New Features Introduced with the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) 7.5 Release for Windows*

The following information lists the new features introduced with the Intel® VROC 7.5 release for Windows*. To learn about the latest updates of Intel® VROC for Windows*, refer to the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) Release Notes for Windows*.

Intel® Volume Management Device (Intel® VMD) 2.0

Increasing MSIX Vectors to 64

Intel® VROC 7.5 introduces support for configurations that can support 64 MSIX vectors. On platforms that support Intel® VMD 1.0, the MSIX support is limited to 32 MSIX vectors. For these platforms (Intel® VMD 1.0), a single Intel® VMD domain can support up to 24 NVMe* drives. This means that those 24 NVMe* drives will share a single Intel® VMD MSIX vector. As the number of vectors, in newer NVMe* devices, increase beyond 32, this can result in a platform performance impact. With the introduction of Intel® VMD 2.0, and Intel® VROC 7.5, this limit increases to 64 MSIX vectors which should help to alleviate this problem. This is because the average dual socket server will have between 48 and 64 cores, which limits the number of MSIX vectors on a given NVMe* drive to 64, for optimal usage.

Intel® VMD (PCH) Support

Intel® VROC 7.5 introduces support for the Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) management of NVMe* drives connected to the Platform Controller Hub (PCH). Utilizing the Flex-IO capabilities of the PCH, Intel® VMD 2.0 technology can now take ownership of two of the slots allowing Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) to control and manage the NVMe* drives attached to those slots. This is accomplished by utilizing the Function Level Assignment of the PCH PCI functions. Utilizing the BIOS setup menus, the user will be able to enable Intel® VMD on the designated slots, or PCH functions (depending on the BIOS implementation) and the PCH functions will be reassigned to an Intel® VMD (PCH) controller. To be able to accomplish this, there must be NVMe* drives present on the slot(s) and the slots used must support Slot Implemented Capabilities. Otherwise, Intel® VMD (PCH) cannot be enabled.

When this feature is fully enabled, it will reassign sSATA ports 2-5 to be PCIe lanes managed by Intel® VMD (PCH). This is translated into PCIe root ports 8-11 and Flex I/O ports 14-17. The general configuration is 2 - X2 PCIe lanes.

This feature is intended for supporting a simple RAID 1 boot volume using two NVMe* drives attached directly to the PCH. However, if the platform supports expanded configurations, using retimer or switch Add-In-Cards (AIC), full Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) support can be obtained. Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) was only validated with two NVMe* drives directly attached to the PCH. Any configurations beyond two directly attached NVMe* drives is not recommended.

With this new functionality, when Intel® VMD is enabled, a dummy function/device will be seen in the Windows* Device Manager as a Yellow Bang. This function is the result of a PCIe requirement for a device with multiple functions. Once the Intel® VROC installation process is complete this dummy function/device will be hidden in the list of system functions.

Intel® VMD (PCH) Pre-OS Support

Intel® VMD (PCH) Pre-OS support is included in the Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) Pre-OS images, which is part of the Intel® VROC release package. There are no other Pre-OS images required.

Intel® VMD (PCH) Pass-Thru Boot Support

Intel® VROC 7.5 provides Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) Pre-OS support for NVMe* drives attached to the PCH when Intel® VMD (PCH) is enabled. This will allow an operating system to be installed onto and boot from an NVMe* device managed by Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID). No Intel® VROC upgrade key is required to utilize this feature.

Intel® VMD (PCH) RAID Boot Support

Intel® VROC 7.5 provides Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) Pre-OS support for NVMe* drives attached to the PCH when Intel® VMD (PCH) is enabled. When an Intel® VROC upgrade key is present and Intel® VMD (PCH) is enabled, the user will be able to use the Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) Pre-OS HII to setup and manage a RAID volume using the NVMe* drives attached to the PCH. This will allow an operating system to be installed onto and boot from an Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) volume attached to Intel® VMD (PCH).

Intel® VMD (PCH) RAID Data Volume Spanning

Once Intel® VMD (PCH) is enabled, Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) will treat it like any other Intel® VMD controller. Spanning data RAID volumes are supported as they are currently outlined in the User Guides for Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC). This applies to the Intel® VROC Pre-OS tools, and the Intel® VROC Graphical User Interface (GUI) and Command-Line Interface (CLI) utilities. The option to span Intel® VMD controllers is supported, but not recommended.

• This configuration is supported but not recommended due to a performance penalty using the PCH.
• Boot volume spanning is not supported. All devices used to create a boot volume must reside on the same controller (Intel® VMD controller domain or SATA controller).

Intel® VMD (PCH) Designations

The Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) management tools (Pre-OS tools, Intel® VROC Graphical User Interface (GUI) and Command-Line Interface (CLI) utilities) are used to manage devices attached to the Intel® VMD (PCH) controller, the corresponding information displayed will indicate PCH with any device or controller associated with Intel® VMD (PCH).

Intel® VMD (PCH) Hot-Plug Support

Intel® VROC does not support hot-plug when NVMe* drives are attached to the Intel® VMD (PCH) controller.

Number of Intel® VMD Domains Increased

Intel® VMD 2.0 technology increased the number of PCIe lanes controlled by Intel® VMD from 48 to 64. This, along with the Intel® VMD (PCH) support, increases the total amount of Intel® VMD domains to 5.  

• 4 Intel® VMD domains off the CPU
• 1 Intel® VMD domain of the PCH (Intel® VMD (PCH))

Native PCIe Enclosure Management (NPEM)

Intel® VROC 7.5 introduces support for the Native PCIe Encloser Management (NPEM) standard for LED management in a PCIe 4.0 based environment. This capability is discoverable in each switch-downstream-port. If it is discovered to be present, the Intel® VROC LED utility will use NPEM control, capability, and status registers to visually indicate the various drive and volume states.

Limited Out-of-Band (OOB) Support

Intel® VROC 7.5 introduces limited OOB support.

Limited Self-Encrypting Drives (SED) Support

Intel® VROC 7.5 introduces SED key management support. The implementation of key management is only in the UEFI environment but allows secure booting with SED drives into all Intel® VROC operating system environments.

Intel® VROC 7.5 Graphical User Interface (GUI) UWD Upgrade Limitations

Due to some updates required by the Intel® VROC 7.5 GUI utility, a platform with Intel® VROC 7.0 based drivers or Intel® VROC 6.x based drivers will not be able to upgrade to the Intel® VROC 7.5 GUI utility, from the Microsoft* App Store, until after the drivers have been updated. This is due to the potential of not being able to properly manage the Intel® VROC RAID volumes already established in the system after the upgrade. Once the platform is upgraded to the Intel® VROC 7.5 drivers, the Intel® VROC GUI utility can be updated.

Intel® VROC 7.5 Command-Line Interface (CLI)

The Intel® VROC 7.5 CLI utility now supports the creation of a RAID volume size down to two digits after the decimal point.

Unsupported Drives

When an unsupported drive is encountered by the Intel® VROC 7.5 Graphical User Interface (GUI) and/or Command-Line Interface (CLI) utilities, the displayed information will show the usage as Pass Through.