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    SOLVED: USB M.2 SSD for use with SWAP

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      It won't work in the m.2 slot in the 2100 because that doesn't support NVMe.

      JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • JonathanLeeJ
        JonathanLee @stephenw10
        last edited by JonathanLee

        @stephenw10 ok so it will have to be with my usb adapter it will work that way. It will be faster over my HDD that is running over usb for swap currently. This is exactly what I need it has a huge ram that can be accessed when needed without destroying the drive with over use. Plus it could still store dump files if needed

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          It will be interesting to see how that goes. I'm not sure how that dual function device will present in an adapter like that. 🤔

          JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • JonathanLeeJ
            JonathanLee @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 I am asking about it on FreeBSD forum its radio silence, I did find a post where they got an Intel Optane to function and work so it has the drivers. Intel I am hoping has it all managed on the m.2 card so as long as it can see the drive I should be able to utilize the onboard memory by way of Intel's onboard code. "praying"

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Best case I imagine is that it just appears like a normal NVMe drive and the RAM cache is all handled on-board. No drivers needed.

              JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • JonathanLeeJ
                JonathanLee @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10

                c621d4c9-4f8b-4ec3-bd41-2a387f19d214-image.png

                Can I use the mini usb port with an adapter to get the 5.0Gbps speeds for a usb drive?

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  The console port? Nope that is only connected to the serial converter IC. AFAIK you can only use the one external USB A port.

                  The m.2 slot has USB connectivity but I'm not sure what speeds are available. You're already using that slot anyway though.

                  The miniPCIe slot does not have USB. It has PCIe of course so it might be possible to run an NVMe drive in an adapter there even if it cant boot from it. Not something I've tried.

                  JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • JonathanLeeJ
                    JonathanLee @stephenw10
                    last edited by JonathanLee

                    @stephenw10 thanks, I didn’t think about using an adapter, I am not using the AP on that slot right now. Something like this?? M Key? I will have to remove the compex card from it.

                    Mini PCIE to M.2 M Key Adapter, Support 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 SSD M.2 NGFF Nvme M Key Converter Adapter

                    This has 90 on it

                    xiwai 90 Degree Angled PCI-E 4.0 NVME M-Key M.2 22x30mm to 22x80mm High Storage Extension SSD Converter Board Upgrade Expansion Adapter Compatible with 2230 to 2280 SSD Handheld ROG Ally Gaming

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      To be clear I have no idea if that would work! 😉 If I had such an adapter I would try it out of curiosity.

                      JonathanLeeJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • JonathanLeeJ
                        JonathanLee @stephenw10
                        last edited by JonathanLee

                        @stephenw10 there is some posts about SSD not working in that slot for 1100 but they are using minipcie drives, is it only usb2.0 speed on the mpcie or faster? Thanks for the reply. I am excited but it would have to have a cable because it would be to long in a 2100. It’s one lane, would it only top out at Single Direction: 2.5 Gbps/200MBps
                        Dual Direction: 5 Gbps/400MBps

                        That is where the 5gbps usb0 is at I am thinking on start up logs

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                        • JonathanLeeJ
                          JonathanLee @stephenw10
                          last edited by JonathanLee

                          @stephenw10

                          Sintech M.2 (NGFF) nVME SSD to Mini PCIe Adapter with 20cm Cable

                          I am going to try it with the Intel Optane for swap. It should make use of the usb0 bus technically that is what it is. As long as the drive is connected and has power it should see it. Maybe not boot from it but be able to gpart it and activate it. I have the m key drive so maybe I can get access to 5gbps

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                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            All SSDs I've seen that fit the mPCIe format are mSATA it that socket is not wired for mSATA. It's PCIe only. So theoretically an NVMe drive in that format would be seen on the PCIe bus. As would an m.2 drive in a PCI adapter. Theoretically!

                            In reality I've never seen an NVMe drive in aarch64 and have no way to test it. But I'd expect it to work.

                            JonathanLeeJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • JonathanLeeJ
                              JonathanLee @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 getting it to fit will be a challenge, with the cable I should be able to add nonconductive tape on the bottom of it and Velcro it, the other straight adapters would be too long it would hit the back, and the 90 degree one would work but put the drive directly over the cpu and memory with the added heat that would cause issues. I am thinking about velcroing it to the top side where it is close to the vented area, adding a heat sink or something to it.

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                              • JonathanLeeJ
                                JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10 It works !!!

                                Amazing!!!

                                e9bd6dc9-4c76-4423-a1a8-7e3e93424d0d-image.png

                                Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.22.49.png
                                (nda0: nvme version 1.3 x1 (max x2) lanes PCIe Gen2 (max Gen3) link)

                                I still do not know how to access the optane side of this as you can see it only sees 238 the other 16 is not shown is it automatically assigned?

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                                • JonathanLeeJ
                                  JonathanLee
                                  last edited by

                                  Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.27.41.png

                                  nvme

                                  Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.29.03.png

                                  geom -t

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                                  • JonathanLeeJ
                                    JonathanLee
                                    last edited by

                                    Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.30.59.png

                                    (pciconf -vI)

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                                    • JonathanLeeJ
                                      JonathanLee
                                      last edited by

                                      Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.31.54.png

                                      It is seeing it what one is the optane memory vs the ssd part of it ? I think it is nvme0ns1

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                                      • JonathanLeeJ
                                        JonathanLee
                                        last edited by

                                        Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 20.34.12.png

                                        This has to be it nvme0ns1 shows 244 its 256GB SSD and 16GB Optane

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                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          Nice. So that's in a USB enclosure of some sort?

                                          JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • JonathanLeeJ
                                            JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                            last edited by JonathanLee

                                            @stephenw10 thanks for the reply and recommendations. yes but do I have to use specific NVMecontroler commands now to reformat it or is that automatic ? I was reading that it shows up with the n infront of the da0. Again I do not know how to access the Optane side of this. I have never played with NVMe commands before I found some on the FreeBSD forum

                                            Shell Output - nvmecontrol identify nvme0
                                            Controller Capabilities/Features
                                            ================================
                                            Vendor ID:                   8086
                                            Subsystem Vendor ID:         8086
                                            Serial Number:               BTTE9510086T256D-1
                                            Model Number:                INTEL HBRPEKNX0101AH
                                            Firmware Version:            HPS1
                                            Recommended Arb Burst:       6
                                            IEEE OUI Identifier:         5c d2 e4
                                            Multi-Path I/O Capabilities: Not Supported
                                            Max Data Transfer Size:      131072 bytes
                                            Sanitize Crypto Erase:       Supported
                                            Sanitize Block Erase:        Supported
                                            Sanitize Overwrite:          Not Supported
                                            Sanitize NDI:                Not Supported
                                            Sanitize NODMMAS:            Undefined
                                            Controller ID:               0x0001
                                            Version:                     1.3.0
                                            
                                            Admin Command Set Attributes
                                            ============================
                                            Security Send/Receive:       Not Supported
                                            Format NVM:                  Supported
                                            Firmware Activate/Download:  Supported
                                            Namespace Management:        Not Supported
                                            Device Self-test:            Supported
                                            Directives:                  Not Supported
                                            NVMe-MI Send/Receive:        Not Supported
                                            Virtualization Management:   Not Supported
                                            Doorbell Buffer Config:      Not Supported
                                            Get LBA Status:              Not Supported
                                            Sanitize:                    crypto, block,
                                            Abort Command Limit:         4
                                            Async Event Request Limit:   8
                                            Number of Firmware Slots:    2
                                            Firmware Slot 1 Read-Only:   No
                                            Per-Namespace SMART Log:     Yes
                                            Error Log Page Entries:      256
                                            Number of Power States:      5
                                            Total NVM Capacity:          0 bytes
                                            Unallocated NVM Capacity:    0 bytes
                                            Firmware Update Granularity: 00 (Not Reported)
                                            Host Buffer Preferred Size:  0 bytes
                                            Host Buffer Minimum Size:    0 bytes
                                            
                                            NVM Command Set Attributes
                                            ==========================
                                            Submission Queue Entry Size
                                              Max:                       64
                                              Min:                       64
                                            Completion Queue Entry Size
                                              Max:                       16
                                              Min:                       16
                                            Number of Namespaces:        1
                                            Compare Command:             Supported
                                            Write Uncorrectable Command: Supported
                                            Dataset Management Command:  Supported
                                            Write Zeroes Command:        Supported
                                            Save Features:               Supported
                                            Reservations:                Not Supported
                                            Timestamp feature:           Supported
                                            Verify feature:              Not Supported
                                            Fused Operation Support:     Not Supported
                                            Format NVM Attributes:       Crypto Erase, Per-NS Erase, Per-NS Format
                                            Volatile Write Cache:        Present
                                            
                                            NVM Subsystem Name:          nqn.2019-51.com.intel:nvm-subsystem-sn-btte9510086t256d-1
                                            

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