SupremeRAID for NVMe RAID

SupremeRAID is a software defined solution for the use of SSDs, especially for NVMes, in a RAID compound. The software is installed on dedicated GPUs and works largely independent of the performance of the CPU. As SupremeRAID only gets delivered with the corresponding GPUs, it can be defined as RAID-Controller.

SupremeRAID supports up to 32 physical drives.

Function

Picture 1: Logical SupremeRAID Stack.

There are three logical components in a SupremeRAID: physical data carriers, drive groups and virtual data carriers. Drive Groups are formed from the data carriers natively present in the system or connected via NVMe-oF, a logical unit consisting of several data carriers. They are represented in the RAID compound of the operating system as Virtual Drives.

Physical drive

As NVMe drives are not connected directly to the SupremeRAID controller, the controller must be informed, which SSDs can be managed.

As soon as a SSD is created as physical drive, the SupremeRAID driver releases the connection of the SSD to the operating system.

A corresponding device node is created by the SupremeRAID driver at the same time. The SSD information, for example the SSD model or SMART protocols, can be verified via this device node.

Drive Groups

The main component of the RAID logic is a RAID-Group. The SupremeRAID driver initializes the physical drives with the corresponding RAID mode during the creation of the Drive Group. This ensures the synchronisation of the data and the parity.

There are two ways for the initialization:

1. Fast initialization: If all physical drives in the Drive Group support the administrative order de-allocate dataset, the SupremeRAID driver performs a Fast Initialization by default. This optimizes the state of the Drive Group immediately.
2. Background initialization: This kind of initialization is performed in the background. The performance is slightly impaired, but virtual data carriers can be created and accessed during the procedure.

SupremeRAID supports 4 (Windows) resp. 8 (Linux) Drive Groups with maximal 32 physical data carriers per Drive Group.

Virtual Drive

The Virtual Drive corresponds to a RAID volume. More Virtual Drives in the same Drive Group for different applications can be created.

Furthermore, it is possible to create the file system or the running application directly on the device node.

The SupremeRAID driver supports currently maximum 8 (Windows) resp. 1023 (Linux) Virtual Drives in every Drive Group.

Operating systems

SupremeRAID is compatible with Windows and Windows server operating system as well as with different Linux distributions. There is a list of all supporting operating systems (Stand 03.2025):

Windows

The following versions are supported:

• Windows 11
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

An updated list of all supported Windows versions can be found on the website of the manufacturer.

Linux

The following distributions are supported:

• AlmaLinux 8 / 9
• CentOS 7 / 8
• Debian 11 / 12
• openSUSE Leap 15
• Oracle Linux 8 / 9
• SLES 15
• RHEL 7 / 8 / 9
• Rocky Linux 8 / 9
• Ubuntu 20.04 / 22.04 / 24.04

An updated list of all supported distributions can be found on the website of the manufacturer.

Installation

Detailed instructions for the installation can be found here:

• Installation of SupremeRAID on Windows server operating systems
• Installation of SupremeRAID on Linux operating systems

hint: SupremeRAID can only be used for storage media. The use of boot media does not work!

Models

The SupremeRAID software is only usable with the GPUs that are intended only for you. There are GPUs or NVIDIA used as RAID controller.

In the following, you will find the software and hardware specifications of the different SupremeRAID models:

		SR-1001-FD08	SR-1001-FD12	SR-1000	SR-1000-AM	SR-1010	SR-1010-AD
GPU specifications
model		NVIDIA T400		NVIDIA T1000	NVIDIA A1000	NVIDIA A2000	NVIDIA 2000 Ada
host port		PCIe Gen. 3.0 x16			PCIe Gen 4.0 x8	PCIe Gen 4.0 x16	PCIe Gen. 4.0 x8
maximal power consumption (in W)		30		50		70
form factors (H x L)		2,713" x 6,137"			2,7" x 6,4"	2,713" x 6,6"	2,7" x 6,6"
slots		single slot				dual slot
software specifications
supported RAID levels		RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
maximal number of data carriers		32
maximal number NVMe		8	12	32
maximal Drive Groups	Linux	8
	Windows	4
maximal virtual data carrier per Drive Group	Linux	1023
	Windows	8
supported platforms		AMD, ARM (only Ubuntu), Intel
supported virtualisation environments		KVM, Proxmox VE, Virtuozzo OpenVZ, Windows Server Hyper-V

Further information

• Operating instructions for Linux distributions: SupremeRAID Linux User Guide (download.graidtech.com, 03.2025)
• Operating instructions for Windows installations: SupremeRAID Windows User Guide (download.graidtech.com, 03.2025)
• Link to Windows Silent Installation: Windows Silent Installation (docs.graidtech.com, 03.2025)

References

Author: Stefan Bohn Stefan Bohn has been employed at Thomas-Krenn.AG since 2020. Originally based in PreSales as a consultant for IT solutions, he moved to Product Management in 2022. There he dedicates himself to knowledge transfer and also drives the Thomas-Krenn Wiki.