Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) Package Updates and Compatibility

The Intel® VROC family of products supports upgrading to new release packages. Each Intel® VROC release package contains the Pre-OS components, the operating system drivers, the product installation application, and tools. Intel recommends that all Intel® VROC components installed on the supported platform are upgraded to the latest version of the product. When performing a package update, it is important to follow the recommended upgrade order:

1. Upgrade the Intel® VROC operating system driver package first.
2. Upgrade the platform BIOS with the corresponding Intel® VROC Pre-OS image second.

It is more challenging to update the platform BIOS than it is to update the operating system drivers and tools. The Intel® VROC operating system drivers and tools are designed to be backwards compatible with older Intel® VROC Pre-OS images (unless otherwise outlined in the release notes). The Intel® VROC Pre-OS image is not backwards compatible with the older versions of the Intel® VROC operating system drivers. The reason for this is because there is information passed from the Intel® VROC Pre-OS environment to the Intel® VROC operating system driver. The Intel® VROC operating system driver relies on this information to function properly. If this information happens to change (as part of a bug fix or feature enhancement), an older Intel® VROC operating system driver may not initialize properly, not function, and could lead to a system failure.

Intel® VROC Package Upgrade

The Intel® VROC package upgrade is the process of transitioning to the latest/newest version of the Intel® VROC Pre-OS and/or Intel® VROC operating system components. The table below shows the compatibility matrix outline between the Intel® VROC operating system driver component and the Intel® VROC Pre-OS environment.

Pre-OS/OS Version	6.2	6.3	7.0	7.5	7.6	7.8	8.0	8.2	8.5	8.6	9.0	9.1	9.2	9.3
Pre-OS 6.2	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 6.3	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 7.0	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 7.5	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 7.6	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Not Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 7.8	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 8.0	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 8.2	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 8.5	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 8.6	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 9.0	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported Not Tested
Pre-OS 9.1	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported
Pre-OS 9.2	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported
Pre-OS 9.3	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported

Intel® VROC operating system backwards compatibility to Intel® VROC Pre-OS is supported to N-3 versions. Validation will be on N-1 version.

Supported (as used in the above table) means that issues will be accepted and processed with all other supported configurations.

Intel® VROC Package Downgrade

The Intel® VROC package downgrade is the process of transitioning to an older version of the Intel® VROC Pre-OS and/or Intel® VROC operating system components. Intel does not recommend downgrading as a general practice. However, there may be certain cases where it may be required. If it is deemed necessary to downgrade, the following order should be followed:

1. Update/downgrade to the platform BIOS with a supported Intel® VROC Pre-OS image first (such as downgrade from a platform BIOS with Intel® VROC Pre-OS 7.5 to a platform BIOS with Intel® VROC Pre-OS 7.0).
2. Update/downgrade the Intel® VROC operating system driver package to the desired package (such as downgrade from Intel® VROC 7.5 down to Intel® VROC 7.0).