Intel^® I/O Acceleration Technology

Intel® I/O Acceleration Technology (Intel® I/OAT) is an 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 2008 or later 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.

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

Last modified on 4/24/13.