HowTo: Cisco IOS – Clear Show Interface Counters

Sometimes, while you are troubleshooting a network problem, you may need to clear the Show Interface counters as you may need to check if there are any switch port input errors, runts, output errors, collisions,packets with dribble condition etc.

In Cisco IOS, from the EXEC mod type the following command to clear the "show interface" counters.

Syntax:

Switch# clear counters <GigabitEthernet/FastEthernet/Serial><Slot/Module/port>

Example:

Switch# clear counters GigabitEthernet1/1

Accept the confirmation message to clear all the counters for that interface.

Now, if you do a show interface command, all the counters should be reset to 0

Switch>sh int gi1/1
GigabitEthernet1/1 is up, line protocol is up (connected)
…..
….
…
..
 Last clearing of "show interface" counters 06:55:58
 Input queue: 0/2000/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
 Queueing strategy: fifo
 Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)
  5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
  5 minute output rate 1000 bits/sec, 2 packets/sec
     0 packets input, 0 bytes, 0 no buffer
     Received 0 broadcasts (0 multicasts)
     0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
     0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored
     0 watchdog, 0 multicast, 0 pause input
     0 input packets with dribble condition detected
     0 packets output, 0 bytes, 0 underruns
     0 output errors, 0 collisions, 0 interface resets
     0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred
     0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier, 0 PAUSE output
     0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out

For more custom usage of the command, click here for Cisco Command Reference.