Secure protocol handshake offload using TNICs

1. A method for offloading a secure protocol handshake, comprising:

establishing a connection between a host system and a remote peer;

determining whether the secure protocol handshake is offloaded to a network interface card (NIC);

if the secure protocol handshake is offloaded to the NIC:

sending an offload request to offload the secure protocol handshake, wherein the offload request comprises a value of at least one cryptographic key;

performing a lookup operation on a cryptographic key table using the value of at least one cryptographic key to obtain at least one secret key, wherein the NIC comprises a key store, and wherein the key store comprises the cryptographic key table;

performing cryptographic operations associated with the secure protocol handshake using the at least one secret key; and

returning a status of the secure protocol handshake to the host system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the NIC is a transport network interface card (TNIC).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the host system performs the secure protocol handshake, if the secure protocol handshake is not offloaded to the NIC.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the secure protocol handshake is offloaded to the NIC comprises determining whether the NIC includes sufficient resources to handle the secure protocol handshake.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection between the host system and the remote peer is a TCP connection.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein cryptographic operations associated with the secure protocol handshake comprise exchanging public keys between the host system and the remote peer, resulting in the establishment of the at least one secret key.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing a data transfer phase, wherein cryptographic operations associated with the data transfer phase are performed by the NIC using the at least one secret key.

8. A system for offloading a secure protocol handshake, comprising:

a host configured to:

determine whether the secure protocol handshake is offloaded to a network interface card (NIC), and

if the secure protocol handshake is offloaded to the NIC:

send an offload request to offload the secure protocol handshake to a NIC, wherein the offload request comprises a value of at least one cryptographic key; and

the NIC configured to:

perform a lookup operations on a cryptographic key table using the value of at least one cryptographic key to obtain at least one secret key, wherein the NIC comprises a key store, and wherein the key store comprises the cryptographic key table;

perform cryptographic operations associated with the secure protocol handshake using the at least one secret key; and

return the status of the secure protocol handshake to the host system.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the NIC is a transport network interface card (TNIC).

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the NIC comprises a protocol offload module, a cryptographic hardware module, and the key store.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the protocol offload module is configured to process packets associated with the secure protocol handshake to determine the data on which cryptographic operations are performed.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein determining whether the secure protocol handshake is offloaded comprises determining whether the NIC includes sufficient resources to handle the secure protocol handshake.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the NIC is further configured to process the secure protocol handshake using fast connection offloading.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the secure protocol handshake comprises one selected from the group consisting of a secure sockets layer (SSL) handshake and a transport layer security (TLS) handshake.

15. The system of claim 8 , wherein a TCP connection is established between the host and the remote peer.

16. The system of claim 8 , wherein the NIC is further configured to perform a data transfer phase, wherein cryptographic operations are performed during the data transfer phase by the NIC using the at least one secret key.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the NIC is further configured to store the at least one secret key in the cryptographic key table, and wherein the host is configured to provide the name of the at least one secret key to the NIC prior to the data transfer phase.

18. A computer system for offloading a secure protocol handshake, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a storage device; and

software instructions stored in the memory for enabling the computer system under control of the processor, to:

establish a connection between a host system and a remote peer;

determine whether the secure protocol handshake is offloaded to a network interface card (NIC);

if the secure protocol handshake is offloaded to the NIC:

send an offload request to offload the secure protocol handshake, wherein the offload request comprises a value of at least one cryptographic key;

perform a lookup operation on a cryptographic key table using the value of at least one cryptographic key to obtain at least one secret key, wherein the NIC comprises a key store, and wherein the key store comprises the cryptographic key table;

perform cryptographic operations associated with the secure protocol handshake using the at least one secret key; and

return a status of the secure protocol handshake to the host system.