Dell Express Flash NVMe PCIe SSD User’s Guide
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 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 a unique and powerful feature set 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.
Device write status If the device exhausts the available spare sectors, the NVMe PCIe SSD enters Write Protect (Read-Only) mode. In Write Protect mode, you can only perform read operations to the device. The NVMe PCIe SSD self monitors for these limits, and software management applications notify you when you reach these limits. Boot from an NVMe PCIe SSD U.2 NOTE: You cannot boot from an NVMe PCIe SSD AIC. Dell supports installation of operating systems to, and booting from, NVMe PCIe SSD U.
2 Configure an NVMe PCIe SSD in different operating systems The NVMe PCIe SSD you ordered with your system is preconfigured 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.
3 Troubleshooting NOTE: To get help for your NVMe PCIe SSD, see Contacting Dell EMC. Topics: • NVMe PCIe SSD Carrier LED indicators • Ungraceful system shutdown or power loss • General errors 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.
State Name Slot/Device State Status LED (Green) Status LED (Amber) The device will only service read operations. Off On for 250 msec The SMART feature set has predicted a degradation or fault condition. Off for 250 msec On for 250 msec On for 250 msec Off for 250 msec responding or has encountered a critical error condition.
I/O device error on write to NVMe PCIe SSD Description Windows event log may report the following entries on the first write attempt to an NVMe PCIe SSD: Event ID 7: The device, \Device\Harddisk\DRX, has a bad block. When attempting to initialize the device using Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management, the following message is displayed: Virtual Disk Manager, Data Error (cyclic redundancy check).
System becomes unresponsive or crashes when NVMe PCIe SSD is inserted Description System becomes unresponsive or crashes with inserting an NVMe PCIe SSD while accessing the system BIOS or HII configuration utilities. Cause Hot insertion is not supported in pre-operating system's system configuration utilities. Solution Insert only after allowing the operating system to fully load or when the server is powered off.
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 Install the operating system Operating system documentation at Dell.com/ operatingsystemmanuals Get an overview of the Dell Systems Management offerings Dell OpenManage Systems Management Overview Guide at Dell.
Troubleshooting Guide Provides information about troubleshooting the software and the system. OpenManageServer Provides information about using Dell OpenManage Server Administrator to manage your system. Administrator User’s NOTE: For any documentation related to Dell OpenManage Server Administrator, see Dell.com/ Guide openmanagemanuals.
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.
