The i option of netstat shows the state of the network interfaces that are configured with the machine where you ran the command.
On the command line, type the following command:
% netstat -i |
netstat -i produced the following sample display:
Name Mtu Net/Dest Address Ipkts Ierrs Opkts Oerrs Collis Queue le0 1500 b5-spd-2f-cm tatra 14093893 8492 10174659 1119 2314178 0 lo0 8232 loopback localhost 92997622 5442 12451748 0 775125 0 |
Using this display, you can determine the number of packets a machine transmits and receives on each network. For example, the input packet count (Ipkts) that are displayed for a server can increase each time a client tries to boot, while the output packet count (Opkts) remains steady. This outcome suggests that the server is seeing the boot request packets from the client, but does not realize that the server is supposed to respond to them. This confusion might be caused by an incorrect address in the hosts, ipnodes, or ethers database.
However, if the input packet count is steady over time, then the machine does not see the packets at all. This outcome suggests a different type of failure, possibly a hardware problem.