Doc about hardware offloading unclear

knebb

Hi,

I read in the docs the following:

Another item to check is under System > Advanced on the Networking tab. Ensure that the boxes are checked for Disable hardware TCP segmentation offload and Disable hardware large receive offload.
Regarding LRO there is an explanation- some drivers are broken. Well, could we get a list of driver which are broken?

Regarding TCP segmentation offload- why is it considered to be faster when this is DISabled?

I just do not understand why offloading tasks to hardware should slow down processing....

Thanks for explaining me!

/KNEBB

jimp

It's explained in the doc that covers the page where the settings are:

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/config/advanced-networking.html#hardware-tcp-segmentation-offloading

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/config/advanced-networking.html#hardware-large-receive-offloading

tl;dr they are faster if you are an endpoint but slower when acting as a router/firewall.

knebb

@jimp
Thanks a lot! I have not seen this in the docs.

Sorry, my bad.

Anywayys- great information and explanation on the place you linked.

Going to disable now ;)

/KNEBB