[summary inefficient_buffercount]
These network interfaces do not have the expected number of buffers:
&summ_interface;

[explanation inefficient_buffercount]
The number of buffers of one or more network interfaces diverts from the specified rule. The most suitable number of buffers for a particular interface depends on the available memory. To allow for memory constraints, many Linux distributions use a small number of buffers by default. On Linux instances with ample memory and a high traffic volume, this can lead to performance degradation, as incoming packets are dropped and have to be resent by the originator.

For the current main memory, &mem; GB, interfaces should have &rec_bc; buffers.

The following interfaces have a different number of buffers:

&interface_bc;

To find out if there are problems with the affected interfaces, check the output of the "'ifconfig" command for errors and dropped packets.

Use the "lsqeth" command to confirm the current setting for the number of buffers. In the default command output, the buffer count is shown as the value for the "buffer_count" attribute. With the -p option, the output is in table format and the buffer count is shown in the "cnt" column.

[solution inefficient_buffercount]
For each affected interface, change the number of buffers to &rec_bc;.

To temporarily change the number of buffers on a running Linux instance, run a command of this form:

Offline the interface (Before offline make sure you are not running any critical task using this interface)
## echo 0 > /sys/devices/qeth/<device_bus_id>/online
Change the buffer count
## echo &rec_bc; > /sys/devices/qeth/<device_bus_id>/buffer_count
Online the interface
## echo 1 > /sys/devices/qeth/<device_bus_id>/online

where <device_bus_id> is the bus ID of the qeth group device that corresponds to the interface. In the "lsqeth" output, this is the first of the three listed bus IDs.

How to make this setting persistent across reboots depends on your distribution. Some distributions set the number through scripts located below /etc/sysconfig, other distributions use udev rules. For details, see the documentation that is provided with your distribution.

The suggested buffer size is derived from a general best-practice rule that is expressed by the "recommended_buffercount" check parameter, and that works well in many setups. If your current settings work to your satisfaction and you do not want to change them, you can adapt the "recommended_buffercount" parameter to your needs or omit this check to suppress further warnings in the future.

[reference inefficient_buffercount]
For more information, see the section about inbound buffers in the qeth chapter of "Device Drivers, Features, and Commands". You  can  obtain this publication from

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/linux390/documentation_dev.html
