This read-only Counter reports the total number of erred frames received on the data port since the system was last restarted. Operationally, a high lifetime error total helps an admin judge whether a port has been unreliable for its whole uptime rather than only recently. For example, an admin troubleshooting a long-standing complaint can check this lifetime error total to see if the port has actually been erroring since it last came up, well before the complaint was filed.