number of bytes received, aggregated in software across all rings.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`txSwPackets`	Number of packets transmitted, aggregated in software across all rings.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`txSwBytes`	Number of bytes transmitted, aggregated in software across all rings.	Informative	Private
`txSwTsoPackets`	Number of TSO packets transmitted [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txSwTsoBytes`	Number of TSO bytes transmitted [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txSwTsoInnerPackets`	Number of TSO packets with inner encapsulation transmitted [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txSwTsoInnerBytes`	Number of TSO bytes with inner encapsulation transmitted [A].	Acceleration	Private
`rxSwCsumUnnecessary`	Packets received with `CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY` [A].	Acceleration	Private
`rxSwCsumNone`	Packets received without hardware checksum acceleration [A].	Acceleration	Private
`rxSwCsumComplete`	Packets received with `CHECKSUM_COMPLETE` [A].	Acceleration	Private
`rxSwCsumUnnecessaryInner`	Packets received with inner encapsulation and `CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY` [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txSwCsumPartial`	Packets transmitted with `CHECKSUM_PARTIAL` [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txSwCsumPartialInner`	Packets transmitted with inner encapsulation and `CHECKSUM_PARTIAL` [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txSwQueueStopped`	Number of events where an SQ became full. If this increases, check the number of buffers allocated for transmission.	Error	Private
`txSwQueueWake`	Number of events where an SQ transitioned from full to not full.	Error	Private
`txSwQueueDropped`	Number of transmitted packets dropped, aggregated across all rings.	Error	Private, Uplink
`txSwXmitMore`	Number of packets sent with the `xmit_more` indication set, meaning no doorbell was issued [A].	Acceleration	Private
`rxSwWqeErr`	Number of incorrect opcodes received, aggregated across all rings.	Error	Private, Uplink
`rxSwBuffAllocErr`	Number of failures to allocate a buffer for received packets, aggregated across all rings.	Error	Private
`linkDownEventsPhy`	Number of times the link operational state changed to down. If this increases, it may indicate port flapping; consider replacing the cable or transceiver.	Error	Private

vPort Counters

Counters on the eSwitch port connected to the vNIC. These include Ethernet and Raw Ethernet traffic, with separate counters for RDMA/RoCE traffic.

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxVportUnicastPackets`	Unicast packets received and steered to a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private
`rxVportUnicastBytes`	Unicast bytes received and steered to a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private
`txVportUnicastPackets`	Unicast packets transmitted and steered from a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private
`txVportUnicastBytes`	Unicast bytes transmitted and steered from a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`rxVportMulticastPackets`	Multicast packets received and steered to a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`rxVportMulticastBytes`	Multicast bytes received and steered to a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private
`txVportMulticastPackets`	Multicast packets transmitted and steered from a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`txVportMulticastBytes`	Multicast bytes transmitted and steered from a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`rxVportBroadcastPackets`	Broadcast packets received and steered to a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`rxVportBroadcastBytes`	Broadcast bytes received and steered to a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private
`txVportBroadcastPackets`	Broadcast packets transmitted and steered from a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`txVportBroadcastBytes`	Broadcast bytes transmitted and steered from a port, including Raw Ethernet QP traffic and excluding RDMA traffic.	Informative	Private, Uplink
`rxVportRdmaUnicastPackets`	RDMA unicast packets received and steered to a port, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic [A].	Acceleration	Private
`rxVportRdmaUnicastBytes`	RDMA unicast bytes received and steered to a port, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txVportRdmaUnicastPackets`	RDMA unicast packets transmitted and steered from a port, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txVportRdmaUnicastBytes`	RDMA unicast bytes transmitted and steered from a port, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic [A].	Acceleration	Private
`rxVportRdmaMulticastPackets`	RDMA multicast packets received and steered to a port, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic [A].	Acceleration	Private
`rxVportRdmaMulticastBytes`	RDMA multicast bytes received and steered to a port, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txVportRdmaMulticastPackets`	RDMA multicast packets transmitted and steered from a port, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic [A].	Acceleration	Private
`txVportRdmaMulticastBytes`	RDMA multicast bytes transmitted and steered from a port, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic [A].	Acceleration	Private

Physical Port Counters

Counters on the external port that connects the adapter to the network. These counters are not exposed to virtual machines.

IEEE 802.3 Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`txPacketsPhy`	Number of packets transmitted on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`rxPacketsPhy`	Number of packets received on the physical port. Excludes packets discarded due to FCS, frame size, and similar errors.	Informative	Private
`rxCrcErrorsPhy`	Number of received packets dropped due to FCS errors on the physical port. If this increases at a high rate, check link quality using `rxSymbolErrorsPhy` and `rxCorrectedBitsPhy`.	Error	Private, Uplink
`txBytesPhy`	Number of bytes transmitted on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`rxBytesPhy`	Number of bytes received on the physical port, including the Ethernet header and FCS.	Informative	Private
`txMulticastPhy`	Number of multicast packets transmitted on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`txBroadcastPhy`	Number of broadcast packets transmitted on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`rxMulticastPhy`	Number of multicast packets received on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`rxBroadcastPhy`	Number of broadcast packets received on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`rxInRangeLenErrorsPhy`	Number of received packets dropped due to length/type errors on the physical port.	Error	Private, Uplink
`rxOutOfRangeLenPhy`	Number of received packets dropped because their length exceeded the allowed range. If this increases, the peer may be using a larger MTU; align MTU settings.	Error	Private, Uplink
`rxOversizePktsPhy`	Number of received packets dropped because their length exceeded the MTU. If this increases, the peer may be using a larger MTU; align MTU settings.	Error	Private, Uplink
`rxSymbolErrPhy`	Number of received packets dropped due to physical coding, or symbol, errors on the physical port.	Error	Private, Uplink
`txMacControlPhy`	Number of MAC control packets transmitted on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`rxMacControlPhy`	Number of MAC control packets received on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`rxUnsupportedOpPhy`	Number of MAC control packets received with an unsupported opcode.	Error	Private
`rxPauseCtrlPhy`	Number of link-layer pause packets received. If this increases, the network may be congested.	Informative	Private
`txPauseCtrlPhy`	Number of link-layer pause packets transmitted. If this increases, the NIC may be congested.	Informative	Private

RFC 2863 Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxDiscardsPhy`	Number of received packets dropped due to lack of buffers. If this increases, the adapter is congested and cannot absorb traffic from the network.	Error	Private
`txDiscardsPhy`	Number of packets discarded during transmission even though no errors were detected, such as link down, head-of-line drop, or pause conditions.	Error	Private, Uplink
`txErrorsPhy`	Number of transmitted packets dropped because their length exceeded the MTU.	Error	Private

RFC 2819 Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxUndersizePktsPhy`	Received packets dropped because their length was less than 64 bytes. If this increases, the peer may have a non-standard MTU or may be sending malformed packets.	Error	Private
`rxFragmentsPhy`	Received packets dropped because their length was less than 64 bytes and they had an FCS error. If this increases, the peer may have a non-standard MTU.	Error	Private
`rxJabbersPhy`	Received packets dropped because their length was greater than 64 bytes and they had an FCS error.	Error	Private
`rx_64_bytesPhy`	Packets received on the physical port with a size of 64 bytes.	Informative	Private
`rx_65_to_127_bytesPhy`	Packets received with a size of 65 to 127 bytes.	Informative	Private
`rx_128_to_255_bytesPhy`	Packets received with a size of 128 to 255 bytes.	Informative	Private
`rx_256_to_511_bytesPhy`	Packets received with a size of 256 to 511 bytes.	Informative	Private
`rx_512_to_1023_bytesPhy`	Packets received with a size of 512 to 1023 bytes.	Informative	Private
`rx_1024_to_1518_bytesPhy`	Packets received with a size of 1024 to 1518 bytes.	Informative	Private
`rx_1519_to_2047_bytesPhy`	Packets received with a size of 1519 to 2047 bytes.	Informative	Private
`rx_2048_to_4095_bytesPhy`	Packets received with a size of 2048 to 4095 bytes.	Informative	Private
`rx_4096_to_8191_bytesPhy`	Packets received with a size of 4096 to 8191 bytes.	Informative	Private
`rx_8192_to_10239_bytesPhy`	Packets received with a size of 8192 to 10239 bytes.	Informative	Private

PHY Statistical Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxSymbolErrorsPhy`	Symbol errors that were not corrected by FEC, or occurred when FEC was not active. Equivalent to Linux `rx_pcs_symbol_err_phy`. If this increases, the link may be experiencing high BER and traffic loss; consider replacing the cable or transceiver.	Error	Private
`rxCorrectedBitsPhy`	Number of bits corrected on this port by the active FEC mode, RS or FC. If this increases, the link may be experiencing high BER.	Error	Private
`rxErrLane_0_Phy`	Physical raw errors on lane 0 before FEC correction. If this increases, the link may be experiencing high BER and traffic loss; review together with `rxCorrectedBitsPhy`.	Error	Private
`rxErrLane_1_Phy`	Physical raw errors on lane 1 before FEC correction. See `rxErrLane_0_Phy`.	Error	Private
`rxErrLane_2_Phy`	Physical raw errors on lane 2 before FEC correction. See `rxErrLane_0_Phy`.	Error	Private
`rxErrLane_3_Phy`	Physical raw errors on lane 3 before FEC correction. See `rxErrLane_0_Phy`.	Error	Private

Ethernet Extended Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxBufferPassedThresPhy`	Number of events where the port receive buffer exceeded 85% utilization.	Informative	Private

Priority Port Counters

Physical port counters reported per L2 priority, where p is the priority index 0–7.

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxPrio[p]_bytes`	Bytes received with priority `p` on the physical port. Also counts packets without VLAN.	Informative	Private
`rxPrio[p]_packets`	Packets received with priority `p` on the physical port. Also counts packets without VLAN.	Informative	Private
`txPrio[p]_bytes`	Bytes transmitted with priority `p` on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`txPrio[p]_packets`	Packets transmitted with priority `p` on the physical port.	Informative	Private
`rxPrio[p]_buf_discard`	Packets discarded by the device due to lack of per-host receive buffers on priority `p`.	Informative	Private
`rxPrio[p]_cong_discard`	Packets discarded by the device due to per-host congestion, such as WRED, on priority `p`.	Informative	Private
`rxPrio[p]_marked`	Packets ECN-marked by the device due to per-host congestion on priority `p`.	Informative	Private

PFC Counters

<scope> can be either global or prio<p>.

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rx_<scope>_pause`	Pause packets received for the specified scope or priority. Available only if PFC is enabled on that priority. If this increases, the network may be congested.	Informative	Private
`rx_<scope>_pause_duration`	Duration, in microseconds, of received pause frames for the specified scope or priority. This represents the time during which the port did not transmit traffic. PFC must be enabled.	Informative	Private
`tx_<scope>_pause`	Pause packets transmitted for the specified scope or priority. PFC must be enabled. If this increases, the adapter may be congested.	Informative	Private
`tx_<scope>_pause_duration`	Duration, in microseconds, of transmitted pause frames for the specified scope or priority. PFC must be enabled.	Informative	Private
`rx_<scope>_pause_transition`	Number of Xoff-to-Xon transitions for the specified scope or priority. PFC must be enabled.	Informative	Private

PFC Stall Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`txPauseStormWarningEvents`	Number of times the device transmitted pause frames for an extended period.	Informative	Private
`txPauseStormErrorEvents`	Number of times the device transmitted pause frames for an extended period, reached a timeout, and disabled pause-frame transmission. Drops may occur while pause-frame transmission is disabled.	Error	Private

PCIe / Device Counters

PCIe Performance Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxPciSignalIntegrity`	Physical-layer PCIe signal-integrity errors, such as recovery transitions caused by framing or CRC errors. If this increases, try a different slot and ensure the latest firmware and BIOS are installed.	Error	Private
`txPciSignalIntegrity`	Physical-layer PCIe signal-integrity errors caused by recovery transitions initiated by the link partner. If this increases, try a different slot and ensure the latest firmware and BIOS are installed.	Error	Private
`outboundPciBufferOverflow`	Number of packets dropped due to lack of PCIe buffers on the receive path from the NIC port to the host. If this increases at a high rate, the host receive rate may exceed PCIe capacity.	Informative	Private
`outboundPciStalledRd`	Percentage of time during the last second that the NIC had outbound non-posted read requests but could not perform them due to insufficient non-posted credits.	Informative	Private
`outboundPciStalledWr`	Percentage of time during the last second that the NIC had outbound posted write requests but could not perform them due to insufficient posted credits.	Informative	Private
`outboundPciStalledRdEvents`	Number of events where `outboundPciStalledRd` exceeded the configured threshold.	Informative	Private
`outboundPciStalledWrEvents`	Number of events where `outboundPciStalledWr` exceeded the configured threshold.	Informative	Private

PCIe Timers-and-States (TAS) Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`txPciTransportNonfatalMsg`	Number of PCIe Non-Fatal error messages sent.	Error	Private
`txPciTransportFatalMsg`	Number of PCIe Fatal error messages sent.	Error	Private

Queue Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`outOfBuffer`	Number of drops caused by lack of WQEs for the associated QPs/RQs.	Error	Private
`downOutOfBuffer`	Out-of-buffer drops counted while the interface was down. [SW-inferred]	Error	Private

vNIC Environment Counters

vNIC-level environment and error counters reported by firmware through QUERY_VNIC_ENV / vNIC Diagnostic Statistics. Each counter is reported only when firmware marks it as valid.

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`currentQUnderProcessorHandle`	Current number of queues handled through the exception flow due to an asynchronous error or errored command.	Informative	Private
`totalQUnderProcessorHandle`	Total number of queues handled through the exception flow due to an asynchronous error or errored command.	Informative	Private
`sendQueuePriorityUpdateFlow`	Total number of QP/SQ priority or SL update events.	Informative	Private
`nicReceiveSteeringDiscard`	Number of packets that completed NIC receive flow-table steering but were discarded because they did not match any flow in the final flow table. Equivalent to Linux `rx_steer_missed_packets`.	Error	Private
`receiveDiscardVportDown`	Number of packets steered to a vPort and discarded because the vPort was not in a receive-capable state.	Error	Private
`transmitDiscardVportDown`	Number of packets transmitted by a vNIC and discarded because the vPort was not in a transmit-capable state.	Error	Private
`asyncEqOverrun`	Number of times an EQ mapped to asynchronous events was overrun. This is not necessarily reset during driver initialization.	Error	Private
`compEqOverrun`	Number of times an EQ mapped to completion events was overrun. This is not necessarily reset during driver initialization.	Error	Private
`nicReceiveSteeringDepth`	Current evaluation of the longest steering path a packet may traverse through the NIC receive steering table, in device-specific units.	Informative	Private
`invalidCommand`	Number of commands issued by the VF that failed for reasons other than quota exceeded.	Error	Private
`quotaExceededCommand`	Number of commands issued by the VF that failed due to quota limits.	Error	Private
`internalRqOutOfBuffer`	Number of packets dropped due to lack of receive WQEs for internal device RQs.	Error	Private
`cqOverrun`	Number of times CQs entered an error state due to overflow, when the device attempted to post a CQE into a full CQ buffer.	Error	Private
`ethWqeTooSmall`	Total number of packets reaching an Ethernet RQ that were too large to fit in the WQE.	Error	Private
`fwCpuUsage`	Number of firmware CPU cycles used by the vNIC. This can help detect excessive resource usage.	Informative	Private
`errorsHandledByFw`	Number of errors requiring firmware handling for a vNIC. This can help detect excessive resource usage.	Informative	Private
`fwCpuTimestamp`	Free-running firmware CPU timestamp used to calculate the usage percentage of `fwCpuUsage`.	Informative	Private
`generatedPktSteeringfail`	Number of packets generated by the vNIC that experienced an unexpected steering failure at any point in the steering flow.	Error	Private
`handledPktSteeringFail`	Number of packets handled by the vNIC that experienced an unexpected steering failure in the steering flow owned by the vNIC, including the FDB for the eSwitch owner.	Error	Private

Temperature Sensor Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`asicSensorTemperature`	Current ASIC temperature in degrees Celsius, reported by the MTMP virtual ASIC sensor, `sensor_index 0`, representing the maximum temperature across all real ASIC diodes.	Informative	Private

VMware-Specific Counters

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`watchdogReset`	Number of times the driver TX watchdog fired and triggered a queue or device reset. If this increases, the transmit path may be hanging; check firmware and link state. [SW-inferred]	Error	Private

Standard Uplink Stats (`vmk_UplinkStats`)

These counters are displayed by: esxcli network nic stats get -n vmnicX

They are fixed generic fields, each derived from one or more counters listed above. The Source column describes the mapping or formula.

Counter	Description	Source	Type	Interfaces
`rxPkts`	Packets received.	`rxSwPackets`	Informative	Uplink
`rxBytes`	Bytes received.	`rxSwBytes`	Informative	Uplink
`txPkts`	Packets transmitted.	`txSwPackets`	Informative	Uplink
`txBytes`	Bytes transmitted.	`txVportUnicastBytes + txVportMulticastBytes + txVportBroadcastBytes`	Informative	Uplink
`rxDrops`	Received packets dropped.	`rxSwWqeErr`	Error	Uplink
`txDrops`	Transmitted packets dropped.	`txSwQueueDropped`	Error	Uplink
`rxMissErrors`	Receive misses due to lack of buffers.	Sum of per-channel `RX[i]_outOfBuffer`	Error	Uplink
`rxLengthErrors`	Receive length errors.	`rxInRangeLenErrorsPhy + rxOutOfRangeLenPhy + rxOversizePktsPhy`	Error	Uplink
`rxCRCErrors`	Receive CRC/FCS errors.	`rxCrcErrorsPhy`	Error	Uplink
`rxFrameAlignErrors`	Receive frame alignment errors.	802.3 `aAlignmentErrors`, no dedicated named counter	Error	Uplink
`txAbortedErrors`	Transmit aborted errors.	`txDiscardsPhy`	Error	Uplink
`txCarrierErrors`	Transmit carrier errors.	`rxSymbolErrPhy`	Error	Uplink
`rxErrors`	Total receive errors.	`rxLengthErrors + rxCRCErrors + rxFrameAlignErrors`	Error	Uplink
`txErrors`	Total transmit errors.	`txAbortedErrors + txCarrierErrors`	Error	Uplink
`rxMulticastPkts`	Multicast packets received.	`rxVportMulticastPackets`	Informative	Uplink
`rxBroadcastPkts`	Broadcast packets received.	`rxVportBroadcastPackets`	Informative	Uplink
`txMulticastPkts`	Multicast packets transmitted.	`txVportMulticastPackets`	Informative	Uplink
`txBroadcastPkts`	Broadcast packets transmitted.	`txVportBroadcastPackets`	Informative	Uplink

Flow Steering Counters

Reported by: nmlxcli -Fnmlxcli --flows-stat

These are per-uplink flow-resource counters. Each category reports the number of created and destroyed objects. The CLI also derives inUse = created - destroyed.

Counter Category	Description	Type	Interfaces
`applyedFlows.{created,destroyed}`	Number of applied flow rules created or destroyed. [SW-inferred]	Informative	nmlxcli
`encapDecap.{created,destroyed}`	Number of encap/decap flow actions created or destroyed. [SW-inferred]	Informative	nmlxcli
`tag.{created,destroyed}`	Number of tag, or flow-tag, actions created or destroyed. [SW-inferred]	Informative	nmlxcli
`metadata.{created,destroyed}`	Number of metadata set/copy actions created or destroyed. [SW-inferred]	Informative	nmlxcli
`ct.{created,destroyed}`	Number of connection-tracking, or CT, objects created or destroyed. [SW-inferred]	Informative	nmlxcli
`ctBulk.{created,destroyed}`	Number of CT bulk resources created or destroyed. [SW-inferred]	Informative	nmlxcli
`countersBulk.{created,destroyed}`	Number of flow-counter bulk resources created or destroyed. [SW-inferred]	Informative	nmlxcli

RDMA Counters

These counters are reported by the RDMA device through the vmkernel RDMA statistics interface and are separate from the Ethernet interfaces described above.

RDMA Traffic Counters

Sourced from the per-vNIC vPort counters for RoCE/UD/RC traffic.

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxUcastPkts`	RDMA unicast packets received, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic.	Informative	RDMA
`rxMcastPkts`	RDMA multicast packets received, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic.	Informative	RDMA
`rxPackets`	Total RDMA packets received: `rxUcastPkts + rxMcastPkts`.	Informative	RDMA
`txUcastPkts`	RDMA unicast packets transmitted, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic.	Informative	RDMA
`txMcastPkts`	RDMA multicast packets transmitted, including RoCE/UD/RC traffic.	Informative	RDMA
`txPackets`	Total RDMA packets transmitted: `txUcastPkts + txMcastPkts`.	Informative	RDMA
`rxUcastBytes`	RDMA unicast bytes received.	Informative	RDMA
`rxMcastBytes`	RDMA multicast bytes received.	Informative	RDMA
`rxBytes`	Total RDMA bytes received: `rxUcastBytes + rxMcastBytes`.	Informative	RDMA
`txUcastBytes`	RDMA unicast bytes transmitted.	Informative	RDMA
`txMcastBytes`	RDMA multicast bytes transmitted.	Informative	RDMA
`txBytes`	Total RDMA bytes transmitted: `txUcastBytes + txMcastBytes`.	Informative	RDMA
`rxErrors`	Number of received RDMA error packets, based on vPort `received_errors`.	Error	RDMA
`txErrors`	Number of transmitted RDMA error packets, based on vPort `transmit_errors`.	Error	RDMA

RDMA Extended Counters

IB Q-counter set bound to each RDMA QP.

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`rxDrops`	Sum of per-port `out_of_buffer` events, indicating drops that occurred because the responder had no posted RQ WQE when a packet arrived.	Error	RDMA(ext)
`retransCnt`	Sum of per-port retransmission-cause counters: `local_ack_timeout_err`, `rnr_nak_retry_err`, `duplicate_request`, `implied_nak_seq_err`, and `packet_seq_err`.	Error	RDMA(ext)
`txDrops`	Not exposed by the Q-counter set; always reported as `0`.	Error	RDMA(ext)

RDMA Software Counters

Driver-maintained object and event counters. [SW-inferred]

Counter	Description	Type	Interfaces
`qpCnt`	Current number of QPs allocated on the device.	Informative	RDMA
`qpResetStateCnt`	Number of QPs currently in the RESET state.	Informative	RDMA
`qpInitStateCnt`	Number of QPs currently in the INIT state.	Informative	RDMA
`qpRtrStateCnt`	Number of QPs currently in the RTR, or Ready to Receive, state.	Informative	RDMA
`qpRtsStateCnt`	Number of QPs currently in the RTS, or Ready to Send, state.	Informative	RDMA
`qpSqdStateCnt`	Number of QPs currently in the SQD, or Send Queue Drained, state.	Informative	RDMA
`qpSqeStateCnt`	Number of QPs currently in the SQE, or Send Queue Error, state.	Informative	RDMA
`qpErrStateCnt`	Number of QPs currently in the ERROR state.	Error	RDMA
`qpEventCnt`	Number of QP asynchronous events delivered.	Informative	RDMA
`cqCnt`	Current number of CQs allocated on the device.	Informative	RDMA
`cqEventCnt`	Number of CQ asynchronous events delivered.	Informative	RDMA
`srqCnt`	Current number of SRQs allocated, when SRQ is supported.	Informative	RDMA
`srqEventCnt`	Number of SRQ asynchronous events delivered, when SRQ is supported.	Informative	RDMA
`pdCnt`	Current number of Protection Domains allocated.	Informative	RDMA
`mrCnt`	Current number of Memory Regions allocated.	Informative	RDMA
`ahCnt`	Current number of Address Handles allocated.	Informative	RDMA

Last updated: August 04, 2026