SSD DC P4801X - 4K sectorsize?

[kim_bjoern]

Hi all, I've been trying desperatly to change the sectorsize of my P4801X SSD (U.2 100GB) - with no luck.

Purpose is for SLOG device on FreeBSD 12.1.

I've tried with isdct, intelmas, nvmecontrol, and format/change with LBA #3 is confirmed - but the sectorsize remains @ 512B.

Is this at all possible? Have anyone done it? How did you do it?

Thanks in advance - Kim Bjoern

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, @kim_bjoern.

Thank you for contacting the Intel Community Support.

I received your ticket regarding the sector size change for the P4801X, I will be glad to assist you.

I will need to get confirmation before I can get back to you with a definitive answer, in the mean time, would you tell me what commands you tried to use with intelmas or inteldct?

Additionally, would you mind letting me know what is the impact/scale of the project you are working on or number of P4801X involved?

Edit: If possible, let me know the output of the Intel MAS command "intelmas show -all -intelssd X", just replace the X with the drive index.

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[kim_bjoern]

Thanks Bruce, this is what I did (from ESXi 6.7U3):

[root@esxi-r720xd:~] /opt/intel/intelmas/intelmas start -intelssd 0 -nvmeformat LBAFormat = 3 SecureEraseSetting = 2 ProtectionInformation = 0 MetaDataSettings = 0 

WARNING! You have selected to format the drive! 

Proceed with the format? (Y|N): Y

Formatting...(This can take several minutes to complete)

- Intel Optane(TM) SSD DC P4801X Series PHKE83150087100EGN -

Status : NVMeFormat successful.

[root@esxi-r720xd:~] 

[kim_bjoern]

[root@esxi-r720xd:~] /opt/intel/intelmas/intelmas show -all -intelssd 0

- Intel Optane(TM) SSD DC P4801X Series PHKE83150087100EGN -

AggregationThreshold : 0

AggregationTime : 0

ArbitrationBurst : 0

Bootloader : EB3B0438

CoalescingDisable : 1

DevicePath : nvmeMgmt-nvme00030000

DeviceStatus : Healthy

DirectivesSupported : False

DisableThermalThrottle : The selected drive does not support this feature.

DynamicMMIOEnabled : The selected drive does not support this feature.

EndToEndDataProtCapabilities : 17

EnduranceAnalyzer : Workload did not induce any wear on the drive. Expected life calculation is invalid. Ensure that workloads run for an hour or more for valid calculations.

ErrorString : Value not found

Firmware : E2010485

FirmwareUpdateAvailable : The selected drive contains current firmware as of this tool release.

FormatNVMCryptoEraseSupported : True

FormatNVMSupported : True

HighPriorityWeightArbitration : 0

IOCompletionQueuesRequested : 30

IOSubmissionQueuesRequested : 30

Index : 0

Intel : True

IntelGen3SATA : False

IntelNVMe : True

InterruptVector : 0

IsDualPort : False

LBAFormat : 0

LatencyTrackingEnabled : The selected drive does not support this feature.

LowPriorityWeightArbitration : 0

MaximumLBA : 195371567

MediumPriorityWeightArbitration : 0

MetadataSetting : 0

MetadataSize : 0

ModelNumber : INTEL SSDPE21K100GA

NVMeControllerID : 0

NVMeMajorVersion : 1

NVMeMinorVersion : 0

NVMePowerState : 0

NVMeTertiaryVersion : 0

NamespaceId : 1

NamespaceManagementSupported : False

NativeMaxLBA : 195371567

NumErrorLogPageEntries : 63

NumLBAFormats : 6

NumberOfNamespacesSupported : 1

OEM : Generic

PCILinkGenSpeed : 3

PCILinkWidth : 4

PLITestTimeInterval : The selected drive does not support this feature.

PhyConfig : The selected drive does not support this feature.

PhySpeed : The selected drive does not support this feature.

PhysicalSectorSize : The selected drive does not support this feature.

PhysicalSize : 100030242816

PowerGovernorAveragePower : Feature is not supported.

PowerGovernorBurstPower : Feature is not supported.

PowerGovernorMode : 0

Product : Coldstream

ProductFamily : Intel Optane(TM) SSD DC P4801X Series

ProductProtocol : NVME

ProtectionInformation : 0

ProtectionInformationLocation : 0

ReadErrorRecoveryTimer : Device does not support this command set.

SMARTEnabled : True

SMARTHealthCriticalWarningsConfiguration : 31

SMBusAddress : 106

SMI : False

SanitizeBlockEraseSupported : False

SanitizeCryptoScrambleSupported : False

SanitizeOverwriteSupported : False

SectorDataSize : 512

SectorSize : 512

SelfTestSupported : False

SerialNumber : PHKE83150087100EGN

SupportCommandEffectsLog : True

TCGSupported : True

TelemetryLogSupported : True

TempThreshold : 80

TemperatureLoggingInterval : The selected drive does not support this feature.

TimeLimitedErrorRecovery : 0

TrimSupported : True

VolatileWriteCacheEnabled : Invalid Field in Command

WriteAtomicityDisableNormal : 0

WriteCacheReorderingStateEnabled : The selected drive does not support this feature.

WriteCacheState : The selected drive does not support this feature.

WriteErrorRecoveryTimer : Device does not support this command set.

[root@esxi-r720xd:~] 

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, @kim_bjoern.

Thank you for the information.

I confirmed that it should support it.

Please let me know if you can run the same command one more time, but this time with the SecureEraseSetting in 0 instead of 2.

- intelmas start -intelssd 0 -NVMeFormat LBAformat=3 SecureEraseSetting=0 ProtectionInformation=0 MetaDataSettings=0

If the issue persist, please clear/delete all the partitions and initialize the drive in GPT using a different tool, then try one more time to run the command.

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A contingent worker at Intel

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, @kim_bjoern.

I wanted to follow up on your ticket to check if you have had the time to ty the two recommendations I mentioned in my previous post (the different parameter and test after cleaning/erasing the drive using a different tool).

If further assistance is required or you have any other questions, please let me know.

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent worker at Intel

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, @kim_bjoern.

Good day,

This message is to let you know that we were investigating this issue and we now have an update to share with you.

This could be related to the current NVMe driver being used, would you mind installing the following ESXi driver directly from their website and trying one more time to change the sector size?

- VMware ESXi 6.7 intel-nvme-vmd 1.8.0.1001 NVMe Driver for Intel: https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI67-INTEL-INTEL-NVME-VMD-1801001&productId=742#product_downloads

Please let me know if this is possible or in case you tried something else.

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A contingent worker at Intel

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, @kim_bjoern.

I wanted to follow up on your thread regarding the P4801X and check if you had the time to review the information I previously shared regarding the NVMe driver.

Please let met know if assistance is still required.

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A contingent worker at Intel

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello,  @kim_bjoern.

This message is to follow up on your community thread regarding the P4801X sector size change.

I previously shared some information regarding a possible driver conflict and recommended installing that version in order to try again to modify the sector size using the command.

The thread will be closed on October 27th if further assistance is not required, opening a new thread will be necessary if there are other questions or concerns as this one will no longer be monitored. You may also contact us via one of the other support methods (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html).

If you require any type of assistance from Intel in the future, you can always contact us back.

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel