Skip to main content

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

    An enterprise, hybrid RAID solution, specifically designed for NVMe SSDs connected directly to the CPU

    Intel® VROC is made possible by the new CPU feature Intel® Volume Management Device, Intel® VMD, a new hardware architecture on Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors. Intel® VMD enhances drive performance as drives are directly connected to the Intel CPU enabling the lowest latency. Intel® VROC capitalizes on Intel® VMD for a simple software RAID solution that requires no additional hardware.

    Overview

    This document contains two sections:

    Intel VROC for HPE ProLiant Servers and Intel VROC for Scale Up Servers

    Intel VROC for HPE ProLiant Servers

    Models

    SKU

    Intel Virtual RAID on CPU Premium E-RTU for HPE

    R7J59AAE

    Intel Virtual RAID on CPU Premium FIO Software for HPE

    R7J57A

    Intel Virtual RAID on CPU RAID 1 E-RTU for HPE

    S3Q39AAE

    Intel Virtual RAID on CPU RAID 1 FIO Software for HPE

    S3Q19A

    Notes:

    − SED and RAID are specific to Intel and drives cannot migrate to be managed by other vendor controllers.

    − IP and SSA do not support VROC.

    Intel VROC for HPE Scale Up Servers

    Models

    Description

    SKU

    Intel Virtual RAID on CPU Premium E-RTU for HPE

    R7J59AAE

    Intel Virtual RAID on CPU Premium FIO Software for HPE

    R7J57A

    Notes:

    − SED is not supported on HPE Scale Up Servers

    − IP and SSA do not support VROC.

    Standard Features

    Intel VROC for HPE ProLiant

    Key Benefits

    • − Use NVMe drives to their full potential
    • − Fewer hardware queues
    • − Bootable RAID
    • − Host Insert/Surprise removal
    • − Cost-effective and simple

    Key Features

    • − Storage interface (NVMe)
    • Up to 32 NVMe lanes (depends on platform and CPU type)
    • − RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 (Premium)
    • − UEFI System Utilities (storage configuration)
    • − Hot spare and auto-rebuild
    • − Supported with Windows, Linux, VMware

    Drives supported

    Up to 32 NVMe drives (depends on platform and CPU type)


    Performance

    16 GB/s NVMe (up to 32 drives maximum)

    Description

    Intel Virtual RAID on CPU Premium FIO Software for HPE

    Intel Virtual RAID on CPU RAID 1 FIO Software for HPE

    SKU

    R7J59AAE

    R7J57A

    S3Q39AAE

    S3Q19A

    Host Tools

    GUI

    Windows only

    Windows only

    CLI

    Windows, Linux MDADM CLI, VMware VMDRCLI

    Windows, Linux MDADM CLI, VMware VMDRCLI

    Storage Protocol

    BIOS Support

    HII Utility, OBSE

    HII Utility, OBSE

    Key Features



    Maximum Physical Drives (up to)

    Up to 32 NVMe

    Up to 32 NVMe

    Maximum Logical Drives (up to)

    Up to 24 in a single volume

    Up to 24 in a single volume

    RAID

    0, 1, 5, 10 Windows and Linux

    1, Windows and Linux

    1, VMware is RAID 1 only and VMware is only NVMe support

    1, VMware is RAID 1 only and VMware is only NVMe support

    Boot Mode

    UEFI Secure Boot

    UEFI Secure Boot

    Other features

    HPE iLO features

    – NVMe Drive Fault and Locate LED

    – NVMe Drive Events (IML, Alert, SNMP, AHS)

    – NVMe Drive Fault and Locate LED

    – NVMe Drive Events (IML, Alert, SNMP, AHS)

    Encryption

    NVMe SED – Passive and Remote Key Management

    NVMe SED – Passive and Remote Key Management

    LED support

    Activity, Locate, Fault, Predictive Failure

    Activity, Locate, Fault, Predictive Failure

    Bootable RAID

    Build redundancy to protect your system volume

    Build redundancy to protect your system volume

    NVMe Hot insert and Surprise Removal

    Expand volume, replace bad drive without system reboot

    Expand volume, replace bad drive without system reboot

    Server Compatibility

    Please refer to the platform QuickSpecs to confirm compatibility for Intel VROC for HPE.


    Operating Systems

    • − Linux

    Notes:

    − Customers will need to manually inject the driver when doing an O/S install from IP.

    − Please see Intel VROC User Guide for Gen11 for more information.

    − For more information on HPE's server operating systems and virtualization software, please visit: http://www.HPE.com/info/ossupport


    Drivers

    Intel VROC is integrated with the HPE BIOS. The Intel VROC solution has two driver components: the pre-boot, or UEFI driver, and the OS driver. The UEFI driver is embedded in the system BIOS and is referred to as the RSTe NVMe UEFI driver, while the OS driver must be loaded at the OS installation time; both contain version numbers. Refer to the Intel VROC User Guide and Installation Instructions for more information.

    Notes: On a system with the Windows OS installed and an Intel VROC virtual drive present, the Windows RSTe OS driver version must not be prior to the RSTe NVMe UEFI driver version, otherwise unexpected behavior may occur.

    The RSTe OS driver can be downloaded from the HPE Support Center.



    Intel VROC for HPE Scale Up Servers

    Key Benefits

    • − Use NVMe drives to their full potential
    • − Fewer hardware queues
    • − Bootable RAID
    • − Host Insert/Surprise removal
    • − Cost-effective and simple

    Key Features

    • − Storage interface (NVMe)
      • • Up to 32 NVMe lanes (depends on platform and CPU type)
    • − RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 (Premium)
    • − UEFI Device Manager (for RAID configuration)
    • − Hot spare and auto-rebuild
    • − Supported with Linux, VMware

    Drives supported

    Up to 32 NVMe drives (depends on platform and CPU type)


    Performance

    16 GB/s NVMe (up to 32 drives maximum)

    Description

    Intel Virtual RAID on CPU Premium FIO Software for HPE

    SKU

    R7J59AAE, R7J57A

    Host Tools

    GUI

    None

    CLI

    Linux MDADM CLI, VMware VMDRCLI

    Storage Protocol

    BIOS Support

    HII Utility

    Key Features

    Maximum Physical Drives (up to)

    Up to 32 NVMe

    Maximum Logical Drives (up to)

    Up to 24 in a single volume

    RAID

    0, 1, 5, 10 Windows and Linux

    1, VMware is RAID 1 only and VMware is only NVMe support

    Boot Mode

    UEFI Secure Boot

    Other features

    HPE RMC features

    − NVMe Drive Fault and Locate LED

    − NVMe Drive Events (IEL, CAE)

    LED support

    Activity, Locate, Fault, Predictive Failure

    Bootable RAID

    Build redundancy to protect your system volume

    NVMe Hot insert and Surprise Removal

    Expand volume, replace bad drive without system reboot

    Server Compatibility

    Currently Intel VROC for HPE Scale Up Servers is only supported on HPE Compute Scale-up Server 3200.



    Operating Systems

    • − Linux
    • − VMware 8.0

    Notes:

    − Customers will need to manually inject the driver when doing an OS install from IP.

    Please see Intel Virtual RAID on CPU for HPE User Guide for more information.

    − For more information on HPE's server operating systems and virtualization software, please visit: http://www.HPE.com/info/ossupport

    − Ubuntu 24.04, RHEL 9.7 and SLES 15 SP7 are not currently supported by VROC 9.3 based on issues currently under investigation.


    Drivers

    Intel VROC is integrated with the HPE BIOS. The Intel VROC solution has two driver components: the pre-boot, or UEFI driver, and the OS driver. The UEFI driver is embedded in the system BIOS and is referred to as the Intel VROC NVMe UEFI driver, while the OS driver must be loaded at the OS installation time; both contain version numbers. Refer to the Intel VROC User Guide and Installation Instructions for more information.

    Service and Support

    For the most up-to-date information on HPE Services, please refer to the HPE Services – Supplemental QuickSpecs, which provides a comprehensive and regularly updated overview of available services.

    Summary of Changes

    Date

    Version History

    Action

    Description of Change

    16-Mar-2026

    Changed

    Added note indicating that Ubuntu 24.04, RHEL 9.7, and SLES 15 SP7 are not currently supported by VROC 9.3 due to issues under investigation.

    16-Feb-2026

    Changed

    Visual rebranding only—updated typography, colors, and design elements to align with new HPE brand standards. No technical specifications or content were modified.

    02-Sep-2025

    Changed

    Removed Windows / VMware not supported note on Gen12 as fix is in place

    28-Jul-2025

    Changed

    Update survey link.

    09-Jun-2025

    Changed

    Standard features section was updated.

    Below information was removed under Operating systems on page 3

    Microsoft Windows Server

    Microsoft Windows Hyper-V Server

    VMware 7.0 U1 and U2

    Also, this note was added to the same page and under the same title:

    Intel VROC Hybrid RAID does not currently support Windows and VMware due to an issue that is in process to fix.

    As this problem is fixed, we will add this compatibility.

    12-May-2025

    Changed

    Standard features section was updated.

    10-Mar-2025

    Changed

    Removed Windows support for Scale uP servers

    13-Jan-2025

    Changed

    Standard features section was updated.

    07-Oct-2024

    Changed

    Overview and Standard Features sections were updated.

    01-Apr-2024

    Changed

    Series name was updated.

    18-Dec-2023

    Changed

    Overview and Standard Features sections were updated.

    16-Oct-2023

    Changed

    HPE Services Rebranding

    06-Mar-2023

    Changed

    Overview section was updated.

    Standard features section was updated.

    15-Nov-2021

    Changed

    Service and Support section was updated

    06-Apr-2021

    New

    New QuickSpecs

    Recommended for you