Intel's reply to me concerning VROC, non-intel drives & bootable RAID 0

[brighttail]

Greetings,

There has been a tonne of information on the x299 platform and the questions around VROC.  Looking around the internet I have seen people use both Intel NVMe and non-Intel NVMes with cards like the Asus Hyper m.2 x16 to create RAID arrays.  While using the non-intel drives like the Samsung 960 Pro was able to create a VROC RAID 0 drive with sequential reads of over 13k, it was not able to be used as a bootable drive.  The Intel drives were much slower but were seen in the BIOS and were able to boot using a RAID 0 array.

 

Looking at Intel's own product details on the issue to find more information, I found a list of NVMe drives that have been tested and approved for VROC:

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-briefs/virtual-raid-on-cpu-vroc-product-brief.pdf

 

It looks like many of the OEM drives like the Samsung sm951/961 are listed but this page also lists that it is open only to the XEON product platform.  A little more digging shows that the x299 platform has the required Intel VMD and we see that even the Samsung 960 Pros can be used to create a non-bootable  VROC RAID 0 drive with some impressive seq read numbers here:

https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Intel-VROC-Tested-X299-VROC-vs-Z270-RST-Quad-Optane-vs-Quad-960-PRO

 

Of course this all leads to can a consumer not using an Intel SSD be able to use VROC to create a bootable RAID drive?  Short answer from Intel, "Yes."

According to the questions answered below what is required is mainly a VROC Key. As shown in the data sheet:

 

Intel VROC is a licensed product for sale through OEMs or ODMs with a support service level agreement. The Intel VOC hardware key is the mechanism to obtain a license to the Intel VROC software. Certain OEMs/ODM have built servers and workstations that support Intel VROC by adding a key header to their motherboards. You must insert the Intel VROC hardware key into that motherboard to enable the RAID license. Each system only needs one key.

 

So if you have a Standard VROC key, you can have a bootable drive and use RAID 0,1,10.  To do Raid 5 you need the Premium key.   Technically you need an approved M.2 as well, which at this time isl limited to:

3rd party SSDs Samsung* SM951, SM961, PM953, PM961,Toshiba* XG3, Micron* 9100, Lenovo* Atsani and Huawei* ES3600

 

In motherboard BIOS from manufactures like Asus there is actually a place in the BIOS to change a PCI-e land to use VROC.  In Asus' case you can do a single M.2 using VROC or their Asus Hyper m.2 x16 to use VROC or standard. 

 

So ideally if you have an Intel Standard Key Dongle, an approved third-party SSD, an x299 compatible motherboard and an acceptable PCI-e card, a bootable RAID array using VROC is perfectly capable.

 

Listed below is the support ticket from Intel.  The equipment I told him I had was an Asus Rampage 6 Extreme motherboard, 2 Samsung Sm961 M.2 SSDs and an Asus Hyper m.2 x16 card.  All I need is the dongle it seems.

 

Andres from Intel Support responded Today 08:51 AM
Hello,

Thank you for contacting Intel Customer Support.

We received your information and we will be more than glad to assist you with this VROC inquiry. In this case, we would like to acknowledge the questions from the previous interaction:

If I use two or more Samsung SM961 M.2s, can I use VROC to create a RAID 0 array?
Yes, you will be able to create the RAID with VROC under the correct hardware configuration, as these SM961 have been already tested and documented as compatible

Do I have to buy a standard dongle key for this?
You can buy the Standard or the Premium Key

Will I be able to make this VROC RAID 0 array bootable?
Yes, you can create bootable RAID 0/1/10 with both Standard or Premium keys

What would I need to do to make a bootable array using VROC with these drives?
It seems you already have the configuration to create the array without problems, but please remember that you will need the key to create the RAID

Please let us know if you have any other question or comment in regards of the information provided. We will be waiting for your reply.

Regards,

[The Benjamins]

It is nice to see that we are getting more info about NVME RAID, but I still think needing a key is silly.

[brighttail]

I'm okay with that paying an extra fee.  First off it is a technology that wasn't really meant for the consumer side, but we now have motherboards that have the capability to use it.  Thus it prevents the enterprise business to 'cheap out' and buy an i9 rather than their Xeon. 

Paying for extras is common place now with Intel.  Paying a bit extra for the unlocked "k" or "x" CPUS anyone?

 

Having to pay a premium to use this because we choose to NOT use Intel products is fine by me.  $79-89 isn't that much of an added cost to someone on this platform. At least they have given us access to it.

 

LOL.
I just got a note from the Intel rep saying that he could "not guarantee results on the x299. While the i9's have the same controllers on the chip as xeon it has not been thoroughly tested."

So sounds like, "It will probably work but ya never know and we won't guarantee it but go ahead and buy the dongle and try it!"

[TahoeDust]

So where can one acquire these “keys”?

[brighttail]

Good question. I haven't seen any.

[brighttail]

UPDATE 2: Very sorry for the confusion but the Intel rep emailed me again today to say there was confusion on his part. He said that VROC for non-Intel drives will ONLY work on XEON based platforms.

"In regards to the Key you'll need to use the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU – Intel SSD Only Key (VROCISSDMOD Key) to enable VROC on X299 Platforms; also, VROC on X299 Platforms currently supports only Intel SSDs, to support Non-Intel SSDs such as the specified Samsung* SM961 you'll need to use one of our Xeon based Server Platforms. "

This is a complete 180 from where he was the other day. Also to point out, if you want to use VROC even WITH an Intel SSD you are going to need a key for it as well. *** Intel. It isn't enough to screw third-party SSD owners but you are also screwing Intel SSD owners? Considering the lack of clear documentation and the contradicting statements within those documents, I honestly believe that Intel themselves has no idea what this VROC can/cannot do.

You know what someone is going to do, they are going to get a hold of an earlier version of RST where VROC worked without an expiration date and release that as a download or use it to hack it.

So in summation, it all works nicely on the XEON platform but if you spend 2k on a flagship CPU on the x299 you still can't use VROC unless you buy the inferior Intel M.2s I didn't know that a valid business plan was to screw with your loyal customers, if it wasn't taking PCI-e lanes it is requiring Intel only devices to do something already available on another platform. I have to seriously wonder what the whole point of this x299 platform was, except to give users many reasons to run off to AMD's Threadripper.

I probably now have an Asus hyper x16 that I won't need and probably have to sell.
 

[m3tropolo]

We're end 2018 now, how's it doing? Any news?