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.
-
Acceleration moves networking data to applications faster.
-
Optimization allows you to increase the load on your
servers without increasing power consumption.
-
Seamless multiple port scaling gives you increased networking throughput from teaming along with reliable server and
application availability.
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):
- RSS
- Offload Receive IP Checksum
- Offload Receive TCP Checksum
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