Does the Z4 workstation support RAID setup for M.2 SSD drives?

[Mickolas]

I have an HP Z4 G4 workstation that I would like to set up RAID 1.  I am using two M.2 SSDs.  The service manual and spec sheet appears to indicate that the hardware RAID only works with SATA drives.  There is an option in the BIOS to enable RAID for the M.2 drives, but there are not options to actually set up an array.  I can't find anything definitive as to whether I can set up a RAID array using the two M.2 SSD drives.  I have tried using the "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" program that came preinstalled with the unit.  It shows the two drives, but only will let me select one when I try to create a new array.  The other drive is grayed out.  (I can choose either drive initially, but then the other drive goes gray and the next button will not highlight.)  The help isn't of much use.  All it says that if a feature is grayed out then that means you haven't selected all the prerequisites.  There is no troubleshooting advice.  My main question is does anyone know if the Z4 workstation supports RAID for the M.2 drives?

[DGroves · Accepted solution]

the intel RSTe raid solution is not a hardware raid controller, it is a "software only" raid driver as such it will not be able to boot (there is a convoluted workaround that is not really pratical)

the HP Z4 G4  does have a M.2 slot plus 2 custom M.2 slots on the motherboard,  these slots  are also software driven raid and like the intel RSTe setup can not normally be made bootable if raiding the drives

the above two methods can be setup as DATA non booting raid configurations, just not as booting raid

the HP service manual does detail raid creation and is well worth reading before posting any further questions here

http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA7-2219ENW.pdf

unlike the earler z8xx series the z4 line does not have a onboard LSI SAS/SATA controller chip / ports

if you need SATA/SAS bootable raid you will have to install a Raid card such as the LSI 9270-8i which can be found on ebay new as a white box item for under 200.00

http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c05527757.pdf

[bivoy]

Yes, Z4 (z6/z8) supports HW bootable RAID on m.2 NVME drives similar to bootable RST raid on SATA but you have to buy additional chip called VROC and plug it into VROC header on motherboard. 2 versions of a chip, see

HP VROC quickspec

Standard 3FJ80AA

Premium 3FJ81AA

.......

For NVMe RAID, Intel® VROC is architected to use Intel® VMD to provide the following new features that Intel® RSTe legacy NVMe RAID does not have: • Bootable RAID • RAID5 Double Fault Protection • Support for HP qualified SSDs as well as Intel® SSDs

......

standard VROC price should be around  100 USD 

note : officially supported only on Z4 Xeon version, and BIOS must be 1.42 or newer (now in 10/2018 it is 1.67)

[DGroves]

you can also install a PCI-e raid card, however HP only certifies a few cards so if you go this route with a non hp approved card, you are own your own reguarding HP support for the raid

the main advantage of VROC, is that you save a PCI-E slot,  also VROC will not scale out, or offer redundant controller failover

(unless vroc is activated on a dual cpu setup?) neither of these features are likely to be needed by most users of a z4/6/8 system