Quality of Service

Quality of Service (QoS) allows the adapter to send and receive IEEE 802.3ac tagged frames. 802.3ac tagged frames include 802.1p priority-tagged frames and 802.1Q VLAN-tagged frames.

To implement QoS, the adapter must be connected to a switch that supports and is configured for 802.1p QoS. Priority-tagged frames allow programs that deal with real-time events to make the most efficient use of network bandwidth. High priority packets are processed before lower priority packets.

To change this setting in Intel® PROSet:

Tagging is enabled and disabled using the following fields:

• In Windows Server*: Use the “QoS Packet Tagging” field in the Advanced tab in Intel PROSet or in the Adapter Settings panel in Intel® PROSet Adapter Configuration Utility (Intel® PROSet ACU).

• In other versions of Windows*: Use the “Priority/VLAN Tagging” setting on the Advanced tab in Intel PROSet or in the Adapter Settings panel in Intel PROSet ACU.

To set this in Windows Powershell*, first disable DCB, then set QoS using the Priority and VLAN tagging DisplayName in the cmdlet. For example:

Set-IntelNetAdapterSetting -Name "<adapter_name>" -DisplayName "DCB"
-DisplayValue "Disabled"

Set-IntelNetAdapterSetting -Name "<adapter_name>" -DisplayName "Packet
Priority & VLAN" -DisplayValue "VLAN Enabled"

Once QoS is enabled, you can specify levels of priority based on IEEE 802.1p/802.1Q frame tagging.

The supported operating systems, including Windows Server, have a utility for 802.1p packet prioritization. For more information, see the Windows system help and Microsoft’s knowledge base.