Compatible PCIe NVME cards

F

freebuser

Hi All,

Is there any particular card/chip I need to be aware of when buying a PCIe expansion cards for NVME storage (FreeBSD compatibility).

I am looking at buying a card with two or more ports to use it in Dell T420 server for additional storage.

Rather than buying SSD disks and looking for additional power sockets, this will likely solve both problems with slightly higher cost.
 
I don't think there are any chips (requiring OS support) on those cards as they are usually just PCIe "extenders", passive and only have components for electrical PCIe requirements.

EDIT: note though that booting from that storage is unlikely (not your use case as I understand it, but I though I'd mention it).
 
FreeBSD doesn't have any issues with supporting NVMe. What is more problematic is your hardware platform - it has to support PCIe bifurcation. Dell seems to often block those functions on anything but some "premium" platforms, so check your BIOS settings for that before you buy anything. Also booting from NVMe seems to be very seldomly supported on (older) Dell platforms or also exclusively on higher-spec (-price) variants.
If it doesn't support bifurcation, you need to get a card with a full-blown PCIe switch, which are 200-300$++ compared to ~20$ for a normal carrier card. (And in case of Dell still pray that it is recognized if its not running Dell firmware...)
 
sko said:
FreeBSD doesn't have any issues with supporting NVMe. What is more problematic is your hardware platform - it has to support PCIe bifurcation. Dell seems to often block those functions on anything but some "premium" platforms, so check your BIOS settings for that before you buy anything. Also booting from NVMe seems to be very seldomly supported on (older) Dell platforms or also exclusively on higher-spec (-price) variants.
If it doesn't support bifurcation, you need to get a card with a full-blown PCIe switch, which are 200-300$++ compared to ~20$ for a normal carrier card. (And in case of Dell still pray that it is recognized if its not running Dell firmware...)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it looks like it doesn't from this reddit question https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/qfzodm/dell_t420_bifurcation_support/

SSD then :-(
 
sko said:
FreeBSD doesn't have any issues with supporting NVMe. What is more problematic is your hardware platform - it has to support PCIe bifurcation. Dell seems to often block those functions on anything but some "premium" platforms, so check your BIOS settings for that before you buy anything. Also booting from NVMe seems to be very seldomly supported on (older) Dell platforms or also exclusively on higher-spec (-price) variants.
If it doesn't support bifurcation, you need to get a card with a full-blown PCIe switch, which are 200-300$++ compared to ~20$ for a normal carrier card. (And in case of Dell still pray that it is recognized if its not running Dell firmware...)
Click to expand...

It appears I still can use a single NVMe drive expansion card?
 
Having just read about this bifurcation thing for five minutes, yes, it seems like you wouldn't have to worry about anything if you had a X-lane NVMe card plugged into an X-lane adapter in an X-lane slot for various values of X.
 
On top of all this you can find NVMe cards called AIC which have x8 lanes and offer full x8 lane performance.
Samsung PM1735 HHHL(Half Height, Half Length) AIC is one such card. This is Gen 4 PCIe and quick.
Found in Lenovo, HP and Dell servers.
semiconductor.samsung.com

PM1733/PM1735 | Enterprise SSD | Samsung Semiconductor Global

PM1733/PM1735 offers top-notch performance in a 2.5-inch HHHL form factor and capacities up to 30.72TB. Meet PM1733/PM1735 to suit OEM needs worldwide.
semiconductor.samsung.com semiconductor.samsung.com
 
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