Hey everyone, I'm new to Dell switches and am trying to troubleshoot several issues and concerns for a N3048P stack. We've got a few counters that are increasing but wanted some clarification on their meaning. I can't seem to find anything "definitive" from searches on Google and within the forum.

On most of our interfaces, the Total Received Packets Not Forwarded counters are slowly increasing with Unacceptable Frame Type normally matching it. (Increases by 2-4 per second.) A few searches and posts seem to indicate that this originates from from Spanning-tree or interfaces receiving (un)tagged packets that do not match the configuration. (Ex. tagged VLAN 500 packet where the interface specifies it should be untagged.) While we have had issues with Spanning-tree configuration on the stack in getting it to work with a Cisco 6509 that feeds it, it's also possible that we may not have correctly set up all ports in regard to access/general/trunk. Is Unacceptable Frame Type a "catch-all" for both of these issues, or is it specific to just one?

We have several interfaces connected to some Aruba APs. These interfaces display a (very gradual) increase in counters for Total Packets Received with MAC Errors. I can't seem to find any explanation on what this indicates. (They also increase with Total Received Packets Not Forwarded.)

Here's an example of interface output for just frame type and its config:

OurSwitch#show interfaces gigabitethernet 2/0/9

Interface Name : .............................. Gi2/0/9
SOC Hardware Info :............................ BCM56340_A0
Link Status : ................................. Up
VLAN Membership Mode: ......................... Trunk Mode
VLAN Membership: .............................. (1),100,200,300-301,333,500,503,
600-602,700-701,706,921,977,991,
1400,1768,1801,1921
MTU Size : .................................... 1518
Port Mode [Duplex] : .......................... Full
Port Speed : .................................. 1000
Link Debounce Flaps : ......................... 0
Auto-Negotation Status : ...................... Auto
Total Packets Received Without Errors.......... 294192292
Unicast Packets Received....................... 260526055
Multicast Packets Received..................... 33298359
Broadcast Packets Received..................... 367878
Total Packets Received with MAC Errors......... 0
Jabbers Received............................... 0
Fragments/Undersize Received................... 0
Alignment Errors............................... 0
FCS Errors..................................... 0
Overruns....................................... 0
Total Received Packets Not Forwarded........... 24780969
Total Packets Transmitted Successfully......... 1559085703
Unicast Packets Transmitted.................... 837319714
Multicast Packets Transmitted.................. 277449678
Broadcast Packets Transmitted.................. 444316311
Transmit Packets Discarded..................... 3750
Total Transmit Errors.......................... 0
Total Transmit Packets Discarded............... 3750
Single Collision Frames........................ 0
Multiple Collision Frames...................... 0
Excessive Collision Frames..................... 0

OurSwitch#show run interface gigabitethernet 2/0/9

!
interface Gi2/0/9
description "Neeeeeerrrrrrdddd"
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,100,200,300-301,333,500,503,600-602,700-701,706,921,977,991,1400,1768,1801,1921
exit
!

(From my switch, a Cisco 3560CG which connects to this interface)

!
interface GigabitEthernet0/10
description OurSwitch G2/0/9
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport trunk allowed vlan 100,200,300,301,333,500-503,600-602,700
switchport trunk allowed vlan add 701,706,921,977,991,1400,1768,1801,1921
switchport mode trunk
end

Here's an example of statistics output for MAC errors:

OurSwitch#show statistics gigabitethernet 2/0/45

Total Packets Received (Octets)................ 94248692
Packets Received 64 Octets..................... 3957
Packets Received 65-127 Octets................. 464550
Packets Received 128-255 Octets................ 76837
Packets Received 256-511 Octets................ 17164
Packets Received 512-1023 Octets............... 979
Packets Received 1024-1518 Octets.............. 11622
Packets Received > 1518 Octets................. 7268
Packets RX and TX 64 Octets.................... 956447
Packets RX and TX 65-127 Octets................ 1904727
Packets RX and TX 128-255 Octets............... 1046452
Packets RX and TX 256-511 Octets............... 280204
Packets RX and TX 512-1023 Octets.............. 53576
Packets RX and TX 1024-1518 Octets............. 68709
Packets RX and TX 1519-2047 Octets............. 3634
Packets RX and TX 2048-4095 Octets............. 0
Packets RX and TX 4096-9216 Octets............. 0

Total Packets Received Without Errors.......... 575109
Unicast Packets Received....................... 552940
Multicast Packets Received..................... 22148
Broadcast Packets Received..................... 21
Receive Packets Discarded...................... 4

Total Packets Received with MAC Errors......... 3634
Jabbers Received............................... 0
Fragments/Undersize Received................... 0
Alignment Errors............................... 0
FCS Errors..................................... 0
Overruns....................................... 0

Total Received Packets Not Forwarded........... 3638
802.3x Pause Frames Received................... 0
Unacceptable Frame Type........................ 4

Total Packets Transmitted (Octets)............. 574887327
Packets Transmitted 64 Octets.................. 952490
Packets Transmitted 65-127 Octets.............. 1440177
Packets Transmitted 128-255 Octets............. 969615
Packets Transmitted 256-511 Octets............. 263040
Packets Transmitted 512-1023 Octets............ 52597
Packets Transmitted 1024-1518 Octets........... 57087
Packets Transmitted > 1518 Octets.............. 0
Max Frame Size................................. 1518

I would appreciate any input as to what these counters may mean. We will be upgrading the firmware from 6.2 to 6.3 tonight after reading that Total Received Packets Not Forwarded may just be a "cosmetic issue," but I would like to understand them as much as possible.