Check Cisco Device Interface Throughput with load-interval Command

BGP_1#sh int g0/1   
GigabitEthernet0/1 is up, line protocol is up 
  Hardware is iGbE, address is e02f.6d05.c401 (bia e02f.6d05.c401)
  Internet address is 6.99.9.30/32
  MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1000000 Kbit/sec, DLY 10 usec, 
     reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255
  Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set
  Keepalive set (10 sec)
  Full Duplex, 1Gbps, media type is RJ45
  output flow-control is unsupported, input flow-control is unsupported
  ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
  Last input 00:00:00, output 00:00:00, output hang never
  Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
  Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
  Queueing strategy: fifo
  Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)
  5 minute input rate 1463000 bits/sec, 530 packets/sec
  5 minute output rate 2452000 bits/sec, 417 packets/sec
     21277230 packets input, 3855639781 bytes, 0 no buffer
     Received 716 broadcasts (0 IP multicasts)

Check "load" numbers. These are defaulted to a rolling average of 5 minutes and displayed as a factor of 255 (2^8, but counting from 0 not one). So a load of 255/255 would be completely saturated.

You can change this 5 minute default to a 30 second rolling average by going to the interface in question and issuing the command "load-interval 30" This a very useful process when deploying BGP. The tx/rx of course is transmit load versus receive load, which can also be extremely handy in understanding certain traffic issues (BGP load sharing for example).

BGP_1#sh run int g0/1

Building configuration...

Current configuration : 179 bytes

!

interface GigabitEthernet0/1

 description Link with Cogeco BGP

 ip address 6.99.9.30 255.255.255.255

 load-interval 30

 duplex auto

 speed auto

end

BGP_1#show interfaces g0/1

GigabitEthernet0/1 is up, line protocol is up 

  Hardware is iGbE, address is e02f.6d05.c401 (bia e02f.6d05.c401)

  Internet address is 6.99.9.30/32

  MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1000000 Kbit/sec, DLY 10 usec, 

     reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255

  Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set

  Keepalive set (10 sec)

  Full Duplex, 1Gbps, media type is RJ45

  output flow-control is unsupported, input flow-control is unsupported

  ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00

  Last input 00:00:06, output 00:00:00, output hang never

  Last clearing of "show interface" counters never

  Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0

  Queueing strategy: fifo

  Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)

  30 second input rate 1227000 bits/sec, 469 packets/sec

  30 second output rate 2202000 bits/sec, 357 packets/sec

     21629047 packets input, 3970567808 bytes, 0 no buffer

     Received 727 broadcasts (0 IP multicasts)

BGP_1#show interfaces g0/1 | in drops|bits

  Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0

  30 second input rate 1366000 bits/sec, 562 packets/sec

  30 second output rate 3790000 bits/sec, 524 packets/sec

     0 unknown protocol drops