Both the R720 and the R730 had NVMe drives that were validated for use with the respective models. Before ordering any drives though, I would recommend that you review your server order for NVMe support. If you don't have the option on the order, you would just need to talk with sales about a kit. I believe you would just need a different backplane and set of cables.

Hello.

Dylan, you spoke "about a kit" !!!!

it is my understanding that an internal PCIe slot used with an NVMe PCIe adapter card would be working... 

well.. this was my understanding because.. i have ordered 4 NVMe PCIe SSD 2TB + 4 NVMe PCIe adapter card in order to put it in my R720... i hope i am not doing this for nothing

was my understanding correct or i still need to make more research ?

@stvhull 

Did you get the drives to work?

What adaptor did you use?

yep

use vsphere

log in

go to storage

go in devices

right click on NVMe drive and clear partition

you should be able to now add has datastore.

works on R710 and R720

cheers.

sorry.. forgot about the adapt.

first... i use ESXi 6.7 U1

then...

it was the Rivo adapt (Dual M2-->PCIe) on ama.... its 24$ (Can).

the NVMe drives were :

4X Adata XPG SX8200 Pro

4X Sabrent SB-Rocket

they all work fine with the Rivo Adapt... on both DELL R710 and R720 ... and HP DL360

hope that helps..

cheers.

Thanks for the info.

Did you manage to get your Dells to boot from an NVMe card, or are you just using them all as a datastore?

hello.

from what i was able to read, in a server, it is preferable to use the NVMe PCIe as indifidual VM's "swap" space (much faster then regular one even if they are regular SSD). and/or SAN.

i have not seen anything about using them as startup boot kind of image (in a server)... personally, in my servers, i prefer to use a regular USB/SD card to run the O.S (VMware). for people who runs Windows/Linux/etc on base server hardware, it is up to them.

i personally use 4X individual NVMe PCIe in my Dell 7740 laptop. which one is for the WinO.S. it does run much much faster and i was able to get it to boot from the NVMe. but again, the 7740 is "natively" configured to accept the NVMe. It is not through an "adapter" which switch from NVMe to SATA etc.

to be very honest, i have not tried to have the R720 or R710 configured to boot up from the NVMe and/or put a DVD in the server and initiate a fresh install which would have given the choice to use the NVMe has startup (boot) drive.

i am pretty sure that it would require some VMware CLI ninja skills to play in the VMware configuration.

why????

well... for someone that do not know how to configure it in the GUI... it can be pretty frustrating. it did took me some time to figure it out since it is not just adding a regular datastore.

on a personal note, i would recommend to use the NVMe for VM's and swap space for them. Also try to find a way to use the "health" monitoring software of the NVMe as the company (ADATA/ROCKET) provide it. This will for sure save you major issue.

and of course.... backups

hope this helps...

@stvhull Did those drives cause the fans to ramp up to full throttle and stay there or are they “supported?” I just installed a Samsung 970 Evo Plus by way of the same Rivo  NVMe/PCIe adapter and now there’s a jet in my basement.

Hello...

Hummm that is a good question.

one thing for sure... NVMe drives run HOT like .... SUPER HOT... my laptop fan never stop.... it is a 7740 and there is 4 of those in it... and they run... 100% of the time... so... it is more then probable that the server you use runs like that since the drives (through the communication channel with the OS) tell the system that it needs to be cooler... again... this is my own opinion... based on my laptop behavior... i would have to say that it is normal..

AND KEEP MANY FANS SPARE

unless you can go in the iDRAC or BIOS  and validate that you can make the server run in some sort of "Eco mode".

on that note... don't..... let the server manage the FAN... i prefer to pay 4 cents/hour more for electricity then to loose data due to improper cooling...

one of my next project will be 6X R720 with 24 2.5' bay with ... yes ... the max possible number of NVMe drives since not all server can support a high number of those...

wish me luck.

hope this helps.

@stvhullhave you ran IOPs or read/write speeds on the NVME drives?

I have a SSD Raid array storing my database and am looking at faster storage solutions.  This post got me thinking about ways to improve read/write speeds for database.