Thank you very much for the video. I bought the adapter and it worked as expected for mounting drive (for one nvme - did not try it for 2). However, I would like to talk a bit about my experience: I have a Dell R730, and it was a big headache for me to boot Linux from NVMe SSD. There are several ways that I have seen people are using them for boot, but I end up not liking any of them! I bought 2 SSDs: One Sata, one NVMe from Samsung, identical in storage (2TB). I used the PCIe (Slot 4 - 4x4x4x4 bifurcation) for the NVMe. Tries and errors: 1)I installed the Ubuntu server on Sata and ran the server. Then I cloned the partitions from Sata SSD to NVMe SSD. The aim was to boot from NVMe --> Didn't work 2)I partitioned the Sata in pieces, one of them specifically for boot. Aim was to boot from Sata, to root from nvme -->Didn't work 3)Tried to tweek the partition info during setup and assign nvme for root --Didn't work 4) I had to install Clover and use it for boot.-->Worked Dell has to have some kind of Bios limitation to aftermarket parts. It sees the nvme, and Linux is installed on it via either OS deploy bios interface or directly booting from USB. But it does not boot from the nvme. I ended up sticking the USB clover to 3.0 USB on the main board; at least, when I look at it I don't see it. And then changed boot options to directly boot from this USB. So it automatically resumes booting without my interaction. (Clover has an option for time intervals). For new users' convenience, do not waste your time with how-to videos, copy-paste etc. (they were horrible, by the way). Just download and run the clover installer(not iso, not etc.) and get into the Customize menu on the tool and only add nvme driver. That's it. 5) I hear bios tweaking efforts, but even though they achieve to boot from nvme, you get errors afterward, and finding bios pins is a headache,---> Maybe, I'm all ears 6) I saw BOSS (Boot Optimized Server Storage) units on Ebay and Amazon (40-189$). But whichever seller I asked about it (well established for IT business) on Ebay or Amazon, they said the product would not boot Linux with a Samsung 2tb nvme m.2 SSD, and mentioned they are for M.2 sata--> Maybe. I'm bored of rebooting and re-installing Linux. And I'm not gonna try unless someone shows that it works on youtube. Possible Question: Why don't you use VM? Answer: I need the full potential of all cores and rams for quantitative analysis. Cheers! Hope this will be useful.
Thanks for the information. Got the Supermicro card and some Samsung 990 sticks. It's now working well with the Clover Bootloader installed on the internal dual redundant SD-cards, although even this was quite cumbersome to get working. Could not get it working without manually editing Clovers config.plist to include (and default to) the volume GUId.
Which NVMe form factor (M.2, U.2 or PCIe gen xx ?) should I use to create a Ceph HA cluster for creating VM/CT on Proxmox hypervisor. Proxmox node cluster is running on local 2x SAS SSDs connected to RAID/perc?
This is what we have found. When we installed Samsung or Intel they didn't work. We could only get Dell to work. But I will also say we are working on a work-around solution since Dell SSDs are expensive.
I used the M.2 on Hyper-V using storage spaces, proxmox, Truenas, Linux, in general, using ZFS... for storing VMs. As for booting, I have to use the SD add-in card to run clover boot and boot from NVME but as far as general storage you can use any SDS solution
@@StephenPreston So, as I understand you, you have retrofitted the Dell SD card reader PowerEdge R630 and one (or two?) SD cards are running there that you boot from? What OS is running on the cards? Is there a video description of how to set this up with Clover? My goal is to boot a Server 2022 and run a Hyper-V on it. Can you support?
@sebastiann7009 using storage spaces, but boot no i dont think thr r630 is able to boot from nvme although i have not used the u.2 bays.. the BOSS cards i dont think got support until Gen 14
I have R640 with NVMe cables from backplane to motherboard. In this video you have a card in riser to Backplane. Do you hvae this card for R460? and can I configure RAID 1 on 2 NVMe drives???
Question server ninjas , Is it possible to use PCI to M2 Adapter on dell poweredge R520 ? and use NVMe drive as boot drive ? I am unsure as its a very old server with old BIOS. Please help me if you can provide any insignts on this. Many thanks
good morning I bought an Intel disk and it doesn't recognize it at all. Does it really have to be an Intel Dell disk? Is there no other way to recognize it? I'm using SSD DC P4510 Series. Who can help? Thanks!
Thank you for the great video. Do you know "Supermicro PCIe to M.2 adapter" approach will work with Ubuntu / KVM? Also ... Do we have to use supermicro card or some similar adapter from amazon will be okay (like EYI Quad NVMe PCIe 4.0 Expansion Card , Dual M.2 PCIE Adapter for SATA , etc. )?
We need to make a new updated video. At some point, one of the BIOS updates allowed for generic drives to work. Some are still finicky though so be careful. Good luck!
@@cloudninjas yeah, that would be interesting. On the second thought, now I'm curious why 2 x m.2 card wasn't locked out. Perhaps, PCI-E bifurcation confused piece of code that supposed to do locking out? (in which case connecting PCI-E x4 HHHL SSD card with bifurcation enabled would've worked too) Thanks for reply!
Hi I’m curious if you use the super micro nvme expander, I guess it recognize the two drives, but can u boot ur system from those two drives? Like esxi or truenas scale? Any follow up? Thanks
Are you sure that only a PCIe NVMe SSD with Dell Firmware will work? I don't see any reason why, since in the OS it should just show up as an additional PCIe device, no?
can you install os such as Proxmox on PCIe slot? I have a 8 bay R630, I can configure RAID and install my OS on those front panel SATA/SAS SSDs, but I want install OS and boot from a M.2 PCIe.
Thank you very much for the video. I bought the adapter and it worked as expected for mounting drive (for one nvme - did not try it for 2).
However, I would like to talk a bit about my experience:
I have a Dell R730, and it was a big headache for me to boot Linux from NVMe SSD.
There are several ways that I have seen people are using them for boot, but I end up not liking any of them!
I bought 2 SSDs: One Sata, one NVMe from Samsung, identical in storage (2TB). I used the PCIe (Slot 4 - 4x4x4x4 bifurcation) for the NVMe.
Tries and errors:
1)I installed the Ubuntu server on Sata and ran the server. Then I cloned the partitions from Sata SSD to NVMe SSD. The aim was to boot from NVMe --> Didn't work
2)I partitioned the Sata in pieces, one of them specifically for boot. Aim was to boot from Sata, to root from nvme -->Didn't work
3)Tried to tweek the partition info during setup and assign nvme for root --Didn't work
4) I had to install Clover and use it for boot.-->Worked
Dell has to have some kind of Bios limitation to aftermarket parts. It sees the nvme, and Linux is installed on it via either OS deploy bios interface or directly booting from USB. But it does not boot from the nvme. I ended up sticking the USB clover to 3.0 USB on the main board; at least, when I look at it I don't see it. And then changed boot options to directly boot from this USB. So it automatically resumes booting without my interaction. (Clover has an option for time intervals).
For new users' convenience, do not waste your time with how-to videos, copy-paste etc. (they were horrible, by the way).
Just download and run the clover installer(not iso, not etc.) and get into the Customize menu on the tool and only add nvme driver. That's it.
5) I hear bios tweaking efforts, but even though they achieve to boot from nvme, you get errors afterward, and finding bios pins is a headache,---> Maybe, I'm all ears
6) I saw BOSS (Boot Optimized Server Storage) units on Ebay and Amazon (40-189$). But whichever seller I asked about it (well established for IT business) on Ebay or Amazon, they said the product would not boot Linux with a Samsung 2tb nvme m.2 SSD, and mentioned they are for M.2 sata--> Maybe. I'm bored of rebooting and re-installing Linux. And I'm not gonna try unless someone shows that it works on youtube.
Possible Question: Why don't you use VM?
Answer: I need the full potential of all cores and rams for quantitative analysis.
Cheers! Hope this will be useful.
Appreciate the detailed information. I'm certain this will help someone else in the future.
Thanks for the information.
Got the Supermicro card and some Samsung 990 sticks.
It's now working well with the Clover Bootloader installed on the internal dual redundant SD-cards, although even this was quite cumbersome to get working. Could not get it working without manually editing Clovers config.plist to include (and default to) the volume GUId.
Thank you out of the 3 which one has the fastest read write speed?
Which NVMe form factor (M.2, U.2 or PCIe gen xx ?) should I use to create a Ceph HA cluster for creating VM/CT on Proxmox hypervisor.
Proxmox node cluster is running on local 2x SAS SSDs connected to RAID/perc?
Can't I use this same option and install PROXMOX or would it only be as additional storage solution?
There are rumors the u.2 nvme via expander is much slower only reading about 1GB/sec. Have you guys experienced this?
is true 1gb/sec ?
For the U.2 using dell pcie expander kit does the nvme ssd must be Dell? With Dell firmware?
This is what we have found. When we installed Samsung or Intel they didn't work. We could only get Dell to work. But I will also say we are working on a work-around solution since Dell SSDs are expensive.
@@cloudninjas i hope you guys figure it out. Thanks
@@cloudninjas Samsung and Intel don't even appear in the bios, can you tell me that? Thanks!
I used the M.2 on Hyper-V using storage spaces, proxmox, Truenas, Linux, in general, using ZFS... for storing VMs. As for booting, I have to use the SD add-in card to run clover boot and boot from NVME but as far as general storage you can use any SDS solution
sd card part number PMR79 it lets you mirror two SD cards it used to be used for VMware but I think they moved away from supporting that
@@StephenPreston So, as I understand you, you have retrofitted the Dell SD card reader PowerEdge R630 and one (or two?) SD cards are running there that you boot from? What OS is running on the cards? Is there a video description of how to set this up with Clover? My goal is to boot a Server 2022 and run a Hyper-V on it. Can you support?
have you configured the m.2 disks raid ?
@sebastiann7009 using storage spaces, but boot no i dont think thr r630 is able to boot from nvme although i have not used the u.2 bays.. the BOSS cards i dont think got support until Gen 14
I have R640 with NVMe cables from backplane to motherboard. In this video you have a card in riser to Backplane. Do you hvae this card for R460? and can I configure RAID 1 on 2 NVMe drives???
Contact sales@cloudninjas.com and we can support you with the correct card and cables. Thanks!
Question server ninjas , Is it possible to use PCI to M2 Adapter on dell poweredge R520 ? and use NVMe drive as boot drive ? I am unsure as its a very old server with old BIOS. Please help me if you can provide any insignts on this. Many thanks
good morning
I bought an Intel disk and it doesn't recognize it at all. Does it really have to be an Intel Dell disk? Is there no other way to recognize it? I'm using SSD DC P4510 Series. Who can help? Thanks!
Try updating your BIOS. Make sure in the correct drive slot as well. Good luck!
@@cloudninjasjá atualizei para última versão e não tive sucesso. Vou ter que arrumar um jeito de trocar para modelos dell. Obrigado
@@cloudninjas I already updated to the latest version and was unsuccessful. I'll have to find a way to swap for Dell models. Thanks
Those gloves you are wearing, where can I buy them? what are they called?
They are ESD gloves. We buy them from Uline. Thank you.
Thank you for the great video. Do you know "Supermicro PCIe to M.2 adapter" approach will work with Ubuntu / KVM? Also ... Do we have to use supermicro card or some similar adapter from amazon will be okay (like EYI Quad NVMe PCIe 4.0 Expansion Card , Dual M.2 PCIE Adapter for SATA , etc. )?
I have a question is it possible to install OS like ProxMox on the Supermicro + M.2 solution and use it as boot drive ?
3:05 jeez, that's crazy vendor lock
We need to make a new updated video. At some point, one of the BIOS updates allowed for generic drives to work. Some are still finicky though so be careful. Good luck!
@@cloudninjas yeah, that would be interesting.
On the second thought, now I'm curious why 2 x m.2 card wasn't locked out. Perhaps, PCI-E bifurcation confused piece of code that supposed to do locking out? (in which case connecting PCI-E x4 HHHL SSD card with bifurcation enabled would've worked too)
Thanks for reply!
Hi I’m curious if you use the super micro nvme expander, I guess it recognize the two drives, but can u boot ur system from those two drives? Like esxi or truenas scale? Any follow up? Thanks
Thanks man!
Appreciate it!
Is the setup the same when using a R640 with those NVMe cables?
R640 different. No card. Just cables. And multiple cables depending on how many slots you want for NVMe.
@@cloudninjas Thanks!
Good day, what adapter will work in DELL R540?
Using PCIE to m.2 adapter, can these be configured in RAID ?
Unfortunately not
This video is a reference for M.2 Dell 13 gen installation
And so much more!
@@cloudninjas I'm absolutely enjoying your videos and it's very informative , thanks
have you guys try using asus hyper x m2 on the pcie riser? does it fit?
You have to have vmware to see m.2 on the power edge? Or do you mean the os cant boot from them but a hypervisor can use them?
This
Are you sure that only a PCIe NVMe SSD with Dell Firmware will work? I don't see any reason why, since in the OS it should just show up as an additional PCIe device, no?
no, they have some custom stuff for RAID, so it doesn't show in the OS
can you install os such as Proxmox on PCIe slot? I have a 8 bay R630, I can configure RAID and install my OS on those front panel SATA/SAS SSDs, but I want install OS and boot from a M.2 PCIe.
Did u find out? Also curious about this thanks.
Have a link to the super micro m.2 card?
Yes it is in our description section. Thank you!
does it able to boot from nvme on pcie?
Same question
What?
We added a lot of info and re-did this video.