Poor Performance - P41 Plus

[Papaya0]

Hello,

I am experiencing poor transfer performance between two P41 Plus drives in Ubuntu. Have tested moderate sized files (7GB) and larger files (50GB); results are the same. After a quick burst, R/W significantly declines.

Please see the below iotop results as a proxy during a transfer of a folder of 7GB files. The burst lasts for about 5 seconds and then significantly declines.

Here is the drive information for the two:

Capacity : 2.05 TB (2,048,408,248,320 bytes)
DevicePath : /dev/nvme0n1
DeviceStatus : Healthy
Firmware : 004C
FirmwareUpdateAvailable : The selected drive contains current firmware as of this tool release.
Index : 0
MaximumLBA : 4000797359
ModelNumber : SOLIDIGM SSDPFKNU020TZ
ProductFamily : P41 Plus
SMARTEnabled : True
SectorDataSize : 512

Capacity : 2.05 TB (2,048,408,248,320 bytes)
DevicePath : /dev/nvme1n1
DeviceStatus : Healthy
Firmware : 004C
FirmwareUpdateAvailable : The selected drive contains current firmware as of this tool release.
Index : 1
MaximumLBA : 4000797359
ModelNumber : SOLIDIGM SSDPFKNU020TZ
ProductFamily : P41 Plus
SMARTEnabled : True
SectorDataSize : 512

 Here is my current computer information

OS: Ubuntu MATE 24.04.1 LTS x86_64  
Kernel: 6.8.0-51-generic 
Shell: bash 5.2.21 
WM: Metacity (Marco) 
Terminal: mate-terminal 
CPU: 11th Gen Intel i5-11600K (12) @ 
GPU: Intel RocketLake-S GT1 [UHD Gra 
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 
Memory: 15490MiB / 63748MiB
Motherboard: Z590-AORUS-MASTER

Thank you for your time an I hope there is something I can do to remediate this issue. 

[SolidigmGleb]

Hello Papaya0,

Thank you for providing detailed information about the performance issues with your P41 Plus drives. Please, explore some other factors that might be influencing the performance:

1. Adjust Power Management Settings: Ubuntu may apply aggressive power-saving settings that can throttle SSD performance. Disable power management for NVMe devices with the following command:

   bash

   echo 'autonomous_power_state_transition=0' | sudo tee -a /etc/nvme/hostnqn

2. Monitor System Resources: During file transfers, check for any potential bottlenecks such as high CPU or RAM usage which could impact performance. Use the htop command to monitor these resources in real-time.

3. Check NVMe Driver Compatibility: Ensure that the NVMe driver is functioning optimally. You can check this by running lsmod | grep nvme in the terminal.

4. Test Disk Performance: Utilize dd to test raw disk performance and identify any abnormalities:

   bash

   sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/output bs=8k count=10k; sync; rm /tmp/output

If none of the above steps work, there might be a more complex issue at play. In that case, you can create a ticket on the Solidigm Support hub and we will be happy to assist you.

Kind regards,
Gleb
Solidigm Customer Support

[Papaya0]

Thanks you the help.

1. I have performed this task

2. No bottlenecks, I routinely monitor this.

3. I have performed this command as written and have received the below, I cannot ascertain the results:

nvme                   61440  4
nvme_core             212992  5 nvme
nvme_auth              28672  1 nvme_core

 4. Should I be changing this command depending on where my drive is mounted? Mine is /dev/nvme0n1

[Papaya0]

To note, task 1 had not remediated the issue

[SolidigmGleb]

Hello Papaya0,

We have additional information to share with you regarding your situation.

It's important to note that performance measurements for P41 Plus SSDs should ideally be done within the SSD's SLC cache limits. We also recommend using for the testing  IOMeter, which might not directly compare to the results from dd or other methods you've tried.

To better diagnose the drop in performance after the initial burst, you please check the amount of the drive's SLC cache that is already in use. (Here is the link, to how to check it with our tool Solidigm Storage Tool). This could be influencing the performance you're observing. The Solidigm Storage Tool can provide this data.

Since our tools and drivers are optimized for specific operating systems, it's also worth noting that using them in Linux might not yield complete functionality. If possible, testing the drive in a Windows environment where our tools fully operate could offer more detailed insights.

Kind regards,
Gleb
Solidigm Customer Support