Fixing Problems Arising from TCP Stack Offload on Windows Server 2003

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Status: Published
Version: 1.0
Authors: HTL QA
Applies to: Supportworks ESP Version 7.x

Fixing Problems Arising from TCP Stack Offload on Windows Server 2003

If your Supportworks system is running on Windows Server 2003 SP2 and you are experiencing unexplained network-related problems, these may be caused by a combination of the network adapter on the server and the TCP Chimney feature that came with SP2's Scalable Networking Pack.

What appears to be happening in such cases is that Windows tries to offload TCP/IP processing to a network adapter that is unable to handle this properly. Even after Microsoft released a hotfix for the Scalable Networking Pack in 2008, some offload issues remained. Therefore, it is suggested that you consult the following Web pages for more background details and some workarounds that are worth trying: