Z-Drive 6000 VMware NVMe Device Driver
Release Notes
Driver Version 1.n
Z-Drive 6000 VMware NVMe Device Driver Release Notes
Contents
Product Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Standard Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Boot Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Hints and Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
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transformation, or adaptation) without written permission from OCZ.
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Installation Technical Support
OCZ products include free technical support for direct, expert advice.
For installation technical support, you can contact us by:
Visiting http://ocz.com/enterprise/support
Calling OCZ Technical Support at +1 408 440 3403
Emailing us at enterpriseTS@oczenterprise.com
Writing to OCZ Storage Solutions, 6373 San Ignacio Avenue, San Jose, CA 95119 USA.
Document identifier: RLSENOTES-ZD6000-VMWARE,NVMe-DRVR, Revision 1, September 2015
Driver version: 1.n
2
Z-Drive 6000 VMware NVMe Device Driver Release Notes
Product Overview
The VMware-certified OCZ NVMe device drivers for the OCZ Z-Drive 6000 supports the operation of
the SSDs as a boot device and as a storage device in ESXi 5.0 and 5.1 environments. The installation
package is
standard NVMe device driver and tools provided by VMware.
To obtain the installation package, go to ocz.com/enterprise or to the VMware website.
ocznvme-1.n.yyyy-nnnnnn.zip. To use the Z-Drive 6000 under ESXi 5.5 or 6.0, use the
Standard Installation
The zip package contains the OCZ device driver in both of the formats:
VIB file
offline bundle zip file
When using the VMware Update Manager to install the device driver, you must use the offline bundle
zip file.
When using the VMware environment to install the device driver, you can use either file and the
commands esxcli software vib install -d= file_name.
Checking PCIe slot performance
For optimal performance, install the Z-Drive in, or move the Z-Drive to, a PCIe 8-lane Gen 3 slot or
better.
To check the performance of the slot, let the driver load then look in the system message log for a
message similar to:
ocznvme: PCI-E x4, Bandwidth Usage: 8.0 Gbps
If this does not show PCI-E x4 or a bandwidth of 8.0 Gbps, then move it to a slot that meets these
requirements.
Boot Installation
When setting up your Z-Drive 6000 as a boot device, follow the standard VMware instructions. To
install the OCZ device driver in ESXi 5.n, you can use the VMware PowerCLI to create a set-up iso
file that contains the OCZ device driver VIB file.
RLSENOTES-ZD6000-VMWARE,NVMe-DRVR, Revision 1 3
Z-Drive 6000 VMware NVMe Device Driver Release Notes
Hints and Tips
If upgrading your ESXi 5.0 or 5.1 system to ESXi 5.5 or 6.0, you must use the VMware NVMe device
driver instead of the OCZ NVMe device driver. When updating to ESXi 6.0, the VMware NVMe device
driver is automatically installed and used. However when updating to ESXi 5.5 you must manually
download and install the VMware NVMe driver from the VMware website. Do this after you have
performed the ESXi update.
In both cases, your datastore and virtual machines on the NVMe drive are not automatically available
after updating to the VMware NVMe device driver. You must manually import the datastore and virtual
machines as follows:
1 From the vSphere client, select Configuration - Storage - Datastore - Add Storage.
2 Select the OCZ NVMe drive from the list.
3 Select Assign a New Signature and ensure that Format the Disk is not selected. The
datastore is now available.
4 Browse the datastore and import the virtual machines.
4 © 2015 OCZ Storage Solutions Inc. - A Toshiba Group Company
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