TCP Offloading Engine (TOE) question.

[chuckk281]

Ed was looking for some semantic clarification:

******************

Hello All…

This may be a matter of semantics… but is there a difference between TCP Offloading Engine (TOE) and this:

TCP/IP Stateless Offloading

For overall improved system response, the NC375T supports standard TCP/IP offloading techniques including:

• TCP/IP checksum offload (TCO) moves the TCP and IP checksum offloading from the CPU to the network adapter.
• Large send offload (LSO) or TCP segmentation offload (TSO) allows the TCP segmentation to be handled by the adapter rather than the CPU.

This is for the NC375i and NC375T.

Partner is saying TOE and TCP/IP Stateless Offloading are not the same.

**************

Input from Vincent:

I would agree with the partner, although it is about semantics…

Stateless offloading refers to offloading parts of the TCP protocol processing that do not require maintaining a table of connections (the “state”) in the NIC. It’s easy to calculate the checksum of a packet going through without “knowing” anything about the connection it belongs to.

TOE without any qualifier could refer to a full TCP/IP stack running on the NIC, including connection establishment/tear down.

And from Rick:

I disagree that it is about semantics.  TOE is and should always be full offload of the TCP processing - including the "state" of the TCP connection.  Stateless offloads are not TOE.

Reply from Ed:

Good to know...

Since the QuickSpecs for the NC375 don't specifically call out TOE I would assume it does not support it.

And a reply from Rick:

Probably a good assumption.  Further supported by:

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/networking/nc375t/index.html

which explicitly says "No" for TOE but does mention LSO (aka TSO) which is a stateless offload.  With CKO supported by implication since that is a pre-requisite for TSO/LSO.

*****************

Any othe input on this subject?

[bhf8888]

Does anyone have any benchmark reports or whitepapers which shows the performance increase with/without TOE. I am looking to installing a NC552SFP 10GB NICs on a DL580G7. Any help is appreciated

---

@chuckk281 wrote:

Ed was looking for some semantic clarification:

******************

Hello All…

This may be a matter of semantics… but is there a difference between TCP Offloading Engine (TOE) and this:

TCP/IP Stateless Offloading

For overall improved system response, the NC375T supports standard TCP/IP offloading techniques including:

• TCP/IP checksum offload (TCO) moves the TCP and IP checksum offloading from the CPU to the network adapter.
• Large send offload (LSO) or TCP segmentation offload (TSO) allows the TCP segmentation to be handled by the adapter rather than the CPU.

This is for the NC375i and NC375T.

Partner is saying TOE and TCP/IP Stateless Offloading are not the same.

**************

Input from Vincent:

I would agree with the partner, although it is about semantics…

Stateless offloading refers to offloading parts of the TCP protocol processing that do not require maintaining a table of connections (the “state”) in the NIC. It’s easy to calculate the checksum of a packet going through without “knowing” anything about the connection it belongs to.

TOE without any qualifier could refer to a full TCP/IP stack running on the NIC, including connection establishment/tear down.

And from Rick:

I disagree that it is about semantics.  TOE is and should always be full offload of the TCP processing - including the "state" of the TCP connection.  Stateless offloads are not TOE.

Reply from Ed:

Good to know...

Since the QuickSpecs for the NC375 don't specifically call out TOE I would assume it does not support it.

And a reply from Rick:

Probably a good assumption.  Further supported by:

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/networking/nc375t/index.html

which explicitly says "No" for TOE but does mention LSO (aka TSO) which is a stateless offload.  With CKO supported by implication since that is a pre-requisite for TSO/LSO.

*****************

Any othe input on this subject?

---