VXLAN Offload

VXLAN Offload is akin to TCP segmentation offload (TSO), but compared to TSO, which is designed for TCP packet headers, VXLAN encapsulates the original (source) packet from a virtual machine into a user datagram protocol (UDP) packet with its own unique header, known as the VXLAN header. Placing this additional header onto a packet invalidates traditional offloading mechanisms in-place and therefore increases load on the CPU as additional CPU cycles are needed to encapsulate and decapsulate every VXLAN packet. VXLAN is covered in greater detail in Chapter 2, Configuring VMware NSX Logical Switch Networks.