Reference

qat(4)

Intel QuickAssist Technology compression and crypto driver

NAME

qat – Intel QuickAssist Technology compression and crypto driver

SYNOPSIS

To load the driver call:

kldload qat

In order to load the driver on boot add these lines to loader.conf(5) selecting firmware(s) suitable for installed device(s)

qat_200xx_fw_load="YES"

qat_c3xxx_fw_load="YES"

qat_c4xxx_fw_load="YES"

qat_c62x_fw_load="YES"

qat_dh895xcc_fw_load="YES"

qat_4xxx_fw_load="YES"

qat_load="YES"

DESCRIPTION

The qat driver supports cryptography and compression acceleration of the Intel (R) QuickAssist Technology (QAT) devices.

A complete API for offloading these operations is exposed in the kernel and may be used by any other entity directly. In addition to exposing a complete kernel API for offloading cryptography and compression operations, the qat driver also integrates with crypto(4), allowing offloading supported operations to Intel QuickAssist Technology devices.

HARDWARE

The qat driver supports the following Intel QuickAssist Technology Engines:

  • Intel (R) C62x Chipset

  • Intel (R) Atom C3000 processor product family

  • Intel (R) QuickAssist Adapter 8960/Intel (R) QuickAssist Adapter 8970 (formerly known as "Lewis Hill")

  • Intel (R) Communications Chipset 8925 to 8955 Series

  • Intel (R) Atom P5300 processor product family

  • Intel (R) QAT 4xxx Series

SYSCTL VARIABLES

The following sysctl(8) variables may be used to reconfigure the qat device. For configuration persistence those variables may be set before loading the driver, either via kenv(1) or loader.conf(5).

The specific device needs to be in the "down" state before changing the configuration.

dev.qat.X.state

Show or set current state of the device. Possible values: "down", "up".

NOTE: If the symmetric services are used for device the qat_ocf driver needs to be disabled prior the device reconfiguration.

dev.qat_ocf.0.enable

Enable/disable the QAT cryptographic framework connectivity. Enabled by default.

dev.qat.X.cfg_services

Override the device services enabled, may be one of: symmetric, asymmetric, data compression. Possible values: "sym", "asym", "dc", "sym;dc", "asym;dc", "sym;asym". Default services configured are "sym;asym" for even and "dc" for odd devices.

dev.qat.X.cfg_mode

Override the device mode configuration for kernel space and user space instances. Possible values: "ks", "us", "ks;us". Default value "ks;us".

dev.qat.X.num_user_processes

Override the number of uio user space processes that can connect to the QAT device. Default: 2

dev.qat.X.disable_safe_dc_mode

Override history buffer mitigation. Disabled by default. If enabled, decompression throughput increases but may result in a data leak if dev.qat.X.num_user_processes is more than 1. Enable this option only if your system is not prone to user data leaks.

The following sysctl(8) variables are read-only:

dev.qat.X.frequency

QAT device frequency value.

dev.qat.X.mmp_version

QAT MMP Library revision number.

dev.qat.X.hw_version

QAT hardware revision number.

dev.qat.X.fw_version

QAT firmware revision number.

dev.qat.X.dev_cfg

Summary of device specific configuration.

dev.qat.X.heartbeat

QAT device heartbeat status. Value '1' indicates that the device is operational. Value '0' means that the device is not responsive. Device requires restart.

dev.qat.X.heartbeat_failed

Number of QAT heartbeat failures received.

dev.qat.X.heartbeat_sent

Number of QAT heartbeat requests sent.

SEE ALSO

crypto(4), ipsec(4), pci(4), crypto(7), crypto(9)

For details of usage and supported operations and algorithms refer to the following documentation available from Intel Download Center https://downloadcenter.intel.com:

  • Intel (R), QuickAssist Technology API Programmer's Guide.

  • Intel (R), QuickAssist Technology Cryptographic API Reference Manual.

  • Intel (R), QuickAssist Technology Data Compression API Reference Manual.

  • Intel (R), QuickAssist Technology Performance Optimization Guide.

HISTORY

A qat driver appeared in FreeBSD 13.0. It was superseded in FreeBSD 14.0 by the upstream driver.

AUTHORS

The qat driver was written by Intel (R) Corporation.

History