Packet coalescing

A method comprising:

• parsing multiple TCP/IP packets, wherein the multiple TCP/IP packets comprise respective headers and payloads;
• stripping headers from the multiple packets;
• joining the payloads of the multiple packets to form a combined payload for inclusion in a coalesced packet, wherein stripped headers of the multiple packets are excluded from the coalesced packet;
• setting header fields for a header of the coalesced packet based at least in part on the combined payload, wherein the header of the coalesced packet comprises a TCP/IP header and comprises the only header for the combined payload;
• and
• sending the coalesced packet to a network stack for delivery to an application based on fields in the header of the coalesced packet.

An apparatus comprising:

• a network interface controller comprising circuitry to:
• parse multiple TCP/IP packets, wherein the multiple TCP/IP packets comprise respective headers and payloads;
• strip headers from the multiple packets;
• join the payloads of the multiple packets to form a combined payload for inclusion in a coalesced packet, wherein stripped headers of the multiple packets are excluded from the coalesced packet;
• set header fields for a header of the coalesced packet based at least in part on the combined payload, wherein the header of the coalesced packet comprises a TCP/IP header and comprises the only header for the combined payload;
• and
• send the coalesced packet to a network stack for delivery to an application based on fields in the header of the coalesced packet.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• a network interface controller (NIC) to:
• receive a plurality of TCP/IP packets from computing devices on a network, wherein the multiple TCP/IP packets comprise respective headers and payloads;
• strip headers from the multiple packets;
• join the payloads of the multiple packets to form a combined payload for inclusion in a coalesced packet, wherein stripped headers of the multiple packets are excluded from the coalesced packet;
• set header fields of a header for the coalesced packet based at least in part on the combined payload, wherein the header of the coalesced packet comprises a TCP/IP header and comprises the only header for the combined payload;
• and
• send the coalesced packet to a network stack for delivery to an application based on fields in the header of the coalesced packet.

A system comprising:

• means for parsing multiple TCP/IP packets, wherein the multiple TCP/IP packets comprise respective headers and payloads;
• means for stripping headers from the multiple packets;
• means for joining the payloads of the multiple packets to form a combined payload for inclusion in a coalesced packet, wherein stripped headers of the multiple packets are excluded from the coalesced packet;
• means for generating a header for the coalesced packet, wherein generating the header comprises setting header fields for the coalesced packet based at least in part on the combined payload, wherein the header of the coalesced packet comprises a TCP/IP header and comprises the only header for the combined payload;
• and
• means for sending the coalesced packet to a network stack for delivery to an application based on fields in the header of the coalesced packet.