PCI Express Solid-State Device Support

This section gives an overview of the OpenManage Storage Management (OMSM) device management support for Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Solid-State Drive (SSD) and its associated devices like the backplane and extender card.

In OMSS, PCIe SSD appears under the storage management. OMSM reports the PCIe SSD devices and its various properties.

NOTE: OMSM does not support RAID management or configuration on PCIe SSD sub systems.

What is PCIe SSD

Dell Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) solid state device (SSD) is a high-performance storage device designed for solutions requiring low latency, high Input Output Operations per Second (IOPS), and enterprise class storage reliability and serviceability. The Dell PCIe SSD is designed based on Single Level Cell (SLC) NAND flash technology with a high-speed PCIe 2.0 compliant interface. The high-speed PCIe 2.0 compliant interface helps improve performance for I/O bound solutions.

PCIe SSD Features

Following are the key features of PCIe SSD:

Hot plug capability
High-performance device
Support for 2.5-inch HDD Form Factor

PCIe Sub System Properties

The PCIe SSD sub system comprises of the following components:

Backplane
Extender Card
PCIe Solid State Device

Table 5-1 lists the PCIe Sub System Properties.

 

Table 5-1. PCIe Sub System Properties

Properties

Description

ID

This property displays the Sub System ID assigned to the PCIe sub system by Storage Management. Storage Management numbers the controllers and PCIe sub systems attached to the system starting with zero. This number is the same as the PCIe sub system ID number reported by the omreport Command. For information on Command Line Interface, see the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Command Line Interface User's Guide at support.dell.com/manuals.

NOTE: In CLI commands, the PCIe sub system ID is displayed as the controller ID.

Name

This property displays the name of the sub system.

State

This property displays the current status of the sub system. Possible values are:

Ready—The sub system is functioning normally.

Degraded—The sub system has encountered a failure and is operating in a degraded state.

Failed—The sub system has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning.

Driver Version

This property displays the version of the driver that is currently installed on the sub system.

NOTE: On some sub systems, Storage Management may not be able to obtain the driver version. In this case, Storage Management displays Not Applicable.

Number of Extender Cards

This property displays the number of Extender Cards the sub system has. Each Extender Card can be attached to physical disks or an enclosure. The Extender Card should be a PCIe SSD port.

Available Reports

Enables you to view the Slot Occupancy report. For more information, see Available Reports.

PCIe Extender Cards

The PCIe Extender Card is attached to the backplane of the system and provides PCIe connectivity for up to four PCIe SSD devices at the front of the chassis.

NOTE: The PCIe Extender Card does not have any properties or tasks.

Table 5-2 lists the PCIe Extender Card Properties.

Table 5-2. PCIe Extender Card Properties

Properties

Description

Name

This property displays the name of the Extender Card.

State

This property displays the current status of the Extender Card. Possible values are:

Ready—The Extender Card is functioning normally.

Degraded—The Extender Card has encountered a failure and is operating in a degraded state.

Failed—The Extender Card has encountered a failure and is no longer functioning.

Physical Device Properties

You can view information about PCIe SSDs and run PCIe SSD tasks on the Physical Device Properties screen. To view the complete PCIe SSD properties, click the Full View link on the top of the screen.

Table 5-3 lists the physical device properties for PCIe SSD.

Table 5-3. Physical Device Properties

Properties

Description

Name

Displays the name of the PCIe SSD. The name is comprised of the bay ID, and the slot in which the PCIe SSD is installed.

State

Displays the health state of the PCIe SSD.

Bus Protocol

Displays the technology that the PCIe SSD is using.

Media

Displays the media type of the physical disk.

Device Life Status

Displays the life status of the PCIe SSD. The device life status is determined by the following attributes:

Percent Lifetime Used — This attribute is determined by the elapsed time since the start of use (up to three years) or percentage of total bytes written (TBW).

Write Protect Progress — This attribute is determined by the reduction in number of available spare sectors. If the available spare sectors is less than 10 percent of the original pool, the drive enters read-only mode.

Possible values for the device life status are:

Drive Health Good — The drive is used within the TBW specification. The drive health is good as sufficient spare blocks are available. The drive health status is good if the values for percent lifetime used and write protect progress is less than 100 percent.

Approaching Warranty Coverage Expiry — The drive is reaching the specified TBW, indicating that it is close to the end of warranty coverage. However, the drive will be functional as the number of spare blocks available are still above the threshold for entering the read-only mode. The drive approaches the warranty coverage expiry if the value for percent lifetime used is greater than or equal to 90 percent and that for write protect progress is less than the threshold value, which is 90 percent.

Warranty Coverage Expired — The drive has reached the TBW threshold and met the the life expectancy specification. The drive will be functional as the number of spare blocks available are still above the threshold for entering the read-only mode. But, the specified data retention period (amount of time that data can be read from the drive after TBW is reached) will drop if TBW specification is exceeded and the warranty for the drive will expire. The warranty coverage for the drive expires if the value for percent lifetime used is equal to 100 percent and that for write protect progress is less than 100 percent.

Approaching Read Only — The drive is running out of spare sectors and is reaching the read-only mode. However, the health status of the drive is good and data retention is unaffected. The drive is stated to be approaching the read-only mode if the value for percent lifetime used is less than 100 percent and that for write protect progress is greater than or equal to 90 percent.

Read Only — The drive is in read-only mode. Users must save open files, if any, to another device and replace or remove the device. If this scenario occurs within three years of the device installation, this failure is covered under warranty. The drive is in read-only mode if the value for percent lifetime used is less than 100 percent and that for write protect progress is equal to 90 percent.

Driver Version

Displays the version of the driver that is currently installed on the sub system.

 

NOTE: On some sub systems, Storage Management may not be able to obtain the driver version. In this case, Storage Management displays Not Applicable.

Device Life Remaining

Displays the remaining device life percentage of the PCIe SSD.

Revision

Displays the current running firmware version on the PCIe SSD.

Model Number

Displays the Piece Part Identification (PPID) of the PCIe SSD.

Capacity

Displays the full capacity of the device.

Vendor ID

Displays the hardware vendor of the device.

Product ID

Displays the product ID of the device.

Serial No.

Displays the serial number of the device.

Negotiated Speed

Displays the speed of data transfer that the device negotiated during initial communication. The negotiated speed depends on the speed of the device, the capable speed of the PCIe extender card, and the current speed of the PCIe extender card on that connector.

Capable Speed

Displays the highest possible speed at which the device can transfer data

Physical Device Tasks

The physical device tasks for PCIe SSD are as follows:

Blink
Unblink
Full Initialization
Export Log
Prepare to Remove

To run a physical device task:

1 Expand the Storage tree object to display the storage component objects.
2 Expand the PCIe-SSD SubSystem object.
3 Expand the Connector object.
4 Expand the Enclosure (Backplane) object.
5 Select the Physical Devices object.
6 Select a task from the Available Tasks drop-down menu.
7 Click Execute.

Blink and Unblink

The Blink task allows you to find a device within a system by blinking one of the LEDs on the device. You can use this task to locate a failed device. If you need to cancel the Blink task or if the physical device continues to blink Indefinitely, use the Unblink task.

Full Initialization

CAUTION: Performing a full initialization on a PCIe SSD overwrites all blocks and will result in permanent loss of all data on the PCIe SSD.
NOTE: During full initialization, the host is unable to access the PCIe SSD.
NOTE: If the system reboots or experiences a power loss during full initialization, the operation aborts. You must reboot the system and restart the process.

Preparing to Remove

Dell PCIe SSDs support orderly hot swap allowing you to add or remove a device without halting or rebooting the system in which the devices are installed.

NOTE: Orderly hot swap is only supported when PCIe SSDs are installed in a supported Dell system running a supported operating system. To ensure that you have the correct configuration for your PCIe SSD, see the system specific Owner's Manual at support.dell.com/manuals.
NOTE: The identify LED pattern (blink operation) is the same LED pattern as safe to remove. When you initiate a prepare to remove operation, ensure that your PCIe SSD is no longer accessible by the system before you physically remove the PCIe SSD. .
CAUTION: To prevent data loss, it is mandatory that you use the Prepare to Remove task before physically removing a device.

Use the Prepare to Remove task to safely remove a PCIe SSD from the system. This task causes the status LEDs on the device to blink. You can safely remove the device from the system under the following conditions after you use the Prepare to Remove task:

The PCIe SSD is blinking the safe to remove LED pattern.
The PCIe SSD is no longer accessible by the system.

Export Log

The log contains debug information of the PCIe SSD and can be useful for troubleshooting. You can export the reliability log through the Physical Device Available Tasks drop-down list.

PCIe SSD Sub System Health

It indicates the roll-up health status of physical devices. The individual health status of the physical devices appears at the respective level.

Backplanes

PCIe SSDs are attached to the PCIe SSD backplane of the system. The number of supported PCIe SSDs depend on the system.

NOTE: Dell PCIe SSDs must be used with PCIe SSD backplanes. Do not plug in SAS/SATA devices to a PCIe SSD backplane or vice versa.

Backplane Firmware Version

The backplane firmware version is reported in the Information Configuration page of the PCIe SSD sub system.

NOTE: The firmware version is the only Backplane property supported for PCIe SSD.