diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e9d5a07950..5b53fdef41 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## v20.07: (Upcoming Release)
 
+### ioat
+
+A new API `spdk_ioat_get_max_descriptors` was added.
+
 ### nvmf
 
 The NVMe-oF target no longer supports connecting scheduling configuration and instead
diff --git a/include/spdk/ioat.h b/include/spdk/ioat.h
index 9d32eaf0e1..c4e66be3b9 100644
--- a/include/spdk/ioat.h
+++ b/include/spdk/ioat.h
@@ -107,6 +107,15 @@ int spdk_ioat_probe(void *cb_ctx, spdk_ioat_probe_cb probe_cb, spdk_ioat_attach_
   */
 void spdk_ioat_detach(struct spdk_ioat_chan *ioat);
 
+/**
+ * Get the maximum number of descriptors supported by the library.
+ *
+ * \param chan I/OAT channel
+ *
+ * \return maximum number of descriptors.
+ */
+uint32_t spdk_ioat_get_max_descriptors(struct spdk_ioat_chan *chan);
+
 /**
  * Build a DMA engine memory copy request.
  *
diff --git a/lib/ioat/Makefile b/lib/ioat/Makefile
index a0da25b86b..933ad5ef73 100644
--- a/lib/ioat/Makefile
+++ b/lib/ioat/Makefile
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ SPDK_ROOT_DIR := $(abspath $(CURDIR)/../..)
 include $(SPDK_ROOT_DIR)/mk/spdk.common.mk
 
 SO_VER := 2
-SO_MINOR := 0
+SO_MINOR := 1
 
 C_SRCS = ioat.c
 LIBNAME = ioat
diff --git a/lib/ioat/ioat.c b/lib/ioat/ioat.c
index bde3290cb5..516fa545cf 100644
--- a/lib/ioat/ioat.c
+++ b/lib/ioat/ioat.c
@@ -374,6 +374,12 @@ ioat_channel_destruct(struct spdk_ioat_chan *ioat)
 	}
 }
 
+uint32_t
+spdk_ioat_get_max_descriptors(struct spdk_ioat_chan *ioat)
+{
+	return 1 << ioat->ring_size_order;
+}
+
 static int
 ioat_channel_start(struct spdk_ioat_chan *ioat)
 {
diff --git a/lib/ioat/spdk_ioat.map b/lib/ioat/spdk_ioat.map
index a74768c9ee..f467da8172 100644
--- a/lib/ioat/spdk_ioat.map
+++ b/lib/ioat/spdk_ioat.map
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 	spdk_ioat_flush;
 	spdk_ioat_process_events;
 	spdk_ioat_get_dma_capabilities;
+	spdk_ioat_get_max_descriptors;
 
 	local: *;
 };