Intel® I/O Acceleration Technology

Intel® I/O Acceleration Technology (Intel® I/OAT) is a new Intel platform network technology that accelerates, optimizes and seamlessly scales enterprise servers on Microsoft Windows Server* and Linux* operating systems.

Implementing Intel I/OAT requires no change to your existing network configuration or existing security implementations.

System Requirements

This is a platform-level solution for data movement. Thus, several ingredients are necessary for a system to be Intel I/OAT capable:

Platform The platform must be based on a server chipset and BIOS that are Intel I/OAT capable.
Operating System
  • Microsoft Windows Server* 2003, with Service Pack 1 and the Scalable Networking Pack, or with Service Pack 2 (SP2 contains the Scalable Networking Pack).
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Linux: Enabled in the kernel only as of kernel version 2.6.33
Network Connectivity Hardware Intel I/OAT is supported on specific server adapters and network connections available from Intel and other vendors. If you have multiple network adapters in your system, Intel I/OAT will operate automatically on the compatible models, while non-compatible adapters will pass traffic normally.
Drivers and Connectivity Software Intel I/OAT becomes active when all required software support is loaded & enabled.
  • Windows: The IOATDMA driver and NDIS miniport driver version 9.3.31.0, or greater, must be installed.
  • Linux: The Intel ioatdma module must be loaded. I/OAT support must be enabled in the kernel.

NOTES: 
  • At least one Intel I/OAT-capable port must be enabled when your system starts up. If no Intel I/OAT-capable ports are enabled at system startup, the IOATDMA driver will not register with NDIS and Intel I/OAT-capable ports enabled after system startup will show no DMA activity. Enable an Intel I/OAT-capable port and reboot to resolve this issue.
  • Intel® Chipset QuickData Technology Devices (except the Intel® 5100 and 7300 Chipset QuickData Technology Devices) support only Direct Cache Access (DCA) on Windows Server 2003. DMA offloading is not supported by these devices.

Tuning Your System

Memory

Your system memory channels should be fully populated. Intel recommends a minimum of 4 GB of system memory or 1 GB per channel. Refer to your system guide for specific information regarding memory channels.

Windows Adapter Settings

In a Windows environment, the following advanced settings must be enabled (see the Intel® PROSet link in the left pane):

Intel I/O Acceleration Technology Windows System Check Utility

The System Check Utility (ioatchk.exe) is a stand alone application that checks your system for Intel I/OAT compatibility. The utility can be found on the Intel support website and on the Intel LAN driver CD in the \PLATFORM\IOATDMA\Win32 or \PLATFORM\IOATDMA\Winx64 subdirectories.


Last modified on 1/05/10 1:25p Revision 24