Intel Rapid Storage Technology

"Rapid Storage Technology" (RST), including creation of RAID volumes, works under Windows 7 and newer versions of Microsoft Windows. The older "Intel Matrix RAID" is supported under Microsoft Windows XP. Linux supports Matrix RAID and Rapid Storage Technology (RST) through device mapper, with tool, for RAID 0, 1 and 10, and Linux MD RAID, with the mdadm utility, for RAID 0, 1, 10, and 5. Set up of the RAID volumes must be done by using the ROM option in the Matrix Storage Manager, then further configuration can be done in DM-RAID or MD-RAID. FreeBSD 10+ support Intel RAID BIOS through the graid command. FreeBSD versions 6 thru 9 and MidnightBSD supported Intel Matrix RAID using the "ataraid" driver, managed through the atacontrol command. However, with older versions of FreeBSD there were critical reliability issues which include array device renaming when a disk in an array is replaced, an array being considered healthy if the machine reboot/crashes during an array rebuild, and kernel panics when a disk is lost or is removed from the bus. Some of these problems, when experienced in combination, could result in the loss of an entire array (even in the case of RAID 1). VMware ESXi 4 does not support any RAID function nor Intel Matrix RAID based on Intel ICHxR controllers. PGPDisk does not support Intel Matrix RAID based on Intel ICHxR, and does not support standalone drives if the "RAID" mode is enabled on the motherboard. ==Matrix Storage Manager option ROM==

The Intel Matrix Storage Manager (IMSM) option ROM is a part of Matrix RAID that has to be used in the BIOS to create new RAID arrays. Intel uses "Rapid Storage Technology" -"Option Rom"- on its new chipsets, dropping the "Matrix" name. An Intel document notes that Intel Matrix Storage Manager storage changed to Intel Rapid Storage Technology beginning with version 9.5. There have been several driver versions: Since release 11.2.0.0000, TRIM commands can be read by Windows RAID drivers made for 7 series chipsets. There is no RAID mode TRIM support on drivers for older chipsets. When booting in a BIOS environment (legacy) and some EFI, the RST option ROM is used. When booting in a true UEFI environment the Option ROM is not used as a SataDriver with the RST version takes over. In BIOS mode the legacy/BIOS booting is under CSMCORE. In true UEFI mode the RST is controlled under SataDriver / RstVmdDriver in BIOS. The Intel RAID ROM is the firmware in the motherboard BIOS that is used to create the RAID array. Note: The RST drivers can be used for RAID and also on a single drive as it contains an AHCI driver. There is a bug in the version 12.5.0.1066 RST driver, which cause TRIM commands not to pass through the RAID driver to the drives. TRIM is disabled using this driver. ==Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (Intel RSTe)==

Intel Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (Intel RSTe) provides performance and reliability for supported systems equipped with Serial ATA (SATA) devices, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) devices, and/or solid state drives (SSDs) to enable an optimal enterprise storage solution. The main difference between RST and RSTe is that the RST is used for desktop systems and the RSTe is mostly used for server systems. RST supports regular SATA controllers from desktop systems. If the BIOS of the motherboard has RSTe feature then the user cannot install Intel Rapid Storage Technology software (error message: This platform is not supported). The user has to install RSTe software. There have been several Option ROM versions: In 2019, Intel announced that the RTSe branding would be replaced, with RSTe consolidated into Intel's VROC (Virtual RAID on CPU) product line. ==Intel VROC (Virtual RAID on CPU)==

Intel VROC was mostly designed with NVMe SSD's in mind and it is directly attached to the Intel Xeon Scalable processors. For the full functionality it uses a newer Intel technology called Intel VMD (Intel Volume Management Device). Intel VROC is a technology from the Intel Xeon Scalable processors series and is used to provide hot-plug, surprise-removal, and LED management of NVMe SSD's for server usage. For client PC's Intel RST is still the advised software package to use. Intel VROC 6.0 supports: • VMD NVMe RAID (Hardware License Key required) • SATA RAID • non-VMD NVMe RAID ==See also==