Chapter 3

Bus and Device Requirements

This chapter defines specific requirements for buses and devices provided in a Basic server system.

Tips for selecting I/O performance components. For manufacturers who want to select high-performance components for server systems, the following are design features to look for in I/O components:

• The system has minimal or no reliance on embedded ISA and no ISA slots.
  
  
• Adapter supports bus mastering.
  
  
• PCI adapter properly supports higher-level PCI commands for efficient data transfer.
  
  
• Drivers are tuned for 32-bit performance: that is, 32-bit alignments on the adapter do not interface with 16-bit alignments on odd addresses.
  
  
• All devices and controllers must be capable of being identified and configured by software through the defined bus mechanisms.