Dell Express Flash NVMe PCIe SSD User’s Guide May 2020 Rev.
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. © 2019-2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents 1 NVMe PCIe SSD overview..............................................................................................................4 NVMe PCIe SSD U.2.............................................................................................................................................................4 NVMe PCIe SSD AIC.............................................................................................................................................................
1 NVMe PCIe SSD overview Dell NVMe PCIe SSD products include both 2.5-inch (U.2) and add-in controller (AIC) form factors. Storage management applications enable you to manage and configure the NVMe PCIe SSD. These applications also allow you to control and monitor multiple NVMe PCIe SSDs, and provide online maintenance.
NVMe PCIe SSD AIC Install the NVMe PCIe SSD AIC form factor into the appropriate system board slot. See your server documentation for more information. NVMe PCIe SSD features NVMe PCIe SSDs offer features including hot swap, device health, SMART, remaining rated write, device write status, and boot capabilities.
Hot swap an NVMe PCIe SSD U.2 device NOTE: NVMe PCIe SSD AICs do not support hot swap. Supported NVMe PCIe SSD U.2 device hot swappable functions are defined below: Orderly or Hot Insertion Insert a device into a running system where a similar device has not been previously inserted from the time it was last booted. The systems that support NVMe PCIe SSDs are configured to handle PCIe resource balancing in the event of a hot insertion when operating within a Dell supported operating system.
2 Configure an NVMe PCIe SSD in different operating systems The NVMe PCIe SSD you ordered with your system is pre-configured and ready for use. The following describes how to access those settings. Windows In Windows-based systems, NVMe PCIe SSD devices have a controller entity and a device entity. The controller entity is displayed under the Storage controller menu in the Device Manager. NOTE: When configured in Dell S140 RAID volumes, separate device entries are not shown.
• • • Inability to take snapshots of the Virtual Machine (VM). VM is no longer able to use fail over features such as VMotion and Distributed Resources Scheduler (DRS). Loss of hot swap capability for other devices such as USB drives. To add another device, you must first shut down the VM. Configuring an NVMe PCIe SSD for passthrough operation is not recommended except as defined by Dell-specific solutions. See the solution-specific documentation at www.dell.com/manuals.
3 Troubleshooting NOTE: To get help for your NVMe PCIe SSD, see Contacting Dell EMC. NVMe PCIe SSD carrier LED indicators The LEDs on the NVMe PCIe SSD U.2 carrier indicate the state of each physical device. Each NVMe PCIe SSD carrier in your enclosure has an activity LED (green) and a status LED (bicolor, green/amber). The activity LED flashes whenever the device is accessed. Figure 1. NVMe PCIe SSD device carrier LED indicators 1. status indicator 2. activity indicator 3.
Ungraceful system shutdown or power loss If the host system experiences a power loss, the NVMe PCIe SSD may not have time to perform its internal shut down procedure. In such an event, the device may enter a recovery mode. This recovery process is also known as rebuilding. During rebuilding, there is very limited access from the host operating system. After the recovery procedure is complete, the device is fully accessible from the host operating system.
Cause NVMe PCIe SSDs have a finite number of write cycles. When an NVMe PCIe SSD exhausts the number of writes, it goes into Write Protect (Read Only) mode. Solution By using system management applications, you may check the NVMe PCIe SSD state to confirm if the NVMe PCIe SSD is in Read-Only Mode. For further instructions, contact a Dell Technical Service representative.
4 Related documentation To... Refer to... Install your system into a rack Rack documentation included with your rack solution. Set up your system and know the system technical specifications Getting Started Guide available at www.dell.com/ poweredgemanuals Install the operating system Operating system documentation at www.dell.com/ operatingsystemmanuals Get an overview of the Dell Systems Management offerings Dell OpenManage Systems Management Overview Guide at www.dell.
Troubleshooting Guide Provides information about troubleshooting the software and the system. OpenManageServ er Administrator User’s Guide Provides information about using Dell OpenManage Server Administrator to manage your system.
5 Getting help Locating your system Service Tag Your system is identified by a unique Express Service Code and Service Tag number. The Express Service Code and Service Tag are found on the front of a physical DR Series system by pulling out the information tag. The service tag can also be found on the Support page in the GUI. This information is used to route support calls to the appropriate personnel for resolution.
