VSAN 8 PCIE question

Question

Hi All,

We have a 3-node DELL 740 XD cluster setup where we are using NVME drives (connected in PCIE.3.0)

We are using the below one for NVME drives.

PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 9733 33-lane, 9-port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch

As per the article,PCIe switches are supported only on vSAN-ready nodes and are not supported on build your own designs at this time.

Is this correct statement?also the performance will be impacted when we use PCIE?

Also,as per the community,the writes will hit the PCIe first and then de-stage. Since it's all flash, there will be not read cache. That's where I would expect a performance hit.

Our NVME is PCI Express NVMe 4.0 x4 and the same connected with Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch.

DiegoLopez · Answer

Hello @ManivelRR, Just to make sure, you are mentioning an article in your message? can you share it with us? Regards.

ManivelRR · Answer

Hi https://blogs.vmware.com/virtualblocks/2020/12/14/pcie-switch-and-sas-expander-support-for-vmware-vsan/

DELL-Charles R · Answer

Hello ManivelRR

As you have found it is only supported on Dell vSAN Ready Nodes and I do not see that we have validated the PEX 9733 on the R740xd.

We can see if anyone in the community has tried it and can share their experience.

PowerEdge Hardware General

VSAN 8 PCIE question

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