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PowerEdge Product Group

Direct from

Development

NVMe Hot-Plug Challenges and Industry Adoption

Tech Note by:

Austin Bolen

SUMMARY

Dell EMC understands that hot-

plug operations for NVMe SSDs

while the server is running are

essential to reducing and

preventing costly downtime.

PowerEdge 14G servers support

a wide variety of hot-plug

serviceability features, including:

Surprise insertion, which enables

addition of NVMe SSDs to the

server without taking the server

offline.

Surprise removal on OSes that

support it, which allows a user to

quickly remove a faulty, damaged,

or worn out NVMe SSD.

Dell EMC PowerEdge 14th-generation (14G) servers support a wide variety

Reliability, Availability, Serviceability, and Manageability (RASM) features

designed to enhance server uptime and reduce total cost of ownership, as

shown in Figure 1 below:

Figure 1 Reliability, Availability, Serviceability, and Manageability

One notable RASM feature supported on PowerEdge servers is the

serviceability of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) and Solid-State Drives (SSDs) and

most recently NVM Express (NVMe) solid-state drives (SSDs). NVMe is an

industry standard storage protocol designed to optimize performance of solid-

state drives. Serviceability features allow NVMe SSDs to be added, removed,

or replaced without the server having to be opened or turned off. This allows for

easy replacement and/or re-provisioning.

NVMe SSDs in the U.2 2.5” form-factor are typically located in the front of

PowerEdge servers which enables the easiest accessibility, however there are

designs where these devices reside in the rear of the server. Refer to the

Installation and Service Manual for your PowerEdge server for more details on

the location and servicing of NVMe SSDs.

Summary of content (5 pages)

PAGE 1
Direct from Development PowerEdge Product Group NVMe Hot-Plug Challenges and Industry Adoption Tech Note by: Dell EMC PowerEdge 14th-generation (14G) servers support a wide variety Reliability, Availability, Serviceability, and Manageability (RASM) features designed to enhance server uptime and reduce total cost of ownership, as shown in Figure 1 below: Austin Bolen SUMMARY Dell EMC understands that hotplug operations for NVMe SSDs while the server is running are essential to reducing and preventing c
PAGE 2
Serviceability is further enhanced by allowing U.2 2.5” NVMe SSD mounted in the front or rear of the server to be serviced while the server is powered on and running using an industry feature referred to as hot-plug which maximizes availability by minimizing costly server downtime. Hot-plug is broken down into two operations: • Hot Insert: You insert an NVMe SSD into a running server. o • Hot Removal: You remove an NVMe SSD from a running server.
PAGE 3
Direct from Development PowerEdge Product Group The factors below also impact the ability to successfully hot-plug NVMe SSDs on PowerEdge servers: • Form Factor – Hot-plug is only supported on U.2 2.5” form factor NVMe SSDs externally accessible in the front or rear of the server. PCIe Adapter Card NVMe devices do not support hot-plug. • Mechanicals – PowerEdge servers are designed with high insertion count connectors on our backplane designs as well as the NVMe SSDs we use.
PAGE 4
In NVMe, the storage controller was moved down on to the storage device below the hot-plug barrier as shown in Figure 3. An advantage of this approach is that it removes an added component layer when compared to the other storage solutions and helps NVMe to achieve such low latency accesses. However, this introduces a new model that operating systems, drivers, and applications had not dealt with before: the storage controller itself is removed when the storage device is removed.
PAGE 5
Direct from Development PowerEdge Product Group NVMe SSD is in use and warn the user if so. They cannot detect all cases where an NVMe SSD is in use and so the user should verify the NVMe SSD is no longer in use prior to removing it. Some operating systems may prevent orderly removal of NVMe SSDs that are still in use.