Hi Intel Does the S1200PLR mainboard support bifurcation? I have a Super Micro PCIe x8 card that supports 2 x M.2 NVME drives. I have tried all slots and I can only see one of the NVME drives connected. Thanks

[SergioS_Intel]

Hello JPace2, The Intel® Server Board S1200SPLR does not support bifurcation, you can find more information on the features on this board here: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/S1200SP_TPS_AllSKU.PDF Best regards, Sergio S. Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit :https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[JPace2]

Hi Sergio

Apparently it is possible to activate with a change to the EFI firmware? Can this be done? There aren't any other boards of this type available from intel with bifurication and I would really like to be able free up PCIe Slots. I require to install 2x high speed M.2 drives to enhance my storage spaces array.

I hope this is something that you guys can do.

Thanks

[SergioS_Intel]

Hello JPace2, Upon checking with our upper-level support is not possible to activate bifurcation via a firmware update. We do apologize for this inconvenience. Best regards, Sergio S. Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit :https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[SergioS_Intel]

Hello JPace2, We are following your question and would like to know if you need more assistance Best regards, Sergio S. Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit :https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[JPace2]

There isn't really much more you can do mate. It's a shame they don't support bifurcation because it is a server board and using multiple NVMe drives are becoming a needed option. Especially with caching acceleration for file servers etc.

[SBlitz]

Hi,

Using a switch-based NVMe HBA can solve this issue I believe. See here: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/124457/4-port-pcie-gen3-x8-switch-aic-axxp3swx08040.html

[Emeth_O_Intel]

Hi,

Thank you for the information provided.

If you have any other question, please do not hesitate and contact us back and we will be more than happy to assist you.

Regards,

Emeth O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[SergioS_Intel]

Hello JPace2,

We apologize for this inconvenience and we appreciate your feedback on this matter.

Feel free to contact us back in case you need further help.

Best regards,

Sergio S.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporation

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit :https://intel.com/support/serverbios