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Administration Guide


Appendix T. Using Virtual Interface Architecture (VIA)

Virtual Interface Architecture (VIA) is the inter-node communication protocol alternative to TCP/IP in a Windows NT MPP configuration. VIA is a new communication architecture that was developed jointly by Intel, Microsoft, and Compaq to improve performance over a System Area Network (SAN).

VIA has low latency and high bandwidth. In a communication-intensive environment, using VIA may improve the overall system throughput.

Products exist which may be acquired separately from DB2 UDB that have a VIA-enabled network interface card (NIC) and software driver implementation. Several Independent Hardware Vendors (IHVs) have released, or plan to release, such products. DB2 UDB supports VIA implementations that comply with the Virtual Interface Architecture Specification, Version 1.0, the Intel Virtual Interface (VI) Architecture Implementation Guide, Version 1.0, and pass the "Virtual Interface Architecture Conformance Suite". For an implementation that does not satisfy the above requirements, please contact both the IHV service organization and the DB2 UDB service organization to find out if it is supported.

To enable DB2 UDB's support of VIA, see of each of the following registry variables: DB2_VI_ENABLE, DB2_VI_VIPL, and DB2_VI_DEVICE in Appendix F. "DB2 Registry and Environment Variables" for explanations regarding when and where to use these variables.


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