# Dropped packets in ifconfig

## grant123

What do dropped packets in ifconfig indicate?  For example, when I ssh into another system on my local network, I can see that every time I issue 'ifconfig' on that system to check for dropped packets, 10-20 more packets have been dropped.  It seems that issuing the command is actually causing the dropped packet counter to increment.

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## Bones McCracker

Are we talking about received packets (the rx line?).  I assume so.  Check if it stops incrementing when you are running tcpdump on that machine.  If so, it's normal behavior (as far as that machine goes).

My guess would be you've got that machine configured for IPv4 only, but you've got other IPv6 machines on the network, and it's dropping IPv6 packets.

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