Intel QAT

[Stan_DBA]

Hello,

I want to use QAT for faster SQL Backup compression and I have experienced the problem with Intel QAT drivers on one SQL Server:

Windows 2022

SQL Server 2022 and PBI report server

CPU Intel Xeon GOLD

.Net Framework 4.8.1

I have three servers wtih this configuration and got problem with one server, the others works fine.Below is summary log after installation.

Intel(R) QAT Software Installation Summary

QAT Base Driver: Not Installed

QAT Compression Service: Not Installed (No QAT Hardware detected)

QAT Crypto Service: Not Installed (No QAT Hardware detected)

QATzip DLL: Successfully Installed

ISA-L DLL: Not Installed (Nuget.exe is not present in the system) - this is the problem

From query editor:

I have this error when want to read the current error log to find references to Intel

EXEC sp_readerrorlog 0, 1, 'Intel';

- Detected Intel(R) QuickAssist Compression Library QATZip: 1.11.0.3.
-Intel(R) QuickAssist Technology (QAT) initialization failed with error -101.

Even if Nuget.exe is in System environment path, still cant install the ISA-L library.

Thanks for any advice

Stanislav

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, Stan_DBA.

Thank you for posting on the Intel community Support forums.

I received your ticket regarding this particular QAT situation, and I will be assisting you with this.

Please allow us to review the information provided and I will contact you back as soon as possible or in case more details are required.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, Stan_DBA.

There are some additional details we would like to obtain.

We noticed that it says No QAT Hardware detected, and we would like to confirm if that's expected (since you are not not pointing this out as being the issue), or do you have QAT hardware in the system?

Also, please let me know what is the version of the QAT driver you are attempting to install.

I will follow up on August 25th in case you need additional time.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Stan_DBA]

Hello Bruce,

Yes, this is expected. We do not have any QAT HW device in our server. We want to use the software mode of QAT compresion.

I am installing the latest one - 1.11.0-0006.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19732/intel-quickassist-technology-driver-for-windows-hw-version-1-x.html

But tried also the previous version of drivers and had no luck either.

Best Regards

Stanislav H.

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, Stan_DBA.

Thank you, I will get back to you soon.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[BrusC_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello, Stan_DBA.

Thank you for waiting.

After further review of this particular issue, it is strange this behavior happens only with one server and not with the other two (assuming they have the same exact configuration), but in any case, the Intel QAT Release Notes list a workaround which consists on manually unpacking and copying the isa-l.dll into the Windows System32 directory.

You can check the Release Notes listed in the downloads page of the driver.

Please try this and let us know the outcome, and I will follow up on august 30th in case additional time is required.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, Stan_DBA.

I wanted to follow up on this thread to check if you had any updates you can share.

I will keep the ticket open while we wait for your response, and I will follow up again on September 4th in case additional time is required.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Stan_DBA]

Hello Bruce,

Sry, I was on vacation, I will do it right now and reply as soon as I can.

Thank you

Stanislav H.

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, Stan_DBA.

Perfect, we hope to hear from you soon.

I will move the follow up to September 7th just in case.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Stan_DBA]

Hello Bruce,

Thanks for help and advice with workaround, it is working fine, so what I did was, that after succesfull installation, I copied whole content of ISAL folder from function environment and then from this folder, copied the isa-l.dll into C:\Windows\system32, reconfigured SQL Server, and after restart of SQL Service, the drivers were finally succesfully initialized and QAT compression works fine.

Anyway, there is still left question, why Windows installer couldnt make copy of library into system32 folder itself, but thats is not up to you anymore.

Thank you very much for advice.

Best Regards

Stanislav H.

SQL DBA.

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, Stan_DBA.

Allow me to check if there are additional details we can share on this, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, Stan_DBA.

Good day,

Regarding the workaround, we can only comment that this behavior of the isa-l.dll not being copied during the installation process was first seen some time ago and documented in the Release Notes., but with this being something that does not happen frequently, the root cause was not determined, with said workaround to overcome it just being a matter of manually copying the content.

If there no additional questions, comments or concerns from your part, the thread will be closed on September 11th.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, Stan_DBA.

This message is to inform you about the closure of this support thread.

We previously shared the workaround which consists on manually unpacking and copying the isa-l.dll into the Windows System32 directory and also mentioned that we can only comment that this behavior of the isa-l.dll not being copied during the installation process was first seen some time ago and documented in the Release Notes, but with this being something that does not happen frequently, the root cause was not determined.

The thread will be closed right now, and it will no longer be monitored by Intel support, but if you require any type of assistance from Intel in the future, just open a new thread, or contact us using any of the available support methods:

- https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-intel.html

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician