Activation of SR-IOV virtualization function

Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) enables multiple virtualized guest operating systems to access a shared PCI-e device natively. This technology is interesting for approximately 10 Gbit Ethernet NICs. The PCI-e device and the server must support both SR-IOV. In this article, we show how to activate the SR-IOV in the BIOS of a server. We use a Supermicro X8DT3-F mainboard with two Intel Xeon X5680 CPUs.

SR-IOV is a component of Overview of the Intel VT Virtualization Features.

Deactivation of SR-IOV

SR-IOV is deactivated in the standard settings. The settings for VT-d can be found in the BIOS under Advanced --> I/O Virtualization --> SR-IOV Supported:

Activation of SR-IOV

In the next step, we activate SR-IOV:

SR-IOV activated

SR-IOV is now activated:

More information

• Was ist Single-Root I/O-Virtualisierung (SR-IOV) und welchen Vorteil bringt sie? (www.searchdatacenter.de, Februar 2015)
• Frequently Asked Questions for SR-IOV on Intel® Ethernet Server Adapters (www.intel.com, Support Artikel 5722, abgerufen am 17.11.2017)
• Citrix to introduce support for SR-IOV in Open vSwitch (virtualization.info, 14.09.2010)

Author: Werner Fischer Werner Fischer, working in the Knowledge Transfer team at Thomas-Krenn, completed his studies of Computer and Media Security at FH Hagenberg in Austria. He is a regular speaker at many conferences like LinuxTag, OSMC, OSDC, LinuxCon, and author for various IT magazines. In his spare time he enjoys playing the piano and training for a good result at the annual Linz marathon relay.

Translator: Alina Ranzinger Alina has been working at Thomas-Krenn.AG since 2024. After her training as multilingual business assistant, she got her job as assistant of the Product Management and is responsible for the translation of texts and for the organisation of the department.