Users Guide

Managing PCIe SSDs

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 PCIe SSD is designed based on Single Level Cell (SLC) and Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash technology with a

high-speed PCIe 2.0 or PCIe 3.0 compliant interface. iDRAC 2.20.20.20 and later versions support Half-Height Half-Length (HHHL)

PCIe SSD cards on Dell’s 13th generation of PowerEdge rack and tower servers and Dell PowerEdge R920 servers. The HHHL SSD

card can be directly plugged in to the PCI slot in the servers that do not have PCIe SSD supported backplanes. You can also use

these cards on servers with supported backplanes.

Using iDRAC interfaces, you can view and configure NVMe PCIe SSDs.

The key features of PCIe SSD are:

• Hot plug capability

• High-performance device

The PCIe SSD subsystem consists of the Backplane, PCIe Extender card which is attached to the backplane of the system and

provides PCIe connectivity for up to four or eight PCIe SSDs at the front of the chassis and the PCIe SSDs.

You can perform the following operations for PCIe SSDs:

• Inventory and remotely monitor the health of PCIe SSDs in the server

• Prepare to remove the PCIe SSD

• Securely erase the data

• Blink or unblink the device LED

You can perform the following operations for HHHL SSDs:

• Inventory and real-time monitoring of the HHHL SSD in the server

• Drive status reporting such as Online, Failed, and Offline

• Failed card reporting and logging in iDRAC and OMSS

• Securely erasing the data and removing the card

• TTY logs reporting

NOTE: Hot plug capability, prepare to remove, and blink or unblink the device LED is not applicable for HHHL PCIe SSD

devices.