Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) SKUs and Licensing
Content Type: Product Codes & Spare Parts | Article ID: 000097217 | Last Reviewed: 02/18/2025
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.
Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) is enabled on a platform through a license mechanism that is implemented by the platform provider. The license SKU used mainly impacts the RAID levels available. Intel® VROC supports the below feature sets (SKUs) that requires a licensing mechanism to activate. You can also consult the Data Sheet: Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) SKUs and Licensing Summary.
| Consult with your platform provider | Purchase the proper licensing from your platform provider. Consult with the platform provider for their specific licensing details. |
Intel® VROC offers basic functionality included with the Platform Controller Hub (PCH) with the option to add three RAID enabled feature sets (Standard, Premium, RAID1 Only).
| Features | Pass-Thru (included with PCH) | Standard SKU | Premium SKU | RAID1 Only SKU | |
| Intel® VMD | Hot-Plug | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fault Isolation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| LED Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) Key Management | No | No | Yes | No | |
| NVMe* RAID | Bootable RAID | No | Yes | Yes | RAID 1 Only |
| RAID 0/1/10 | No | Yes | Yes | RAID 1 Only | |
| RAID 5 | No | No | Yes | No | |
| SATA RAID1 | SATA RAID on PCH
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
1 No licensing is needed for Intel® VROC (SATA RAID). Functionality is included with the Intel® Xeon® and chipset purchase.
2 After the Intel® NAND business was acquired by SK Hynix* (Solidigm*), the Intel® VROC Intel SSD Only SKU was removed from this list. See more details in Announcement : End-of-Life (EOL) for the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) Hardware Key “Intel SSD Only”.
The following licensing options are offered as mechanisms to acquire Intel® VROC licenses.
A hardware key inserted into a motherboard header to enable the desired Intel® VROC feature set. See more information in What Is the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) Hardware Key?.
There are two hardware keys available: Standard and Premium.
| SKU | Item Name | Item Description |
| Standard | VROCSTANMOD | Intel® VROC Standard SKU (RAID 0/1/10) |
| Premium | VROCPREMMOD | Intel® VROC Premium SKU (RAID 0/1/5/10) |
The Standard and Premium upgrade keys enable the use of Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) features on Intel and approved third-party NVMe* drives. Intel® VROC Pass-Thru is the default state, where no upgrade key has been plugged into the system and can be upgraded based on the features desired. These features are also restricted to approved operating systems for proper operational functionality. See more information in Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) Supported Configurations.
| Looking for hardware key installation instructions? | Refer to the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) Hardware Key Installation Guide for instructions on how to install the Intel® VROC hardware key in the server board. |