Configuration of Intel VROC (VMD NVMe RAID) 8.0

This article explains how to create a Raid with a Vroc Key via Nvmes that are directly connected per PCIE on the mainboard. These can be actual PICE NVmes, as in the example, or NVmes that are connected to the motherboard via cables.

Hardware used

For the creation of a Raid, a Supermicro mainboard with a Vroc key (VROCPREMMOD) and two installed 6,4 TB Samsung PM1735 PCI-E NVMe SSD are used.

Intel® VROC hardware key /VROC KEY

This key is a scalable and company-wide RAID solution for the NVMe-SSDs that are directly connected to the CPU.

The Intel® VROC hardware key is a mechanism to obtain a license for the Intel® VROC software. For this purpose, there is a key header on the motherboard onto which the key can be plugged. The Intel® VROC hardware key must be inserted into the mainboard to activate the RAID license. There is only one key necessary per system (means per server or per workstation).

Instructions - BIOS settings

First, you have to activate the respective PCIe slots in the VMD configuration before a RAID can be created via NVMEs

Switch to the Chipset configuration
select North Bridge
select IOO configuration
select Intel VMD technology
NVme Mode switch to Manual ⇾ then select Intel VMD volume management
enable PCIE slots and the store and restart

Instructions - Creation of Raid

After restarting, you can then create the RAID in the Intel VMD controller, as you may already be familiar with from Intel RAIDs.

Intel VMD controller / Create Raid volume
select Raid level and hard drives
create Raid
The Raid has been successfully created
delete Raid volume info and Raid

References

Author: Leo Dirr

Leo Dirr joined Thomas-Krenn in 2018 to work in technical support. At the moment Leo is specializing in Windows Server, Software-Defined technologies and networking.

Translator: Alina Ranzinger

Alina has been working at Thomas-Krenn.AG since 2024. After her training as multilingual business assistant, she got her job as assistant of the Product Management and is responsible for the translation of texts and for the organisation of the department.