This blog post was written by Avinash Bendigeri and Krishnaprasad K from Dell Hypervisor Engineering team
VMware announced hot pluggable PCIe SSD storage support from ESXi 5.5 onwards. Dell announced the release of PCIe SSD flash device support from PowerEdge 12th generation server release onwards. This blog focuses on the list of PowerEdge servers supporting PCIe SSD and PCIe SSD flash device use cases in VMware ESXi environment.
From VMware ESXi 5.5 onwards, the micron driver (mtip32xx_native) is used to initialize PCIe SSD flash device and is available as an inbox driver. VMware ESXi 5.1.x branch does not include this driver in ESXi by default. However the Dell Customized VMware ESXi 5.1.x images are bundled with this driver. Refer to "ESXi 5.x Image Customization Information" guide available at Dell VMware ESXi Documentation site to know the version details of micron driver integrated in VMware ESXi 5.1.x branches.
NOTE: Even though PCIe SSD is supported in ESXi 5.1.x branch, hot swapping of PCIe SSD is not supported. This feature is available from ESXi 5.5 onwards only.
The user guide for PCIe SSD flash device is available under "User's Guide" section at Dell support site. This guide talks about the PCIe SSD architecture, setting up PCIe SSD on Dell PowerEdge Server(s), Managing PCIe SSD, Driver installation for different supported operating systems etc. The Dell PowerEdge Express Flash PCIe SSD spec sheet can be found here.
Dell PowerEdge server(s) supporting PCIe SSD flash device
Below are the PowerEdge servers which are supported for express flash PCIe SSD.
- PE R820
- PE M620
- PE R720
- PE M820
- PE R620
- PE T620
The use cases of PCIe SSD flash devices in VMware ESXi
There are three use cases available for PCIe SSD devices in VMware ESXi.
1. PCIe SSD storage as a VMFS datastore
The VMware Virtual Machine FileSystem (VMFS) is an automated file system that simplifies storage management for virtual machines. Adding PCIe SSD storage as a VMFS datastore is same as how other storage devices are being used. The detailed steps to add a storage device as a VMFS datastore is explained here. This VMFS datastore can be used for deploying virtual machines.
2. PCIe SSD storage for swapping to Host Cache
The VMFS datastore created out of PCIe SSD flash device storage can be used for allocating space for host cache. Read VMware documentation to understand about swapping to host cache and its configuration.
3. PCIe SSD storage for virtual Flash (vFlash) feature
Virtual flash is a new feature introduced from VMware ESXi 5.5. It allows accelerating virtual machine performance through the use of local SSD disks. Refer to VMware KB to know more about virtual flash. Refer to VMware KB to understand configuring vFlash using SSD device(s) which can include PCIe SSD as well.