Intel vPro with KVM, will it always work with the right chipset?

[ugle43]

I was wondering if Intel Vpro with KVM always is supported by a motherboard with a chipset/CPU-kombo that supoorts it, or if it needs some additional motherboard-support as well?

More specifically am looking at the Asus P9D WS for my file server, for the following reasons:
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P9D_WS/

Pretty cheap for a C226 board.
C226, so it has inbuilt VGA
Dual intel LAN

However i also have some concerns:

- There are only drivers for Server 2012, I have Server 2012 R2, does that cause problems?
- Asus has a spotty rep for support/bugs on their mobos (I don't need regular customer support per se, but I need the board to be solid and support my setup)

Any experiences? Any other tips?

It is for my home server, not a professional setup, I will be using a Areaca 1882ix 24 drives and server 2012 R2

 

[IndyColtsFan]

FWIW, I have the Supermicro X9DR3 and had no issues upgrading from Windows 2012 directly to Windows 2012 R2 without updating any drivers.

My advice would be to consider a Supermicro board, especially if you are thinking about using virtualization.

 

[ugle43]

Thank you for your advice. I will only be using it for a fileserver, I have looked at Supermicro, but at least here they seem to give a bit less value for many when it comes to feature for the price.

 

[Thump_]

Motherboard firmware (on SPI Flash), chipset, CPU and network controller all has to support Intel AMT and vPro.
I have the Asus P9D WS with Intel Xeon CPU (bundled with vPro support).
Asus P9D WS doesn't support Intel AMT and vPro because of lack of this features in firmware and because it use 2 I210-AT non-integrated (non-PCH) network controllers that doesn't support Intel AMT and vPro.
Datasheet on C226 chipset:

The PCH integrates a Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) controller. The integrated GbE controller is compatible with the Intel Ethernet Network Connection I127LM/V platform LAN connect device.
The LAN controller embedded in the PCH as well as the Intel Gigabit Platform LAN connect device a required for Intel ME and Intel AMT network connectivity.

I127V doesn't support vPro, only I127LM supports it.
Some motherboards, for example from Supermicro, DFI and some other less known manufacturers use integrated I217-LM (and you get KVM on that port) for the first port and I210-AT for the second one.
I'm sending the diarrhea rays to ASUS for that.