Dell Express Flash NVMe PCIe SSD User Manual

Dell Express Flash NVMe PCIe SSD User’s

Guide

May 2020

Rev. A01

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. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents

Chapter 1: NVMe PCIe SSD overview.............................................................................................	4
NVMe PCIe SSD U.2...........................................................................................................................................................	4
NVMe PCIe SSD AIC..........................................................................................................................................................	5
NVMe PCIe SSD features..................................................................................................................................................	5
Hot swap an NVMe PCIe SSD U.2 device...............................................................................................................	5
Device health..................................................................................................................................................................	6
Boot from an NVMe PCIe SSD U.2...........................................................................................................................	6
Chapter 2: Configure an NVMe PCIe SSD in different operating systems.......................................	7
Windows.................................................................................................................................................................................	7
Support for Surprise Removal in Windows..............................................................................................................	7
Linux........................................................................................................................................................................................	7
VMware..................................................................................................................................................................................	8
Chapter 3: Troubleshooting...........................................................................................................	9
NVMe PCIe SSD carrier LED indicators.........................................................................................................................	9
Ungraceful system shutdown or power loss...............................................................................................................	10
General errors.....................................................................................................................................................................	10
NVMe drive properties intermittently not available in iDRAC...........................................................................	10
NVMe PCIe SSD is not listed in the operating system.......................................................................................	10
I/O device error on write to NVMe PCIe SSD......................................................................................................	10
NVMe PCIe SSD performance measurement not optimal..................................................................................	11
System becomes unresponsive when NVMe PCIe SSD is surprise removed................................................	11
System becomes unresponsive or fails when NVMe PCIe SSD is inserted....................................................	11
Chapter 4: Related documentation...............................................................................................	12
Chapter 5: Getting help...............................................................................................................	14
Locating your system Service Tag.................................................................................................................................	14
Contacting Dell EMC.........................................................................................................................................................	14
Documentation feedback.................................................................................................................................................	14

Contents 3

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.

The NVMe PCIe SSD solution supports Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and Human Interface Infrastructure (HII) for pre-operating system device management, OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) application for operating system device management, and Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) with Lifecycle Controller for local or remote device management. The NVMe PCIe SSD solution supports UEFI, HII, and iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller management on select PowerEdge systems only. OMSA for NVMe PCIe SSD device management is available on all supported PowerEdge systems.

NOTE: The Instant Secure Erase feature on NVMe PCIe SSD drives is compliant with National Institute for Standards and Technology 800-88R1 requirements.

NOTE: This documentation assumes you use OMSA, iDRAC, or HII for all management and configuration tasks. See Related documentation for links to information about the use of these tools.

NOTE: For the safety, regulatory, and ergonomic information associated with these devices, and for more information about iDRAC/LC remote management, see your platform documentation.

NVMe PCIe SSD U.2

Install the NVMe PCIe SSD U.2 into its carrier before installing it into the server.

4 NVMe PCIe SSD overview

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 Insert a device into a running system where a similar device has not been previously inserted from the Insertion 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. This preset system configuration makes hot insertion an orderly operation if performed with supported operating systems.

Orderly Removal Remove a device from a running system. Prior to physically removing the device, you must notify the system that the device is about to be removed. This notification defines hot removal as an orderly operation.

Orderly Swap Remove a device from the system in an orderly fashion and replace it with a supported device. The device that is removed and the device that replaced it use the same device driver.

Surprise Removal Remove a device from a running system without first notifying the system that the device is about to be removed. This feature is supported on systems running Microsoft Windows 2019 or later. See Support for Surprise Removal in Windows for information about how to use this function.

NVMe PCIe SSD overview

5