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Intel® VROC Quick Configuration Guide 

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 
s

dr_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. 

Содержание VROC

Страница 1: ...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 ...

Страница 2: ...2 Blank page ...

Страница 3: ...ate 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 ...

Страница 4: ...y 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 ...

Страница 5: ...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...

Страница 6: ...is 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...

Страница 7: ...ng 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 ...

Страница 8: ...Intel VROC Quick Configuration Guide 3 Blank page ...

Страница 9: ...d 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...

Страница 10: ...ts 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...

Страница 11: ...rsa excepting for the Linux OS If the system BIOS version is updating while the prior BIOS version has a newer RSTe NVMe UEFI driver embedded the RSTe OS driver must be updated first Note On a system with the Windows OS installed and an Intel VROC virtual drive present the Windows RSTe OS driver version must not be prior to the RSTe NVMe UEFI driver version otherwise unexpected behavior may happen...

Страница 12: ... Linux driver version required 00 01 0004 5 2 1 1001 6 0 0 1357 or later 5 4 or later 00 01 0009 5 2 1 1001 6 0 0 1357 or later 5 4 or later 00 01 0012 5 3 0 1052 6 0 0 1357 or later 5 4 or later 00 01 0013 5 3 0 1052 6 0 0 1357 or later 5 4 or later 00 01 0014 5 4 0 1039 6 0 0 1357 or later 5 4 or later 00 01 0015 5 4 0 1039 6 0 0 1357 or later 5 4 or later 00 01 0016 5 5 0 1028 6 0 0 1357 or lat...

Страница 13: ...ting Note Intel VMD ports routed to specific chipset uplinks cannot be used for Intel VROC VMD NVMe RAID configurations There are two different ways to connect NVMe drives to Intel VMD ports 1 NVMe drives connect directly to VMD ports in a 1 1 fashion when using the onboard Oculink ports or by using PCIe retimers Each NVMe drive then uses four dedicated PCIe lanes providing full bandwidth to each ...

Страница 14: ...Steps to enter the Volume Management Device Port Window Example A If an R2000WF system is being used and four NVMe drives are being connected to the four onboard Oculink connectors VMD ports 3A 3B 3C and 3D must be enabled Figure 3 VMD port Example A ...

Страница 15: ... on riser two VMD ports 1C and 1D must be enabled Figure 4 VMD port Example B Note If a retimer is used a x16 slot is required and all four VMD ports must be enabled Refer to the corresponding motherboard s TPS for supported riser and slot combinations Once the appropriate Intel VMD ports are enabled the system must be rebooted for the changes to take effect ...

Страница 16: ...The proper Intel VMD ports must be enabled and the system rebooted to have the Intel VROC VMD NVMe RAID HII visible Access the HII configuration utility by entering BIOS Setup and selecting the following menu options in order 1 Advanced 2 PCI Configuration 3 UEFI Option ROM Control 4 Intel Virtual RAID on CPU Figure 5 Steps to access the Intel VROC HII configuration utility 4 2 Creating RAID Volum...

Страница 17: ...alled Upgrade Key and the configured Intel VROC RAID volumes if any 2 Select All Intel VMD Controllers The Intel VROC managed VMD menu will appear showing all Intel VMD controllers with their corresponding NVME drives Figure 6 Intel VROC Managed VMD menu 3 Select Create RAID Volume The Create RAID Volume menu will appear Figure 7 Create RAID Volume menu ...

Страница 18: ...ent VMD controllers then select the drives that will be used for the chosen RAID level The resulting capacity of the volume defaults to the maximum available for the selected drives but may be decreased by the user Note Spanned RAID volumes cannot be made bootable Figure 8 Completed Create RAID Volume menu 5 Once the required fields are populated select Create Volume 6 Once the RAID volume is crea...

Страница 19: ...Intel VROC Quick Configuration Guide 14 Figure 9 Intel VROC Managed VMD menu 7 Exit the HII Configuration Utility by pressing F10 and reboot Then proceed to the Operating System installation ...

Страница 20: ...Quick Configuration Guide 15 Appendix A Glossary Term Definition Intel RSTe Intel Rapid Storage Technology enterprise NVMe NVM Express Intel VMD Intel Volume Management Devices Intel VROC Intel Virtual RAID on CPU ...

Страница 21: ...nstalled NVMe drives will be listed along with information like serial number model number firmware version index number etc see Figure 10 If the firmware needs to be updated this will be indicated in the FirmwareUpdateAvailable field showing the available version Figure 10 List of Intel NVMe drives shown by the isdct tool 3 Take note of the Index number for all the drives requiring the firmware u...

Страница 22: ...nfiguration Guide 17 5 Repeat step 4 for all the drives requiring the update 6 Reboot the system For more information pertaining to the SSD data center tool refer to the Intel Solid State Drive Data Center Tool User Guide ...

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