Intel SSD 600p in RAID1 using RST Enterprise NVMe

[George2005]

I have got workstation motherboard with Intel C612 Chipset and Intel Xeon E5-1650 V4 CPU. The RAID support for Intel NVMe SSDs for such platform is provided by the Intel Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (RSTe) NVMe product (see Technical Product Specification here: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/ssdc/ssd-software/RSTe_NVMeProduct%20Spec.pdf https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/ssdc/ssd-software/RSTe_NVMeProduct%20Spec.pdf).

I would like to know if it's possible to create (non-bootable) RAID1 array from two Intel SSD 600p NVMe SSD drives using such Intel Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (RSTe) NVMe RAID driver. In its Technical Product Specification mentioned above there is an information that it supports "Intel NVMe SSDs" only, which the 600p model definitely is , but I'm not sure if the Intel SSD 600p is supported by it, actually, because it's not listed on the RSTe NVMe RAID driver User Guide page (see https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/memory-and-storage/ssd-software/000023918.html User Guide for Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Enterprise (Intel®... ).

Btw: on FAQ page for Intel SSD 600p/Pro 6000p Series (see https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/memory-and-storage/000022378.html Frequently Asked Questions for Intel® SSD 600p/Pro 6000p Series) there is an information that such SSD drives in RAID configuration are supported by using the latest Intel RST driver (i.e. non enterprise version), but there is a problem that such latest Intel RST driver supports 6th and 7th Generation Intel Core Processor Family Platform only so it's not possible to use it on my Xeon E5 v4 CPU family with the C612 Chipset.

Thank you very much for the help.

[idata]

Hello George2005,

Thank you for contacting the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology for enterprise In regards to your question, we would like remark that the list of NVMe drives listed on the Inte® https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/memory-and-storage/ssd-software/000023918.html User Guide for Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Enterprise are the SSD's that has been tested with the software in order to get the best performance, however all our Intel drivers should work on the RAID setup that you planning.The only Raid configuration that is limited to an specific SSD series is Raid 0 since it requires an Intel Intel® SSD DC P3608 due to the SSD controller. However please allow me to check in our data if we have previous testing data using Intel® 600p Series SSD's + Intel® RSTeBest RegardsLuis H

[George2005]

Dear Luis,

thank you very much for your reply.

It would be great, if Intel 600p Series SSD's could work in RAID1 using Intel RST enterprise, actually. You have written: "all our Intel drivers should work on the RAID setup" - Do you mean by it, that "all Intel SSD drives should work on the RAID setup", i.e. including 600p ones, right?

I would also appreciate, if you have any testing data using Intel® 600p Series SSD's + Intel® RSTe.

Thank you uvery much.

Best Regards,

George

[idata]

Hello George2005,

Please check my findings in regards to your question

1. As mention before Intel RSTe will allow you to use any SSD for most of the RAID configurations (Except RAID 0 which is only currently support on Intel® SSD DC P3608 Series)
2. You can build a RAID configuration on Intel® RSTe using Intel® SSD 600p Series SSD's, however please keep in mind that since the 600p is a consumer SSD, by using the SSD on enterprise environment this will void the warranty since the drive was not developed for Enterprise environments.

Best Regards Luis H

[George2005]

Dear Luis,

thank you very much for your reply.

Well, I understand that 600p is a consumer SSD, but as my system isn't a server (just the workstation PC) I wouldn't like to use SSDs in a way which could exceed the ordinary consumer use.

Best Regards,

George

[idata]

Hello George2005,

Taking in consideration all the details that you have provided us, in your case our best recommendation will be to consider changing from Intel® SSD 600p Series to Intel® SSD Pro 6000p Series since they are in the same price/specifications range and if you encounter any issue with the product, you will be cover within the warranty.

http://ark.intel.com/products/94915/Intel-SSD-Pro-6000p-Series-128GB-M_2-80mm-PCIe-3_0-x4-3D1-TLC http://ark.intel.com/products/94915/Intel-SSD-Pro-6000p-Series-128GB-M_2-80mm-PCIe-3_0-x4-3D1-TLC

Best Regards

Luis H

[George2005]

Dear Luis,

thank you very much for the great hint to use 6000p series instead of 600p. But I must say that now I'm very concerned about the bugs in the latest firmware which cause the extremely slow writing (3 times slower then before!) - see . I'm not sure if 6000p SSDs are also affected but I suspect so, as the firmware numbers are almost identical ("121C" for 600p and "121P" for 6000p).

So now I'm afraid to buy either 6000p SSDs or 600p ones, actually! Please do you have any information when the new firmware version would be released to solve such horrible bugs?

Thank you

Best Regards

George

[idata]

Hello George2005,

I completely understand your concern, our department scope is more related to Intel® RSTe, however please allow me to investigate about this firmware issue that you mentioned. I will get back you you as soon as i get further updates on your question. Best RegardsLuis H

[George2005]

Hello Luis,

thank you for your response, I would appreciate very much if you get any new information about 600p/6000p firmware bug solution as I have to make the purchasing decision quite soon.

Thanks again for all.

Best Regards

George

[idata]

Hello George2005,

We are sorry for the delay in our responseI was able to find more information about the firmware issue that you mentioned, please find the most current status on the following community discussion:/message/499090 https://communities.intel.com/message/499090 You can use the previous community discussion link to follow up on the firmware statusBest RegardsLuis H

[George2005]

Hello Luis,

thank you very much for your information which clarifies the firmware issue sufficiently.

Best Regards

George

[idata]

Hello George2005,

We are glad to hear that we were able to clear your questions. Best RegardsLuis H