diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index faad82f0e..2770a8f75 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@ Results are recorded in the `make.log` file.
 To enable type: 'git config core.hooksPath .githooks'. To override after configuration use
 the `git --no-verify` flag.
 
+### IOAT
+
+IOAT for copy engine is disabled by default. It can be enabled by specifying the Enable
+option with "Yes" in `[Ioat]` section of the configuration file. The Disable option is
+now deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
+
 ## v18.04: Logical Volume Snapshot/Clone, iSCSI Initiator, Bdev QoS, VPP Userspace TCP/IP
 
 ### vhost
diff --git a/etc/spdk/iscsi.conf.in b/etc/spdk/iscsi.conf.in
index a2b0cd84c..ce731761a 100644
--- a/etc/spdk/iscsi.conf.in
+++ b/etc/spdk/iscsi.conf.in
@@ -121,9 +121,10 @@
 
 # Users may change this section to create a different number or size of
 #  malloc LUNs.
-# If the system has hardware DMA engine, it will use an IOAT
-# (i.e. Crystal Beach DMA) channel to do the copy instead of memcpy.
-# Of course, users can disable offload even it is available.
+# If the system has hardware DMA engine, it can use an IOAT
+# (i.e. Crystal Beach DMA) channel to do the copy instead of memcpy
+# by specifying "Enable Yes" in [Ioat] section.
+# Offload is disabled by default even it is available.
 [Malloc]
   # Number of Malloc targets
   NumberOfLuns 3
@@ -132,11 +133,12 @@
   # Block size. Default is 512 bytes.
   BlockSize 4096
 
-# Users may not want to use offload even it is available.
+# Users can use offload by specifying "Enable Yes" in this section
+# if it is available.
 # Users may use the whitelist to initialize specified devices, IDS
 #  uses BUS:DEVICE.FUNCTION to identify each Ioat channel.
 [Ioat]
-  Disable Yes
+  Enable No
   Whitelist 00:04.0
   Whitelist 00:04.1
 
diff --git a/etc/spdk/rocksdb.conf.in b/etc/spdk/rocksdb.conf.in
index 004609987..928d09788 100644
--- a/etc/spdk/rocksdb.conf.in
+++ b/etc/spdk/rocksdb.conf.in
@@ -17,6 +17,6 @@
   #ReactorMask 0x1
 
 [Ioat]
-  Disable Yes
+  Enable No
 
 # [Nvme] section will get appended here by scripts/gen_nvme.sh.
diff --git a/etc/spdk/vhost.conf.in b/etc/spdk/vhost.conf.in
index 8f5e150d9..eff4f77e5 100644
--- a/etc/spdk/vhost.conf.in
+++ b/etc/spdk/vhost.conf.in
@@ -29,11 +29,12 @@
   # Set to 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF to enable all tracepoint groups.
   #TpointGroupMask 0x0
 
-# Users may not want to use offload even it is available.
+# Users can use offload by specifying "Enable Yes" in this section
+# if it is available.
 # Users may use the whitelist to initialize specified devices, IDS
 #  uses BUS:DEVICE.FUNCTION to identify each Ioat channel.
 [Ioat]
-  Disable Yes
+  Enable No
   #Whitelist 00:04.0
   #Whitelist 00:04.1
 
@@ -51,9 +52,10 @@
 
 # Users may change this section to create a different number or size of
 #  malloc LUNs.
-# If the system has hardware DMA engine, it will use an IOAT
-# (i.e. Crystal Beach DMA) channel to do the copy instead of memcpy.
-# Of course, users can disable offload even it is available.
+# If the system has hardware DMA engine, it can use an IOAT
+# (i.e. Crystal Beach DMA) channel to do the copy instead of memcpy
+# by specifying "Enable Yes" in [Ioat] section.
+# Offload is disabled by default even it is available.
 [Malloc]
   # Number of Malloc targets
   NumberOfLuns 3
diff --git a/lib/copy/ioat/copy_engine_ioat.c b/lib/copy/ioat/copy_engine_ioat.c
index 9c0ea464f..6e1401cde 100644
--- a/lib/copy/ioat/copy_engine_ioat.c
+++ b/lib/copy/ioat/copy_engine_ioat.c
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 
 #define IOAT_MAX_CHANNELS		64
 
-static bool g_ioat_disable = false;
+static bool g_ioat_enable = false;
 
 struct ioat_probe_ctx {
 	int num_whitelist_devices;
@@ -282,13 +282,24 @@ static int
 copy_engine_ioat_init(void)
 {
 	struct spdk_conf_section *sp = spdk_conf_find_section(NULL, "Ioat");
-	const char *pci_bdf;
+	const char *val, *pci_bdf;
 	int i;
 
 	if (sp != NULL) {
-		if (spdk_conf_section_get_boolval(sp, "Disable", false)) {
-			g_ioat_disable = true;
-			/* Disable Ioat */
+		if (spdk_conf_section_get_boolval(sp, "Enable", false)) {
+			g_ioat_enable = true;
+			/* Enable Ioat */
+		}
+
+		val = spdk_conf_section_get_val(sp, "Disable");
+		if (val != NULL) {
+			SPDK_WARNLOG("\"Disable\" option is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.\n");
+			SPDK_WARNLOG("IOAT is now disabled by default. It may be enabled by \"Enable Yes\"\n");
+
+			if (g_ioat_enable && (strcasecmp(val, "Yes") == 0)) {
+				SPDK_ERRLOG("\"Enable Yes\" and \"Disable Yes\" cannot be set at the same time\n");
+				return -1;
+			}
 		}
 
 		/* Init the whitelist */
@@ -307,7 +318,7 @@ copy_engine_ioat_init(void)
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (g_ioat_disable) {
+	if (!g_ioat_enable) {
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -329,8 +340,8 @@ copy_engine_ioat_init(void)
 "  # Users may use the whitelist to initialize specified devices, IDS\n" \
 "  #  uses BUS:DEVICE.FUNCTION to identify each Ioat channel.\n"
 
-#define COPY_ENGINE_IOAT_DISABLE_TMPL \
-"  Disable %s\n"
+#define COPY_ENGINE_IOAT_ENABLE_TMPL \
+"  Enable %s\n"
 
 #define COPY_ENGINE_IOAT_WHITELIST_TMPL \
 "  Whitelist %.4" PRIx16 ":%.2" PRIx8 ":%.2" PRIx8 ".%" PRIx8 "\n"
@@ -342,7 +353,7 @@ copy_engine_ioat_config_text(FILE *fp)
 	struct spdk_pci_addr *dev;
 
 	fprintf(fp, COPY_ENGINE_IOAT_HEADER_TMPL);
-	fprintf(fp, COPY_ENGINE_IOAT_DISABLE_TMPL, g_ioat_disable ? "Yes" : "No");
+	fprintf(fp, COPY_ENGINE_IOAT_ENABLE_TMPL, g_ioat_enable ? "Yes" : "No");
 
 	for (i = 0; i < g_probe_ctx.num_whitelist_devices; i++) {
 		dev = &g_probe_ctx.whitelist[i];
diff --git a/test/bdev/bdev.conf.in b/test/bdev/bdev.conf.in
index 0c074c585..c59b64fd2 100644
--- a/test/bdev/bdev.conf.in
+++ b/test/bdev/bdev.conf.in
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
   AIO /tmp/aiofile AIO1 2048
 
 [Ioat]
-  Disable Yes
+  Enable No
 
 [QoS]
   # QoS section defines limitation on performance
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/initiator/bdev.conf.in b/test/iscsi_tgt/initiator/bdev.conf.in
index f23f7e478..09094ea82 100644
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/initiator/bdev.conf.in
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/initiator/bdev.conf.in
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 [Ioat]
-  Disable Yes
+  Enable No
diff --git a/test/vhost/hotplug/vhost.conf.base b/test/vhost/hotplug/vhost.conf.base
index 5e72d3f54..0b0de7490 100644
--- a/test/vhost/hotplug/vhost.conf.base
+++ b/test/vhost/hotplug/vhost.conf.base
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [Global]
 
 [Ioat]
-  Disable Yes
+  Enable No
 
 [Nvme]
   HotplugEnable Yes
diff --git a/test/vhost/initiator/bdev.conf b/test/vhost/initiator/bdev.conf
index 6622ce284..d9198d088 100644
--- a/test/vhost/initiator/bdev.conf
+++ b/test/vhost/initiator/bdev.conf
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@
   Queues 8
 
 [Ioat]
-  Disable Yes
+  Enable No
diff --git a/test/vhost/initiator/bdev_pci.conf b/test/vhost/initiator/bdev_pci.conf
index 726f24b26..635891b3f 100644
--- a/test/vhost/initiator/bdev_pci.conf
+++ b/test/vhost/initiator/bdev_pci.conf
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
   Enable Yes
 
 [Ioat]
-  Disable Yes
+  Enable No