netdev - Re: TCP checksum error on local device

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Message-ID: <20080709153836.GL28029@solarflare.com>
Date:	Wed, 9 Jul 2008 16:38:38 +0100
From:	Ben Hutchings <bhutchings@...arflare.com>
To:	Kevin Spiteri <kspiteri@...e.org>
Cc:	netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: TCP checksum error on local device

Kevin Spiteri wrote:
[...]
> I saw the behaviour as strange because only the segment containing data 
> had an incorrect TCP checksum, all other segments (SYN, SYN ACK, ACKs 
> without data and FIN ACK) had a correct TCP checksum.
> 
> Also, the incorrect checksum field seems to depend on the IP address and 
> the packet length, but not on the port number, sequence/acknowledgement 
> number or data content. Thus, the incorrect checksum is the same when 
> the sample is run repeatedly, it only changes when the data length 
> and/or IP address are changed.
[...]

The TCP/IP stack will unconditionally start calculating a checksum as it
prepares some of the headers.  Then at a later stage it checks the checksum
capability of the destination route/device (checksum calculation may be
offloaded or unnecessary) and decides whether to update the TCP checksum to
include the rest of the packet, including the payload.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings, Senior Software Engineer, Solarflare Communications
Not speaking for my employer; that's the marketing department's job.
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