Pre-OS RAID configuration
Intel VROC supports configuring RAID volumes directly in the system firmware (UEFI) through the Human Interface Infrastructure (HII) menu. This chapter guides you through enabling Intel VROC, creating RAID volumes, and safely removing them.
2.1 Enabling Intel VROC (NVMe RAID)
Intel VROC relies on Intel® VMD hardware built into Intel® Xeon® processors. VMD must be enabled in the BIOS before RAID volumes can be created.
Follow these steps to enable Intel VROC in UEFI HII:
During POST, press F2 (or your platform’s key) to enter BIOS setup.
Navigate to EDKII Menu → Socket Configuration → IIO Configuration.
Select Intel VMD technology and press Enter.
Move to Intel VMD for Volume Management Device on Socket 0 and select the appropriate IOU# connected to NVMe SSDs.
Example: IOU 4 with ports A–H enabled, hot-plug capable, MemBar1 size ≥ 26.
Repeat for Socket 1 if additional NVMe controllers are present.
Press F10 to Save Changes and Exit.
Common Mistake: Forgetting to check MemBar1 size may result in initialization failures for NVMe devices.
2.2 Creating Intel® VROC NVMe RAID Volume in UEFI HII
This section explains how to create an Intel® VROC NVMe RAID volume within the Intel CRB UEFI Human Interface Infrastructure (HII) interface.
Before proceeding with RAID volume creation, the following conditions are assumed to be met:
Intel® VMD is enabled in the system BIOS.
You have sufficient NVMe drives of compatible capacity and type to create the desired RAID volume.
All drives are properly connected according to your platform vendor’s hardware specifications.
The Pre-OS environment (UEFI) can successfully detect all connected drives.
Follow these steps to create Intel VROC NVMe RAID volumes:
Enter BIOS setup (F2 during boot).
Navigate to EDKII Menu → Intel Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel VROC).
Navigate to Intel Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel VROC) and press.
Press the key to type in a volume name or move down the cursor to accept the default name.
Press the <Enter> key, then select the RAID Level option. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the available RAID levels. Highlight the desired level and press <Enter> again to confirm your selection.
Only data volumes are supported when enabling RAID spanning across VMD controllers. Boot volumes are not supported in this configuration.
You can enable spanned volumes by using the arrow keys to highlight the < > bracket and pressing <Enter>. This action opens a small selection menu. Move the cursor to the X and press <Enter> to enable volume spanning.
To disable spanning, set the value back to blank and press <Enter> again to save the change.
Press the <Enter> key.
Using the arrow keys, select the desired drives one by one by highlighting the < > bracket on the line next to each drive’s port number.
Press <Enter> to open the selection menu, which initially appears as blank (or in the off state).
Move the cursor to the X and press <Enter> to include the selected drive in the RAID array.
Repeat Step 7 for each drive that should be included in the RAID array.
Selecting the Strip Size
Unless RAID 1 is selected, choose the strip size by using the arrow keys and pressing <Enter> to open the options menu. Use the arrow keys again to highlight the desired strip size, then press <Enter> to confirm and save the selection.
Setting the Volume Capacity
Select the volume capacity and press <Enter>. The default value is displayed as the maximum capacity available based on the selected drives.
Note: Unless specifically defined by the user, the default volume capacity is calculated as 95% of the available space on the smallest physical disk. This margin accounts for slight capacity variations among disks from different vendors — a feature known as Disk Coercion, which is common in most RAID solutions.
Navigate to Create Volume and press <Enter>.
When a warning message appears, select Yes to confirm and proceed with the RAID volume creation.
Verifying the Created RAID Volume
The user will then be returned to the Intel Virtual RAID on CPU screen and the newly created RAID volume will be listed just below the text Intel VROC Managed Volumes.
Note: Other drives or unused portions of existing drives will be listed under Non-RAID Physical Disks. These drives can be used later to create additional RAID volumes as needed.
Exiting the Intel VROC User Interface
To exit the user interface, press <Esc>. Press <Esc> again to display the following prompt:
“Changes have not been saved. Save changes and exit?
Press ‘Y’ to save and exit, ‘N’ to discard and exit, or ‘Esc’ to cancel.”Press <Y> to save your configuration and exit the Intel VROC interface.
Note: Not saving at this time will discard the changes made, including all changes and configuration settings for the RAID array.
Saving and Rebooting to Begin OS Installation
To save the configuration and reboot for operating system installation, press <Esc> to return to the Main Menu. Navigate to Reset and press <Enter> to reboot the system and return to the boot menu.
Note: For RAID levels 1, 5, and 10, the system does not automatically initialize these volumes within UEFI. Initialization must be performed after the operating system installation is complete.
Pro Tip: Always document volume names and strip sizes—this ensures consistency if you need to rebuild arrays later.
2.3 Removing RAID Volumes in UEFI HII
To remove a RAID volume:
Enter BIOS setup (F2 during boot).
Navigate to EDKII Menu → Intel Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel VROC).
Select the RAID volume.
Choose Delete, confirm with Yes.
Warning: Deleting a volume removes configuration metadata. All data will be lost—ensure backups are taken first.
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