Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) is an enterprise RAID solution that unleashes the performance of NVMe* SSDs. Intel® VROC is enabled by a feature in Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors called Intel® Volume Management Device (Intel® VMD), an integrated controller inside the CPU PCIe root complex. NVMe SSDs are directly connected to the CPU, allowing the full performance potential of fast storage devices to be realized. Intel® VROC enables these benefits without the complexity, cost, and power consumption of traditional hardware RAID host bus adapter (HBA) cards placed between the drives and the CPU.
The release of Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) 6.0 (launched in 2019) includes the consolidation of the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (Intel® RSTe) and Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) product names. Only the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) name will remain and include all functionality. The Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (Intel® RSTe) name will no longer be used.
What changed? | Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) and Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (Intel® RSTe) were previously related products in the same product family. The SATA RAID portion of the product family was called Intel® RSTe and the NVMe* RAID portion was called Intel® VROC. However, starting in 2019, with the launch of Intel® VROC 6.0, the Intel® RSTe name was removed, and all RAID solutions in this product family were branded as Intel® VROC. The SATA functionality remains, but is now branded as Intel® VROC (SATA RAID). Intel® RSTe is no longer a referenced product by Intel. The name may still appear in some legacy products, but all new references will solely use the Intel® VROC nomenclature. |
Starting with Intel® VROC 6.0, the Intel® VROC package will consist of three sub-products within the same software solution. The hardware will determine which subset is enabled:
The Intel® VROC software installer will automatically detect the hardware (CPU/chipset) present on a system and enable the applicable sub-product.
RAID for NVMe* SSDs connected to Intel® VMD PCIe* lanes.
RAID for SATA SSDs or HDDs connected to the PCH.
RAID for NVMe* SSDs connected to a CPU that does not have Intel® VMD technology.
Platforms with Intel® VMD Technology | Platforms with Intel® VMD technology present but not enabled at the platform/OEM level will not have access to the feature set of Intel® VROC (NonVMD NVMe* RAID). |