Can NVMe driver be upgraded if using RSTe 5.3?

[RMark4]

I have the following configuration:

- Intel Purley generation server

- Windows 2016 Datacenter

- RSTe 5.3

- 4 Intel P4600 NVMe drives connected and seen in RSTe GUI under the Intel VROC controller

I do *not* intend to use the NVMe drive storage for OS disk

- Device Manager indicates the driver associated with the NVMe drives is:

Provider: Microsoft

Driver date: 6/21/2006

Driver Version: 10.0.14393.0

This appears to be a generic driver for NVMe drives, and as such is unlikely to provide optimal performance.

Therefore I want to upgrade the driver to an Intel specific driver.

If I try to install this Intel NVMe driver for data center NVMe drives:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27517/Datacenter-NVMe-Microsoft-Windows-Drivers-for-Intel-SSDs Download Datacenter NVMe* Microsoft Windows* Drivers for Intel® SSDs

it fails to install, due to this error:

'The RSTe NVMe combined package is already installed.

Installation of the standalone NVMe driver package may not continue.'

So, is there a way to use an Intel device driver rather than the Microsoft generic NVMe device driver if I am using Intel RSTe v5.3???

Thanks.

[idata]

Hello JibeHo22,

Thank you for contacting Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (Intel® RSTe) support and in regards to your situation we'll be more than glad to help you; in order to determine which way will be the most appropriate to assist you we'll need that you send us the Technical Specifications of your machine such as:Motherboard Model and Manufacturer:Processor Model:Amount of RAM that you have installed:Number of Storage devices and their capacity (SSDs and HDDs) on your machine:The Drives are used in a RAID (0, 1, 5, 10) configuration?:Exact version of Intel® RSTe (Enterprise):If possible please attach us the LOG Files generated by RSTe, depending on your Windows Version they could be found in the C:\Users\[username]\Intel folder or also you can use the Email option on the RSTe GUI to generate a report for your equipment.Once you've sent us that information we'll proceed with the necessary assistance and if you have additional details to add your situation or want to ask additional questions please don't hesitate to contact us, we'll be glad to assist you.Best regards,Chris

[RMark4]

RSTe 5.3.0.1412

4 Drives:

Intel NVMe x4 P4600 2.0TB

ProductID: SSDPE2KE020T7

The drives appear as available drives in RSTe GUI (have not configured them yet as a RAID5 array)

Server:

SuperMicro SSG-6049P-E1CR24L (Motherboard X11DPH-T)

Processors(2): Intel Xeon Gold 6154 CPU @ 3.0 GHz

64 GB DDR4@2666Mhz

Bios: 2.0

OS: Win2016 Datacenter

Drives Connect to Server via PCIe Gen3 PLX based Host Card

http://www.serialcables.com/products.asp?cat=355&tier=264 High Speed Serial Cables, Adapters and Accessories from Serial Cables

I have attached the System Report from RSTe to this reply.

[idata]

Hello JibeHo22,

Thanks for the information that you've provided, in regards to your situation that you're experiencing the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (Intel® RSTe) package already contains and installs the required NVMe Drivers for your drives to be able to create a RAID without any issues.Based on the RSTe Report that you've shared with us, it shows up the Drives as Available to be part of a RAID set, so the correct drivers are installed for your drives and you'll be able to create a RAID5 Array. Additionally, please remember that if you require more assistance or want to add additional details, we'll be glad to assist youBest regards,Chris

[RMark4]

I noticed that command queueing is not enabled for the NVMe drives.

You can see evidence of this by looking at the information in the attachment I uploaded in my previous reply.

For example, this is the information for one of the 4 NVMe drives:

Disk on Controller 2, Port 1

Status: Normal

Type: NVMe SSD

Location type: Internal

Usage: Available

Size: 1,863 GB

System disk: No

Disk data cache: Enabled

Command queuing: None

Model: INTEL SSDPE2KE020T7

Serial number: BTLE736000SE2P0DGN

SCSI device ID: 0

Firmware: QDV10130

Physical sector size: 512 Bytes

Logical sector size: 512 Bytes

Why is command queueing not being used?

Thanks.

[RMark4]

In addition to the Intel P4600 drives that I used in previous reply, I also tried the following types of Intel NVMe drives:

• Optane 900P
• P3700

In all cases, the Disk Properties shows

Command queuing: None

Is this indicating that RSTe and/or the NVMe drives are not properly configured for optimal performance?

Thanks.

[idata]

Hello JibeHo22.

Thank you for your patience. Please find the answer to your questions below:

• Why is command queueing not being used?

• Is this indicating that RSTe and/or the NVMe drives are not properly configured for optimal performance?

Command queuing is a remnant of the HDD SATA days where native command queuing (NCQ) was used to optimize the number of revolutions on the disk when acquiring data. In the RSTe report where it shows a SATA and an NVMe drive, the value shown for 'Command Queuing' is only relevant to SATA space and 'None' is only put in the field as a courtesy for NVMe since it is not defined in NVMe space. We hope you find this information useful. Best regards, Josh B.Intel Customer Support

[idata]

Hello JibeHo22.

Thank you for having contacted Intel Technical Support. We have not heard from you since our last communication and we would like to know if you need further assistance or if we can close this case? Important note: Should further assistance or clarification be required, we will greatly appreciate if you reply to this post instead of writing a new one unless your inquiry is completely unrelated. This way we will prevent generating a duplicate post and we will not lose the train of thought. We will be looking forward to your reply.Best regards,Josh B.Intel Customer Support.