Intel VROC User manual

Intel® Server Products and Solutions
Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe RAID)
Quick Configuration Guide
A quickstart guide detailing configuration rules and procedures.
Rev 1.2
March 2020

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Intel® VROC Quick Configuration Guide
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Document Revision History
Date Published
Revision
Changes
December 2019
1.0
Initial release
December 2019
1.1
Corrections made to the list of supported OSs and VMD definition.
Section 2 –“Preparing the server hardware and drivers” added.
Appendix B - Added.
March 2020
1.2
Removed Secure Boor restriction.

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Disclaimers
Intel technologies’ features and benefits depend on system configuration and may require enabled hardware, software, or service
activation. Performance varies depending on system configuration. No computer system can be absolutely secure. Check with your
system manufacturer or retailer or learn more at intel.com.
You may not use or facilitate the use of this document in connection with any infringement or other legal analysis concerning Intel
products described herein. You agree to grant Intel a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to any patent claim thereafter drafted which
includes subject matter disclosed herein.
No license (express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise) to any intellectual property rights is granted by this document.
The products described may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from
published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request.
Intel disclaims all express and implied warranties, including without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness
for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, as well as any warranty arising from course of performance, course of dealing, or
usage in trade.
This document contains information on products, services and/or processes in development. All information provided here is subject
to change without notice. Contact your Intel representative to obtain the latest Intel product specifications.
Copies of documents which have an order number and are referenced in this document may be obtained by calling 1-800-548-4725
or by visiting www.intel.com/design/literature.htm.
Intel, the Intel logo, Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU,Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its
subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
© 2018-2019 Intel Corporation

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Warnings
Heed safety instructions: Before working with your server product, whether you are using this guide or any
other resource as a reference, pay close attention to the safety instructions. You must adhere to the
assembly instructions in this guide to ensure and maintain compliance with existing product certifications
and approvals. Use only the described, regulated components specified in this guide. Use of other
products/components will void the UL listing and other regulatory approvals of the product and will most
likely result in noncompliance with product regulations in the region(s) in which the product is sold.
System power on/off: The power button DOES NOT turn off the system AC power. To remove all power
from the system, you must unplug the AC power cord from the wall outlet. Make sure the AC power cord is
unplugged before you open the chassis, add, or remove any components.
Hazardous conditions, devices and cables: Hazardous electrical conditions may be present on power,
telephone, and communication cables. Turn off the server and disconnect the power cord,
telecommunications systems, networks, and modems attached to the server before opening it. Otherwise,
personal injury or equipment damage can result.
Installing or removing jumpers: A jumper is a small plastic-encased conductor that slips over two jumper
pins. Some jumpers have a small tab on top that you can grip with your fingertips or with a pair of fine needle
nosed pliers. If your jumpers do not have such a tab, take care when using needle-nosed pliers to remove or
install a jumper; grip the narrow sides of the jumper with the pliers, never the wide sides. Gripping the wide
sides can damage the contacts inside the jumper, causing intermittent problems with the function controlled
by that jumper. Take care to grip with, but not squeeze, the pliers or other tool you use to remove a jumper,
or you may bend or break the pins on the board.
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) and ESD protection: ESD can damage disk drives, boards, and other parts. We
recommend that you perform all procedures in this chapter only at an ESD workstation. If one is not
available, provide some ESD protection by wearing an anti-static wrist strap attached to chassis ground, any
unpainted metal surface on your server when handling parts.
ESD and handling boards: Always handle boards carefully. They can be extremely sensitive to ESD. Hold
boards only by their edges. After removing a board from its protective wrapper or from the server, place the
board component side up on a grounded, static-free surface. Use a conductive foam pad if available but not
the board wrapper. Do not slide board over any surface.

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Preface
Introduction
This guide provides concise instructions for creating RAID configurations using the VROC HII Configuration
Utility. The utility runs prior to loading the operating system (OS) and can be used to prepare a RAID volume
before an OS is loaded onto it.
Guide Organization
This guide includes the following:
Section 1 - Product Overview
Provides the product overview, supported hardware and operating systems.
Section 2 - Preparing the server hardware and drivers
Provides the steps required to prepare the system to support Intel® VROC RAID configurations.
Section 3 - Intel® Volume Management Devices (Intel® VMD)
Provides definition of the Intel® VMD feature and instructions to enable it.
Section 4 - Creating Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe RAID) volumes
Step by step guide and screenshots to create Intel® VROC RAID configurations.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................................................................. i
Guide Organization .................................................................................................................................................................................. i
1. Overview........................................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 SupportedHardware........................................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Supported Operating Systems*...................................................................................................................................4
2. Preparing Server Hardware and Drivers.................................................................................................................5
2.1 Server System.....................................................................................................................................................................5
2.2 Intel VROC Hardware Key..............................................................................................................................................5
2.3 NVMe* drives.......................................................................................................................................................................5
2.4 PCIe switches and retimers...........................................................................................................................................5
2.5 Drivers....................................................................................................................................................................................6
3. Intel® Volume Management Device (Intel® VMD) .................................................................................................8
3.1 Enabling the Intel® VMD ports.....................................................................................................................................8
4. Creating Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe RAID) volumes............................................................................................ 11
4.1 Accessing the Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe RAID) HII Configuration Utility .................................................11
4.2 Creating RAID Volumes Using the Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe RAID) HII Configuration Utility.........11
Appendix A. Glossary ................................................................................................................................................. 15
Appendix B. Updating Firmware on Intel NVMe drives using the Intel* SSD Data Center Tool................ 16
List of Tables
Table 1. VROC driver requirements......................................................................................................................................................7
List of Figures
Figure 1. RSTe NVMe release note documentation style............................................................................................................6
Figure 2. Steps to enter the Volume Management Device Port Window .............................................................................9
Figure 3. VMD port Example A................................................................................................................................................................9
Figure 4. VMD port Example B.............................................................................................................................................................10
Figure 5. Steps to access the Intel® VROC HII configuration utility...................................................................................... 11
Figure 6. Intel® VROC Managed VMD menu...................................................................................................................................12
Figure 7. Create RAID Volume menu.................................................................................................................................................12
Figure 8. Completed Create RAID Volume menu ........................................................................................................................13
Figure 9. Intel® VROC Managed VMD menu...................................................................................................................................14
Figure 10. List of Intel® NVMe drives shown by the isdct tool ...............................................................................................16
Figure 11. Updating an NVMe drive. .................................................................................................................................................16

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1. Overview
Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe RAID) is a powerful, reliable, and affordable hybrid RAID solution that uses the built-
in processor’s Volume Management Devices (VMD) and Intel® RSTe drivers to create and manage RAID
configurations. Intel® VROC is only available when the system is configured for UEFI boot mode. To enable
the Intel® VROC, a hardware key must be inserted onto the motherboard, and the appropriate processor
Virtual Management Devices must be enabled in BIOS Setup.
Intel® VROC provides added performance and reliability for supported systems equipped with NVM
Express* (NVMe*) drives to enable an optimal enterprise storage solution. Intel® VROC offers data
protection by enabling RAID in a pre-boot environment that can be used in operating systems like Microsoft
Windows*, Red Hat Linux* and SUSE Linux*.
1.1 Supported Hardware
This guide covers server products and solutions based on the following Intel® Server Board product families:
▪ Intel® Server Board S2600WF product family (a.k.a Wolf Pass)
▪ Intel® Server Board S2600BP product family (a.k.a Buchanan Pass)
▪ Intel® Server Board S2600ST product family (a.k.a Sawtooth Pass)
The guide supports RAID configurations created using validated NVMe* drives connected through a
supported backplane. To increase the number of supported NVMe* drives, approved PCIe* switches and
retimers are also supported.
Note: For a list of supported devices, consult the Tested Hardware Lists (THOL).
1.2 Supported Operating Systems*
The Intel® VROC (VMD NVME RAID) solution supports the following Operating Systems, either with in-box
drivers or out of the box drivers:
▪ Microsoft Windows Server 2012* R2
▪ Microsoft Windows Server 2016*
▪ Microsoft Windows Server 2019*
▪ Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 7.3
▪ Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 7.4
▪ Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 7.5
▪ Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 7.6
▪ Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 8.0
▪ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12* SP3
▪ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server* 15
▪ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server* 15 SP1
Note: Some of these Operating Systems might not be supported on a particular server system. The following
list contains the OS tests for each system:
•Tested Operating Systems for Intel® Server Board S2600WF Family
•Tested Operating Systems for Intel® Server Board S2600ST Family
•Tested Operating Systems for Intel® Server Board S2600BP Family

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2. Preparing Server Hardware and Drivers
2.1 Server System
Intel recommends that the server system be installed with the latest firmware package that includes the
BIOS, ME, FD, BMC, and FRUSDR utility. The best way to achieve this is to download and install the latest
published System Update Package (SUP) corresponding to the motherboard being used, which may be
found at the Intel Download Center. In the search box near the top of the page, type in the motherboard
model number (e.g., S2600WFT), then click the magnifying glass icon. Set the "Download Type" dropdown to
"BIOS" or "Firmware" (depending on which option is available), and the available SUP versions will be
displayed. The specific package contains installation instructions.
2.2 Intel VROC Hardware Key
In order to enable Intel® VROC, a Hardware Key must be installed on the Intel® motherboard. There are three
separate keys supporting different RAID levels:
•Intel® VROC Standard (MM#951605): Enables RAID levels 0, 1 and 10. Different NVMe drive
manufacturers are supported. Consult the THOL for a full list.
•Intel® VROC Premium (MM#951606): RAID levels 0, 1, 10 and 5. Different NVMe drive manufacturers
are supported. Consult the THOL for a full list.
•Intel® VROC Intel SSD Only (MM#956822): Enables RAID levels 0, 1, 10 and 5 but only the Intel®
NVMe drives are supported.
Refer to the corresponding system TPS document of your Intel® motherboard for VROC Hardware Key
installation instructions.
2.3 NVMe* drives
Intel® VROC only supports the U.2 form factor NVMe drives connected through supported backplanes. Intel
recommends that the drives are of the latest firmware version, and makes available the Intel* SSD Data
Center Tool utility in order to update the firmware on Intel® SSD DC family drives. Other vendors provide
similar tools.
The Intel® SSD Data Center Tool runs on top of Windows* or Linux* operating systems and can be used when
the drives are behind the VMD controllers as well as after a RAID configuration has been created. For more
detailed information on how to update the firmware on the Intel NVMe drives using the Intel* SSD Data
Center Tool, refer to Appendix B.
2.4 PCIe switches and retimers
Intel recommends having the latest firmware installed on the PCIe switches and ensuring that the BMC is
aware of such cards. If the SUP (mentioned in Section 2.1) was applied after the cards were installed, then
the BMC is already aware. In other cases, or if the cards were moved to a different PCIe slot, the BMC needs
to be made aware of such changes by booting the system into the EFI shell and running the
sdr_update_noprompt.nsh script. This script is part of the SUP.
When PCIe switches are used, it’s the switch firmware who handles the drive LED management, in other
words, who handles the locate, fault and rebuild LEDs. LED management is handled in a different way when
VMD is enabled than when VMD disabled.
LED management is set to VMD disabled by default but since VMD must be enabled in order to have Intel®
VROC, it must be set to VMD enabled the first time the PCIe switch is installed. This setting is persistent, so
the it only needs to be set once. Intel provides an LED Management toggle tool to change this setting.