AoE initiator broadcasts an AoE configuration string message to discover AoE target devices on the network.  Initiators repeat broadcasts periodically.

AoE targets respond with available AoE device addresses.  This identifies what storage volumes are available on the network.

AoE initiator sends AoE messages with unique tag identifiers and ATA disk commands.  AoE targets allow multiple AoE messages to be queued enabling high performance.

AoE targets execute AoE messages (disk read/write commands) and echo message identity tags in the responses.

If no tag response is received, initiator resends AoE message.  Ethernet networks rarely drop frames, so retransmission is rare.