Data in a Flash, Part II: Using NVMe Drives and Creating an NVMe over Fabrics Network

Your Weekly Newsletter [view in browser »]( Want to stay more up to date on all things open source? Follow us on [Twitter](. [HighSpeed]( Data in a Flash, Part II: Using NVMe Drives and Creating an NVMe over Fabrics Network Petros Koutoupis- May 20, 2019 By design, NVMe drives are intended to provide local access to the machines they are plugged in to; however, the NVMe over Fabric specification seeks to address this very limitation by enabling remote network access to that same device. This article puts into practice what you learned in [Part I]( and shows how to use NVMe drives in a Linux environment. But, before continuing, you first need to make sure that your physical (or virtual) machine is up to date. Once you verify that to be the case, make sure you're able to see all connected NVMe devices: $ cat /proc/partitions |grep -e nvme -e major major minor #blocks name 259 0 3907018584 nvme2n1 259 1 3907018584 nvme3n1 259 2 3907018584 nvme0n1 259 3 3907018584 nvme1n1 Those devices also will appear in sysfs: $ ls /sys/block/|grep nvme nvme0n1 nvme1n1 nvme2n1 nvme3n1 If you don't see any connected NVMe devices, make sure the kernel module is loaded: petros@ubu-nvme1:~$ lsmod|grep nvme nvme 32768 0 nvme_core 61440 1 nvme Next, install the drive management utility called nvme-cli. This utility is defined and maintained by the very same NVM Express committee that defined the NVMe specification. The nvme-cli source code is hosted on [GitHub](. Fortunately, some operating systems offer this package in their internal repositories. Installing it on the latest Ubuntu looks something like this: petros@ubu-nvme1:~$ sudo add-apt-repository universe petros@ubu-nvme1:~$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install ↪nvme-cli Using this utility, you're able to list more details of all connected NVMe drives (note: the tabular output below has been reformatted and truncated to better fit here): $ sudo nvme list Node SN Model Namespace Usage Format FW Rev -------------------------------------------------------------- /dev/nvme0n1 PHLF814001... Dell Express Flash NVMe P4500 4.0TB SFF 1 ↪4.00 TB / 4.00 TB 512 B + 0 B QDV1DP12 /dev/nvme1n1 PHLF814300... Dell Express Flash NVMe P4500 4.0TB SFF 1 ↪4.00 TB / 4.00 TB 512 B + 0 B QDV1DP12 /dev/nvme2n1 PHLF814504... Dell Express Flash NVMe P4500 4.0TB SFF 1 ↪4.00 TB / 4.00 TB 512 B + 0 B QDV1DP12 /dev/nvme3n1 PHLF814502... Dell Express Flash NVMe P4500 4.0TB SFF 1 ↪4.00 TB / 4.00 TB 512 B + 0 B QDV1DP12 Note: if you don't have a physical NVMe drive connected to your machine but still want to follow along (in limited form), you can install and simulate an NVMe controller plus drive(s) in the latest VirtualBox virtualization application. [read article]( [YubiKey]( WebAuthn Web Authentication with YubiKey 5 Todd A. Jacobs - May 21, 2019 A look at the recently released YubiKey 5 hardware authenticator series and how web authentication with the new WebAuthn API leverages devices like the YubiKey for painless website registration and strong user authentication. [read article]( [keyboard]( FOSS Project Spotlight: Bareos, a Cross-Network, Open-Source Backup Solution Heike Jurzik and Maik Aussendorf - May 17, 2019 [Bareos]( (Backup Archiving Recovery Open Sourced) is a cross-network, open-source backup solution that preserves, archives and recovers data from all major operating systems. [Read Article]( [Episode 19]( Episode 19: Democratizing Cybersecurity Katherine Druckman and Doc Searls talk to Alex Gounares of Polyverse Linux about Cybersecurity for everyone. [Listen NOW]( Upcoming webinar brought to you by Twistlock: [Register Now »]( [Twistlock Webinar]( in case you missed [abstract] CGroup Interactions Zack Brown - May 14, 2019 CGroups are under constant development, partly because they form the core of many commercial services these days. [Read Article »]( [Puppet Logo] Puppet Redefines Infrastructure Automation Petros Koutoupis - May 15, 2019 [Puppet]( has long been regarded as nothing more than an open-source software configuration management tool. [Read article »]( upcoming events [Percona Live]( May 28, 2019 - May 30, 2019 Austin, TX USA [Texas Linux Fest]( May 31, 2019 - June 1, 2019 Irving, TX USA [Women In Technology Summit]( June 09, 2019 - June 11, 2019 San Jose, CA USA [PIA]( [Storix Software]( [Twistlock]( Subscribe to Linux Journal for only $2.88 an issue! [Subscribe Now »]( [Renew Now »]( You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive newsletters from Linux Journal. You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe]( from this list. Copyright © 2019 Linux Journal LLC, All rights reserved. Mailing address: 9597 Jones Rd, #331 Houston, TX 77065