Welcome to Linux Screw! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe our RSS feed.
Question: I want to reset counters in /proc/net/dev (also shown in ifconfig output as RX and TX bytes) and thus I have to unload network interface driver. How to do it?
Answer: There are two commands in Linux CLI coming by default which would help to unload drivers: rmmod and modprobe. First of all it is necessary to find what kernel module controls certain NIC and then unload that module. For example, you have VIA VT6102 (RHINE-II) network card that is recognized by Linux as eth0 and want to disable its driver temporarily. Just execute the following:
"sudo rmmod via-rhine" or "sudo modprobe -r eth0" (or "sudo modprobe -r via-rhine"). You can use command dmesg to determine the name of kernel module you wish to unload.
1 Response to “FAQ: How to unload NIC driver (clear ifconfig counters)?”