packet drop and packet loss

[rajeshchandran]

Hi,

Can anyone explain me the difference between the three, packet drop , packet loss nad packet discard. I have an understanding on packet discards but would like to know if packet loss and packet drop are the same.

Which of these can be made available in the cisco interface and thereby taken to a thrid party nms.

Thanks in advance

Rajesh

[Panos Kampanakis]

It really depends on the context you are referring to.

Packet drops is drops on an interface for any reason.

Packet loss is lost packets that are dropped anywhere in the path.

Packet discards are more or less same as the drops. Discards and drops could be due to ACL denies or any other reason.

The discards you see under an interface are all discards (ACLs, oversubscription, incorrect CRC, L2 errors).

I hope it helps.

PK