Re: TCP/IP offload: security implications

From: Richard Masoner (nospam@masoner.net)
Date: 02/28/02 

From: nospam@masoner.net (Richard Masoner)
Date: 28 Feb 2002 09:28:25 -0800

dchou4u@hotmail.com (Dennis C) wrote:

> Richard, what is the Intel/Adaptec chip that you are referring to? Can
> you please provide the part number?

The Adaptec adapters are described at
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/common/index.html?prodkey=ipstorage_index1&source=home

Adaptec's preliminary datasheets say "ASIC based TCP/IP offload
engine," "Network Protocol Processors," and "TCP segmentation and
Reassembly in the hardware." In Adaptec's block diagram, the
"Protocol Accelerator" is seperate from the CPU core. From this, my
conclusion was "hard-wired logic."

It appears I'm incorrect about the Intel adapter, however. I first
saw mention of the Intel adapter in this article
<http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/0225nics.html>. When I saw that
Intel will be releasing an adapter similar to Adaptec's, I jumped to
conclusions about the architecture. I've since found a little bit of
info at http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/iscsi/index.htm.
 There's also some more marketing information at
http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/resources/doc_library/data_sheets/pro1000_T_IP_SA.pdf.
 From that it appears the Intel adapter could very well be a firmware
implementation.

Richard Masoner