Intel® I/OAT

# 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`