diff --git a/drivers/raw/ioat/ioat_rawdev.c b/drivers/raw/ioat/ioat_rawdev.c
index 53b33c1a7..11c6a57e1 100644
--- a/drivers/raw/ioat/ioat_rawdev.c
+++ b/drivers/raw/ioat/ioat_rawdev.c
@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@
 
 #include <rte_cycles.h>
 #include <rte_bus_pci.h>
+#include <rte_memzone.h>
 #include <rte_string_fns.h>
 #include <rte_rawdev_pmd.h>
 
 #include "rte_ioat_rawdev.h"
+#include "ioat_spec.h"
 
 static struct rte_pci_driver ioat_pmd_drv;
 
@@ -260,6 +262,7 @@ ioat_rawdev_create(const char *name, struct rte_pci_device *dev)
 	ioat->rawdev = rawdev;
 	ioat->mz = mz;
 	ioat->regs = dev->mem_resource[0].addr;
+	ioat->doorbell = &ioat->regs->dmacount;
 	ioat->ring_size = 0;
 	ioat->desc_ring = NULL;
 	ioat->status_addr = ioat->mz->iova +
diff --git a/drivers/raw/ioat/rte_ioat_spec.h b/drivers/raw/ioat/ioat_spec.h
similarity index 91%
rename from drivers/raw/ioat/rte_ioat_spec.h
rename to drivers/raw/ioat/ioat_spec.h
index c6e7929b2..9645e16d4 100644
--- a/drivers/raw/ioat/rte_ioat_spec.h
+++ b/drivers/raw/ioat/ioat_spec.h
@@ -86,32 +86,6 @@ struct rte_ioat_registers {
 
 #define RTE_IOAT_CHANCMP_ALIGN			8	/* CHANCMP address must be 64-bit aligned */
 
-struct rte_ioat_generic_hw_desc {
-	uint32_t size;
-	union {
-		uint32_t control_raw;
-		struct {
-			uint32_t int_enable: 1;
-			uint32_t src_snoop_disable: 1;
-			uint32_t dest_snoop_disable: 1;
-			uint32_t completion_update: 1;
-			uint32_t fence: 1;
-			uint32_t reserved2: 1;
-			uint32_t src_page_break: 1;
-			uint32_t dest_page_break: 1;
-			uint32_t bundle: 1;
-			uint32_t dest_dca: 1;
-			uint32_t hint: 1;
-			uint32_t reserved: 13;
-			uint32_t op: 8;
-		} control;
-	} u;
-	uint64_t src_addr;
-	uint64_t dest_addr;
-	uint64_t next;
-	uint64_t op_specific[4];
-};
-
 struct rte_ioat_dma_hw_desc {
 	uint32_t size;
 	union {
diff --git a/drivers/raw/ioat/meson.build b/drivers/raw/ioat/meson.build
index f66e9b605..06636f8a9 100644
--- a/drivers/raw/ioat/meson.build
+++ b/drivers/raw/ioat/meson.build
@@ -8,5 +8,4 @@ sources = files('ioat_rawdev.c',
 deps += ['rawdev', 'bus_pci', 'mbuf']
 
 install_headers('rte_ioat_rawdev.h',
-		'rte_ioat_rawdev_fns.h',
-		'rte_ioat_spec.h')
+		'rte_ioat_rawdev_fns.h')
diff --git a/drivers/raw/ioat/rte_ioat_rawdev_fns.h b/drivers/raw/ioat/rte_ioat_rawdev_fns.h
index 06b4edcbb..0cee6b1b0 100644
--- a/drivers/raw/ioat/rte_ioat_rawdev_fns.h
+++ b/drivers/raw/ioat/rte_ioat_rawdev_fns.h
@@ -5,9 +5,37 @@
 #define _RTE_IOAT_RAWDEV_FNS_H_
 
 #include <x86intrin.h>
-#include <rte_memzone.h>
 #include <rte_prefetch.h>
-#include "rte_ioat_spec.h"
+
+/**
+ * @internal
+ * Structure representing a device descriptor
+ */
+struct rte_ioat_generic_hw_desc {
+	uint32_t size;
+	union {
+		uint32_t control_raw;
+		struct {
+			uint32_t int_enable: 1;
+			uint32_t src_snoop_disable: 1;
+			uint32_t dest_snoop_disable: 1;
+			uint32_t completion_update: 1;
+			uint32_t fence: 1;
+			uint32_t reserved2: 1;
+			uint32_t src_page_break: 1;
+			uint32_t dest_page_break: 1;
+			uint32_t bundle: 1;
+			uint32_t dest_dca: 1;
+			uint32_t hint: 1;
+			uint32_t reserved: 13;
+			uint32_t op: 8;
+		} control;
+	} u;
+	uint64_t src_addr;
+	uint64_t dest_addr;
+	uint64_t next;
+	uint64_t op_specific[4];
+};
 
 /**
  * @internal
@@ -18,7 +46,7 @@ struct rte_ioat_rawdev {
 	const struct rte_memzone *mz;
 	const struct rte_memzone *desc_mz;
 
-	volatile struct rte_ioat_registers *regs;
+	volatile uint16_t *doorbell;
 	phys_addr_t status_addr;
 	phys_addr_t ring_addr;
 
@@ -39,8 +67,16 @@ struct rte_ioat_rawdev {
 
 	/* to report completions, the device will write status back here */
 	volatile uint64_t status __rte_cache_aligned;
+
+	/* pointer to the register bar */
+	volatile struct rte_ioat_registers *regs;
 };
 
+#define RTE_IOAT_CHANSTS_IDLE			0x1
+#define RTE_IOAT_CHANSTS_SUSPENDED		0x2
+#define RTE_IOAT_CHANSTS_HALTED		0x3
+#define RTE_IOAT_CHANSTS_ARMED			0x4
+
 /**
  * Enqueue a copy operation onto the ioat device
  */
@@ -90,7 +126,7 @@ rte_ioat_do_copies(int dev_id)
 	ioat->desc_ring[(ioat->next_write - 1) & (ioat->ring_size - 1)].u
 			.control.completion_update = 1;
 	rte_compiler_barrier();
-	ioat->regs->dmacount = ioat->next_write;
+	*ioat->doorbell = ioat->next_write;
 	ioat->started = ioat->enqueued;
 }
 
