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How To Determine Which Intel® Volume Management Device (Intel® VMD) Ports To Enable on Intel® Server Systems

Identify My ProductArticle ID:0000578652/6/25

Environment

Intel® Server Systems

Description

  • Do not know which Intel® VMD ports should be enabled.
  • A PCIe* add-in card such as an Intel® RAID Controller or Intel® Ethernet Controller is not detected in Windows* Device Manager on Intel® Server System with Intel® VROC (VMD NVMe* RAID) enabled.

Resolution

  1. Enable Intel® VMD only on the ports that are connected to NVMe* storage devices:
    • Onboard OCuLink ports that are connected to the Hot Swappable Back Plane (HSBP).
    • PCIe* slots on a Riser that has PCIe* switches or retimers connected to the HSBP.
  2. Disable Intel® VMD on all other ports. Otherwise, the corresponding PCIe* slots or OCuLink connectors will not function properly for other usage.
    • Example: An Intel RAID Controller cannot be detected when installed in a PCIe slot with Intel® VMD enabled.
  3. Enable/disable Intel® VMD from the UEFI BIOS menu:
    1. Press F2 during the system power on.
    2. Navigate to Advanced > PCI Configuration > Volume Management Device.

Additional information

Refer to the Technical Product Specification of your Intel Server Board or Intel Server System to identify the corresponding Riser/Slot or onboard OCuLink port number and further details on Intel® VMD configuration.

For example, if the PCIe* switch is installed on the top PCIe slot of the riser slot in the middle of the Intel Server Board S2600WF Family, enable the Intel® VMD ports only for Riser #2 Slot#1.