I'm getting thousands of dropped packages from a Broadcom Network Card:
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 01:27:B0:14:DA:FE
UP BROADCAST RUNNING SLAVE MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2746252626 errors:0 dropped:1151734 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4109502155 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:427998700000 (408171.3 Mb) TX bytes:3530782240047 (3367216.3 Mb)
Interrupt:40 Memory:d8000000-d8012700
Here is the installed version:
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27.54-0.2-default/kernel/drivers/net/bnx2.ko
version: 1.8.0
license: GPL
description: Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5706/5708/5709 Driver
The packets get dropped in bulks ranging from 500 to 5000 packets several times an hour. The Server (running Postgres) is running fine - just the dropps are annoying.
After trying lots of different things, I'm asking: How may I find out where the packets came from and why were they dropped?
(For the benefit of those that come to this via a search) I've seen the same problem (also with a bnx2 module, IIRC).
You might try turning off the irqbalance service. In my case, it completely stopped the solution.
Please also note that not so long ago, there were plenty of updates (RHEL 6) for irqbalance. Firmware updates should also be checked for both main system and the ethernet board(s).
We were seeing this only a very large subnet with a very large amount of broadcast/multicast activity. We weren't seeing this on the same equipment on a less noisy -- but still very active -- part of the network.
Potentially, setting the ethernet ring buffer size for the NIC can also be of use. I know there were some alterations for sysctl on that busy network...