Rear NVMe SSD Requirements and Restrictions
Observe these requirements:
• The optional, rear drive-bay module. When using NVMe drives, the eight drives must be all NVMe; no
mixing with SAS/SATA drives is allowed.
• NVMe switch card (UCSC-NVME-SC). This card must be installed in PCIe slot 10.
• NVMe cable (CBL-AUX-NVME-M5). This cable connects the NVMe switch card to the module
backplane.
• Hot-plug support must be enabled in the system BIOS. If you ordered the system with NVMe drives,
hot-plug support is enabled at the factory.
Observe these restrictions:
• NVMe SSDs support booting only in UEFI mode. Legacy boot is not supported. For instructions on
setting up UEFI boot, see
Setting Up UEFI Mode Booting in the BIOS Setup Utility, on page 20
or
Setting Up UEFI Mode Booting in the Cisco IMC GUI, on page 21
.
• You cannot control NVMe PCIe SSDs with a SAS RAID controller because NVMe SSDs interface with
the server via the PCIe bus.
• You can combine NVMe 2.5-inch SSDs and HHHL form-factor SSDs in the same system, but the same
partner brand must be used. For example, two
Intel
NVMe SFF 2.5-inch SSDs and two
HGST
HHHL
form-factor SSDs is an invalid configuration. A valid configuration is two HGST NVMe SFF 2.5-inch
SSDs and two HGST HHHL form-factor SSDs.
• UEFI boot is supported in all supported operating systems. Hot-insertion and hot-removal are supported
in all supported operating systems except VMWare ESXi.
Replacing a Rear (Internal) NVMe Drive
This topic describes how to replace 2.5-inch form-factor NVMe SSDs in the internal drive bays. You do not
have to shut down the server, but you must shut down the NVMe drive before removal to avoid data loss.
OS-surprise removal is not supported. OS-informed hot-insertion and hot-removal are supported on all
supported operating systems except VMware ESXi.
Note
OS-informed hot-insertion and hot-removal must be enabled in the system BIOS. See
Support in the System BIOS, on page 27
.
Note
Step 1
Prepare the server for component installation:
a) Slide the server out the front of the rack far enough so that you can remove the top cover.
If you cannot safely view and access the component, remove the server from the rack.
Caution
b) Remove the top cover from the server as described in
Removing the Server Top Cover, on page 9
Maintaining the Server
31
Maintaining the Server
Rear NVMe SSD Requirements and Restrictions