Samsung VROC compatability

[celticbrooder]

 I have searched through much of the Intel forums, and internet, but could not find a specific answer;

I am unclear as to what a Samsung "PM961" and/or Samsung "SM961" is

(Samsung uses different marketing/naming conventions)

(understand "SM"-series higher grade than "PM"-series?)

2 PCs on hand:

Lenovo ThinkStation P720 (type 30BB) - Dual XEON Gold 6148

Lenovo ThinkStation P520 (type 30BF) - single Xeon W-2125

Intent is RAID 10 for both machines.

Also: (Currently for P520)ASUS HYPER M.2 X16 Gen 4 Card ("HBA")

4 @ Crucial 1TB E100 NVMe (CT 100E100SSD8C) – (Currently installed in ASUS HBA/ P520)

4 @ 1TB Intel 660P NVMe drives -  (Can be moved to ASUS HBA/P520)

4 @samsung 2TB EVO 870 SATA SSDs (Currently installed in P720)

2 @ Samsung 2TB 990 PRO NVME drives (Currently in use in P720)

(The 990 PRO drives are currently in use, but I can purchase 2 more in order to fulfill this goal)

I have 2 VROC keys on hand:

VROCSTANMOD 2337 – intended for P720

VROCISSDMOD 2143 (green label) – intended for P520

Original plan was/is:

P720 - VROCSTANMOD 2337 + 4 @ 2TB Samsung EVO 870 SATA SSD for RAID 10

P520 - VROCISSDMOD 2143 + ASUS HBA + 4 @ intel 1T 660P NVMe drives

What is the probability that this will function/ Is Compatible?

Or, re-arrange this setup?

I can purchase 2 more 2T Samsung 990 PRO NVMe drives to fulfill this goal

Thank you for any useful insights,

John

[vish1]

Hello celticbrooder,

Greetings!!

As RAID 10 requires a minimum of four drives, we wanted to confirm the compatibility of the drives in your setup.

Based on the documentation linked below, we could see that Samsung "PM961" and Samsung "SM961" are listed as compatible:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000099438/memory-and-storage/datacenter-storage-solutions.html

Please let us know what additional information or assistance you may need to proceed.

Best Regards,

Vishal Shet P

Intel Customer Support Technician

[celticbrooder]

Completely misses the point:

Is the Samsung "PM9A3" a Samsung 990PRO?

If so, the 990PRO should be compatible with VROCISSSDMOD; currently 2143(Green) on-hand.

Thanks,

John

[celticbrooder]

Thank you,

Well aware that 4 drives are required for RAID 10;

Why the listed drives were always in groups of 4

Lenovo ThinkStation P720 (Type 30BB);

BIOS: S04KT76A (1/16/2025) ver. 7.5.11.1002 SATA Driver appears in BIOS Setup.

For VROC/RAID setup: utilizing VROCSTANMOD 2337 (Black) key

Successfully created RAID 10 with 4x Samsung EVO 870 SATA SSDs

regarding P520 (type 30BF):

First attempt, via, ASUS HBA, 4x Intel 660P M.2 NVMe... are not "eligible". (HBA properly x4x4x4x4 "bifurcated".)

Firmware updates for intel 660p is NLA.

Evidently, the Samsung M.2 "PM9A3" is a Samsung M.2 990PRO; (firmware updated via Samsung Magician)

Therefore: 990PRO should be compatible with VROCISSDMOD 2143 (Green)

Also,

Lenovo OEM VROC Key listing for both P720 and P520:

VROCSTANMOD 1722 (black)

VROCISSDMOD 1738 (green)

What is the difference between:

STANMOD 1722 (black) vs. STANMOD 2337 (Black)

Likewise,

ISSDMOD 1738 (green) vs. ISSDMOD 2143 (green)

...With ver. 7.5.11.1002 SATA Driver,

Assume Samsung earlier "PM-series" (i.e. PM1733, PM981a, PM9A3... and before) will be compatible,

may take some time to "translate" Intel references to Samsung.

...be that as it may...

Thank you for your response,

John

[vish1]

Hello celticbrooder,

Greetings!!

We would like to inform you that the SKU Standard VROCSTANMOD does support RAID 10.

For the SKU VROCISSDMOD, which involves OEM-specific licensing keys, we kindly recommend consulting with your platform provider for further assistance or support.

For additional information regarding Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) SKUs and Licensing, please refer to the document below:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000097217/memory-and-storage/datacenter-storage-solutions.html

Best Regards,

Vishal Shet P

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Subhashish]

Hello celticbrooder,

Greetings !!

We apologize for any misunderstanding that may have been caused from our previous response. Regarding the issue, I have reviewed and would like to share with you our findings:

1. The Intel VROC key is only needed for NVMe RAID volumes. SATA RAID volumes do not require any hardware key to operate properly.
2. There is no difference between STANMOD 1722 (black) vs. STANMOD 2337 (Black). They are both Intel VROC Standard keys.
3. Likewise, there is no difference between ISSDMOD 1738 (green) vs. ISSDMOD 2143 (green). They are both Intel VROC "Intel SSD Only" keys.
4. ISSDMOD corresponds to the "Intel SSD Only" hardware key. This one is no longer available as noted in the following announcement, but it's still supported on 3rd Gen Intel Xeon processors. Announcement : End-of-Life (EOL) for the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) Hardware Key “Intel SSD Only”
5. The ISSDMOD is compatible only with the formerly Intel NAND SSDs (now Solidigm). See note #2 in the article Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) SKUs and Licensing
6. So in summary:

• For this setup: RAID 10 with 4x Samsung EVO 870 SATA SSDs. There is no need to use an Intel VROC hardware key because this is a SATA RAID volume.
• For this setup: ASUS HBA, 4x Intel 660P M.2 NVMe. We recommend you to check compatibility with Solidigm to confirm whether the formerly Intel 660p SSDs are compatible with Intel VROC. Refer to this article: How to Identify a Formerly Intel® NAND SSD (now Solidigm™ SSD) Product
• For this setup: Samsung 990PRO should be compatible with VROCISSDMOD 2143 (Green), this is a non-compatible combination because the VROCISSDMOD key is intended for the formerly Intel NAND SSDs only.

Hope this clarifies your doubt. Please feel free to write back to us for any other concerns. We are here to assist you every step of the way.

Regards,

Subhashish_Intel.

[vish1]

Hello celticbrooder,

Greetings!!

This is the first follow-up regarding the issue you reported to us.

We wanted to inquire whether you had the opportunity to review our previous email we provided.

Best Regards,

Vishal Shet P

Intel Customer Support Technician

[celticbrooder]

Thank you,

Yes, I did review the responses;

However:

I was unable to correlate the Intel-listed Compatible Samsung model numbers with actual Samsung models.

I cannot find Samsung M.2 NVMe drives with these model numbers.

SM961	Intel® VROC 5.0
PM961
SM951	Intel® VROC 5.1
PM953
PM963	Intel® VROC 5.4
PM983	Intel® VROC 5.6
PM9A3 (=990Pro?)	Intel® VROC 6.3

Samsung:

SM961 - Intel VROC 5.0

PM961 - Intel VROC 5.0

SM951 - Intel VROC 5.1

PM953 - Intel VROC 5.1

PM963 - Intel VROC 5.4

PM983 - Intel VROC 5.6

Pm9A3 (Samsung 990 PRO?) - Intel VROC 6.3

The Intel VROC SATA Driver version for Lenovo ThinkStation P720 BIOS:

7.5.11.1002

Am I correct in assuming that all listed previous Samsung M.2 NVMe drives are compatible with Previous VROC SATA Driver versions?

(i.e. prior to Intel SATA Driver version "7.5...", the above listed Samsung M.2 NVMe drives)

Likewise, Later iterations of Samsung M.2 NVMe drives will not be compatible with Intel SATA Driver "7.5"

thank you for your response,

regards,

John

[celticbrooder]

Similarly, for Micron/Corsair M.2 NVMe Drives...

Considering that the Samsung product spectrum ranges from cell phones to refrigerators (and beyond),

the search for such information has been largely unproductive.

[vish1]

Hello celticbrooder,

Greetings!!

Below is the list of drives that have been tested and verified under the Intel® environment and are compatible with Intel® VROC. These supported drives are identified by vendor and product name. Compatibility extends across all form factors, including M.2, U.2, U.3, EDSFF, and others, within the specified product names. It is essential to use the latest available SSD firmware in all environments.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000099438/memory-and-storage/datacenter-storage-solutions.html

Each SSD listed is supported starting from the first Intel® VROC revision that introduced compatibility for that product. Once a drive appears on the supported list, no additional compatibility verification is required. Intel recommends using the latest available Intel® VROC revision for optimal performance and support.

This compatibility also extends to all operating systems supported by Intel® VROC. However, supported OS may vary depending on the Intel® Xeon® processor used in the platform and the generation of the Intel® Volume Management Device (Intel® VMD) associated with it. Additionally, compatibility is subject to system BIOS, which plays a critical role in drive support.

Best Regards,

Vishal Shet P

Intel Customer Support Technician

[celticbrooder]

Understood,

this is the link that I had initially copy/pasted from.

but does not resolve the issue at hand

thank you for your time.

regards,

John

[Azhari_Intel]

Hi celticbrooder,

Good day to you.

We will be closing this forum case from our end.

If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Regards,

Azhari_Intel