Intel 750 not showing delete support under ESXi?

[shopk]

Hi everyone, I've hit an unexpected issue with some new Intel 750's (1.2TB) and ESXi 6 (latest update). I have installed the latest driver as recommended (to improve the performance of the drives) and while they are working I have noticed that ESXi isn't attempting to reclaim any free space (and forcing it doesn't work). A check of the VAAI values of each drive showed the following:

VAAI Plugin Name:

ATS Status: unsupported

Clone Status: unsupported

Zero Status: unsupported

Delete Status: unsupported

While I expected ATS/Clone/Zero to be unsupported, I didn't expect to see Delete as unsupported. Using a standard SSD through an AHCI controller will show Delete as supported (as TRIM seems to get converted to DISCARD/UNMAP).

Has anyone else seen this? I'm concerned that as a result my performance is going to degrade over time as there will be a lack of proper unmapping of free space.

[jbenavides]

Hello shopkins,

Thank you for all the information you have provided. After reviewing it, the main recommendation I have at this time is to use the Intel-NVMe* driver 1.0e.2.0, this can be downloaded from VMware website at: https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI55-INTEL-INTEL-NVME-10E20&productId=39... product_downloads Download VMware Virtual SAN

Please let us know if this helps, or if the issue persists so we can consider further options.

[shopk]

Jonathon,

Driver has been upgraded and the system has been rebooted. Sadly the VAAI support still shows that Delete isnt supported:

[root@esxi:~] vmkload_mod -s intel-nvme

vmkload_mod module information

input file: /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/intel-nvme

Version: 1.0e.2.0-1OEM.550.0.0.1391871

License: BSD

Required name-spaces:

com.vmware.vmkapi# v2_2_0_0

Parameters:

[root@esxi:~] esxcli storage core device vaai status get

t10.NVMe____INTEL_SSDPEDMW012T4_CVCQ5163000Wxxxxxx__00000001

VAAI Plugin Name:

ATS Status: unsupported

Clone Status: unsupported

Zero Status: unsupported

Delete Status: unsupported

As a comparison, a Samsung EVO 840 250GB shows the following:

[root@testesxi:~] esxcli storage core device vaai status get

t10.ATA_____Samsung_SSD_840_EVO_250GB________________S1DDNEADxxxxxxF______

VAAI Plugin Name:

ATS Status: unsupported

Clone Status: unsupported

Zero Status: supported

Delete Status: supported

With the above SSD, both Zero and Delete are supported which helps the long-term performance of the drive.

[shopk]

I've found the following page (http://omnia.oeey.com/VMware/vSphere/NVMe VMware/vSphere/NVMe - Omnia) which shows something interesting in comparison to my results... Their output of esxcfg-scsidevs -l shows that the VAAI status is unknown, which in ESXi terms means its not got full VAAI compatibility but does have at least one feature. The difference in their results (aside from using a P3600) appears to be that their driver is 'nvme' rather than 'intel-nvme', so I am assuming they are using the OOTB ESXi version.

Can someone from Intel confirm if the external intel-nvme driver should have the VAAI capability, or if the only way to get it is to revert back to the OOTB driver and suffer the performance drop.

[jbenavides]

Hello shopkins,

We will engage additional resources to review this issue, please allow us some time to perform additional research and we will provide any new information as soon as it is available.

[ASouz7]

Hello shopkins,

Thank you for your time. Our engineering department tested with both Intel® SSD 750 Series and Intel® SSD DC P3600 Series and the outcome was the following:

For the Intel® SSD 750 Series, it is not on the VMWare* hadware compatibility list and therefore, it will have less endurance that the Intel® SSD DC P3600.

For the Intel® SSD DC P3600, delete status is supported under ESXi 6, but not on 5.5 so our recommendation is to update to ESXi 6.

Overprovioning may reduce the need for TRIM.