Method and apparatus to offload operations in a networked storage system

1. A method comprising:

configuring a plurality of storage devices in a networked storage system according to a redundancy scheme using a storage server in the networked storage system;

providing information on a configuration of the plurality of storage devices from the storage server to an offload engine coupled to the storage server; and

the storage server directing the offload engine to perform a plurality of RAID operations on the plurality of storage devices, wherein the plurality of storage devices are presented transparently to the storage server via the offload engine, wherein the offload engine remains stateless.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining a plurality of states of the plurality of operations in the storage server.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising configuring the offload engine using the storage server.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of operations comprise parity and checksum generation.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the redundancy scheme is an implementation of Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage server directing the offload engine to perform the plurality of RAID operations comprises sending a plurality of commands from the storage server to the offload engine.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the offload engine performs the plurality of RAID operations in response to an order of the plurality of commands arriving at the offload engine.

8. A processing system comprising:

a processor; and

a storage medium that stores instructions which, if executed by the processor, will cause the processing system to perform a plurality of operations comprising:

configuring a plurality of storage devices into a RAID group using a storage server;

determining, using the storage server, an order in which a plurality of RAID operations are to be performed;

directing an offload engine, coupled to the storage server, to perform the plurality of RAID operations in the order determined by the storage server;

configuring the offload engine using the storage server; and

maintaining a plurality of states of the plurality of RAID operations in the storage server such that the offload engine remains stateless.

9. The processing system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of RAID operations comprise parity and checksum generation.

10. The processing system of claim 8 , wherein the storage server comprises a file server.

11. A system comprising:

a plurality of storage devices configured according to a redundancy scheme;

an offload engine coupled to the plurality of storage devices; and

a storage server, coupled to the plurality of storage devices via the offload engine, to direct the offload engine to perform a plurality of RAID operations on the plurality of storage devices, wherein the plurality of storage devices are presented transparently to the storage server via the offload device, wherein the storage server comprises a memory device to maintain a plurality of states of the plurality of operations such that the offload engine remains stateless.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the storage server configures the plurality of storage devices.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of storage devices are configured into a RAID group.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the storage server sends a plurality of commands to the offload engine to cause the offload engine to perform the plurality of RAID operations in an order predetermined by the storage server.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of RAID operations comprise parity and checksum generation.

16. A method comprising:

configuring a plurality of storage devices in a networked storage system into at least one RAID group using a storage server in the networked storage system, wherein the at least one RAID group is presented transparently to the storage server via an offload engine;

configuring the offload engine using the storage server;

providing information on a configuration of the at least one RAID group from the storage server to the offload engine;

the storage server determining an order to perform a plurality of RAID operations on the at least one RAID group, the plurality of RAID operations including parity and checksum generation;

the storage server sending a plurality of commands in the order determined to the offload engine to direct the offload engine to perform the plurality of RAID operations on the at least one RAID group; and

the offload engine performing the plurality of RAID operations in the order determined by the storage server in response to the plurality of commands, wherein the offload engine remains stateless.

17. A method comprising:

means for configuring a plurality of storage devices in a networked storage system according to a redundancy scheme using a storage server in the networked storage system;

means for providing a configuration of the plurality of storage devices from the storage server to an offload engine coupled to the storage server; and

means for directing the offload engine to perform a plurality of RAID operations on the plurality of storage devices using the storage server, wherein the plurality of storage devices are presented transparently to the storage server via the offload devices, wherein the offload device remains stateless.