TCP offload engine

TCP offload engine or TCP / IP Offload Engine ( TOE ) is a technique for network cards , is used with the aim of the main processor (CPU) of compute-intensive tasks of the protocol stack of TCP / IP ( TCP / IP stack to relieve). This includes, for example, the calculation of checksums . One speaks of a “full offload” if the connection management is also carried out by the TOE.

Relieving the main processor in this way is of particular importance with fast connections, for example Gigabit Ethernet or 10 Gigabit / s Ethernet .

Web links

• Eric Yeh, Herman Chao, Venu Mannem, Joe Gervais, Bradley Booth: Introduction to TCP / IP Offload Engine (TOE) ( Memento from May 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 216 kB)