C621A RAID functionality

[user279051]

I'm investigating the capabilities of a third party motherboard (ASMB-816-00A1) regarding built-in RAID operation. Its user manual points towards intel.com website to find "Intel Rapid Storage Technology enterprise for Microsoft Windows Operating System Software
User's Guide". The newest one I could find using google search is https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/motherboards/server/sb/g40440_005_rste_swug_r1_5.pdf but it applies to a discontinued C600 chipset family (C602...C608). How do I find a similar document but for C621A chipset? With intel's search I can't find any documentation on C621A at all except Material Declaration and RoHS Declaration.

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello displayName5,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

Your query will be best answered by our VROC support team. We will help you to move this post to the designated team to further assist you.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician  

[Edwin_A_Intel]

Hello user279051,

Thank you for posting on the Intel Community Support Forum.

I received your ticket regarding the capabilities of a third-party motherboard (ASMB-816-00A1) for built-in RAID operation, and I will be assisting you with this.

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 Q1 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.

Please visit: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000055059.html

With that being said, please let me inform you that Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) is a platform-connected application that relies on platform-level integration to work. Therefore, platform manufacturers do a lot of work to get Intel VROC operational on their platforms, and each platform implementation may be slightly different with different dependencies.

For example, platform manufacturers can choose to omit certain Intel VROC features that would impact their Intel VROC installation. Or, platform manufacturers could integrate Intel VROC features into their own storage software solutions which would cause dependencies unknown to Intel.

We strongly suggest contacting the third-party motherboard manufacturer (ASMB-816-00A1) to confirm the system's capabilities with the Intel® VROC.

Please let us know if you need any further assistance. I will follow up on March 8th.

[user279051]

So I should be searching for VROC documentation instead of RSTe documentation? Can I assume that https://downloadmirror.intel.com/713033/Windows_VROC_7.7_User_Guide-338065-013US.pdf is the up-to-date replacement of https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/motherboards/server/sb/g40440_005_rste_swug_r1_5.pdf ?

[Edwin_A_Intel]

Hello user279051,

Thank you for your response.

You are correct. The VROC 7.7 User guide is an up-to-date replacement. However, some vendors acquired the Intel® VROC as it was when the product was consolidated, and we are not certain if they followed the change and remove the Intel RSTe as well, altering all the support it involves.

As mentioned before the name may still appear in some legacy products, but all new references will solely use the Intel VROC nomenclature.

To confirm the correct documents you need to look for, contact the system's manufacturer as the best point of contact.

Please let us know if you need any further assistance. I will follow up on March 8th.

[user279051]

Sadly Advantech is not communicating well on this issue so I'll have to switch to another motherboard manufacturer I guess. Let me check one more thing though. The main feature I need from onboard RAID is Auto Rebuild on Hot Insert. However when compared to 2013 RSTe User Guide, Auto Rebuild on Hot Insert feature seems missing in 2021 VROC User Guide.

2013 guide page 8:

Intel RSTe supports the ability to initiate an automatic RAID rebuild when a physical disk of the appropriate size is hot inserted into the same directly attached port that the failed drive was removed from.

2021 guide page 65:

If there is no available disk present, the user will need to power off the user’s computer and connect a new NVMe or SATA disk [...]

Can you clarify if Auto Rebuild on Hot Insert is still supported by VROC (SATA RAID), or was it removed at some point between 2013 and 2021?

[Edwin_A_Intel]

Hello user279051,

Thank you for your reply.

We are really sad to hear about that.

Please let me inform you that the Auto Rebuild on Hot Insert will be supported on the latest version of Intel® VROC. There are some limitations that you need to consider.

Please refer yourself to Intel® VROC 7.6 for Windows User Guide, page#11.

https://downloadmirror.intel.com/713033/Windows_VROC_7.7_User_Guide-338065-013US.pdf

The hot swap feature has been fully tested on Intel-branded systems. Bear in mind that this feature is most related to the hardware and compatibility of it to run with hot swap options (backplanes, drives, etc.)

The statement found on the 2021 guide, page #65, is related to degraded volumes which do not have a spare drive assigned to them.

In those cases, it is required to power off the system and connect a new NVMe or SATA disk to start the rebuilding process.

Please let us know if you need any further assistance. We will follow up on March 8th.

[user279051]

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Please let me inform you that the Auto Rebuild on Hot Insert will be supported on the latest version of Intel® VROC.

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Will be supported, as in "some time in the future", or is supported right now?

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Please refer yourself to Intel® VROC 7.6 for Windows User Guide, page#11.

https://downloadmirror.intel.com/713033/Windows_VROC_7.7_User_Guide-338065-013US.pdf

I don't think this is relevant to me, since section 3.8 on page 11 refers exclusively to Intel VROC (VMD NVMe RAID), which is a separate product from Intel VROC (SATA RAID) which I'm interested in.

---

The hot swap feature has been fully tested on Intel-branded systems.

---

I'd like to see this documented somewhere, seems not to be a part of latest User Guide, is there some other document that confirms this?

The statement found on the 2021 guide, page #65, is related to degraded volumes which do not have a spare drive assigned to them.

In those cases, it is required to power off the system and connect a new NVMe or SATA disk to start the rebuilding process.

---

What you are describing here, is a spare drive that has been connected to the SATA controller beforehand, so in case of RAID member failure it will be ready to be rebuilt into without powering off the system. This is not what I'm after. I'm looking for Auto Rebuild on Hot Insert feature, which implies that first the RAID degrades, and after that the user connects a drive to a working system without powering it off.

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, snowmanjack.

Thank you for taking the time to mark the thread as resolved.

The thread will be closed right now, and it will no longer be monitored by Intel support, but if you require any type of assistance from Intel in the future, just open a new thread, or contact us using any of the available support methods:

- https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-intel.html

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[BrusC_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello, user279051.

Good day,

I have been reviewing your thread and I will like to offer the following clarification.

Yes, Intel VROC does offer rebuild on hot insert functionality for both SATA and NVMe disk, this functionality has not been removed.

Please review the following:

The "Auto rebuild on hot insert" feature is disabled by default in Windows operating system and must be enabled via the VROC user interface (GUI).

To enable "Auto rebuild on hot insert":

1. Start the Intel Virtual RAID on CPU GUI application (run as administrator): Start Menu -> All Programs -> Intel-> Intel Virtual RAID on CPU.

2. In the “Devices” pane, select the controller that contains the RAID member disks (or the drives used to create the RAID volume).

3. In the “Controller Properties” pane, look for “Rebuild on hot insert” and select “Enable”

or “Disable”. 

Please note:

• Rebuild on hot insert works only if Windows has not been restarted after the original drive failed or was removed.
• The new disk inserted must meet the minimum size requirements of the original disk and the array.
• The remaining healthy member disks are of the same type of drive (NVMe/SATA).
• The newly inserted disk is healthy (no recorded SMART event).
• All data from the newly inserted disk will be completely erased.

I will continue monitoring this thread and will follow up March 8th in case you have more questions.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician