News
Comprehensive Upgrades Include OCP 1.0a Scripts and Low Power Sub-States Validation in Latest Version 10.5
April 2023 by Patrick LEBRETON
SANBlaze Technology Inc . released major enhancements to its widely adopted NVMe® qualification platform. The company’s Certified by SANBlaze test suite update, available via versions 10.5 and 10.5.1, now supports all aspects of NVMe qualification with the addition of Open Compute Project (OCP) 1.0a and Low Power Sub-states validation. Advanced capabilities also include PCIe Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV), ZNS, VDM, TCG, SRIS/SRNS clocking, OPAL, and T10/DIF. A variety of updates for APIs and Linux are included.
Open Compute Project (OCP) 1.0a Support
The Open Compute Project (OCP) was formed to quicken innovation for open source hardware solutions in hyper-scale data center environments. OCP requires that Solid State Storage Drives (SSDs) adhere to the OCP’s NVMe Cloud SSD Specification v1.0 or the newer Datacenter NVMe SSD specification v2.0.
SANBlaze provides built-in software for testing an OCP drive, which must be tested to a minimum standard above and beyond the standard mandatory NVMe features, as well as specifying minimum reliability, thermal, endurance, management, and form factor requirements.
Low Power Sub-states Validation
SANBlaze SBExpress and the Certified by SANBlaze test methodology have greatly simplified qualification of PCIe NVMe devices by providing a simple means of creating complex test suites, validating specification compliance, data integrity, power and reset testing, MI compliance, and now, low power sub-states.
With Version 10.5 of the Certified by SANBlaze test suite, SANBlaze has introduced a suite of tests designed to verify the operation of NVMe devices in the ultra-low power sub-states L1.1 and L1.2.
"L1.x sub-state testing presents a unique but crucial challenge for producers of NVMe devices destined for use in battery powered devices such as tablets and laptops," said Vince Asbridge, CEO and Director of Engineering, SANBlaze. "These devices will greatly benefit from the new power sub-states which trade a little PCIe latency for the lowest possible power consumption."
The fundamental difference, with respect to L1.x sub-states, is the use of an out-of-band signal to indicate to the device to "wake back up". The use of an out-of-band signal allows the device to achieve a near zero power consumption state by powering down its transceivers completely and monitoring only the level of the CLKREQ# out-of-band signal.
Broad Range of Updates
The following features are highlighted in this release:
– OCP 1.0a Validation Testing
– Automated low power sub-state support for client-based power testing
- ASPM
- LTSSM
- PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4
– PLN/PLA support for M.2 adapters
– Dual-port test cases added to SBCert
– NVMe-oF™ specification updates
Other features include:
– SR-IOV (Single Root I/O Virtualization)
– Comprehensive Python API for integration into existing test infrastructure
– MI in-band testing
– MI/VDM error injection (manipulation of the PCIe VDM header)
– Linux distribution upgrade for IT security
– Ability to specify an interpacket delay in multi-packet MI request commands
– TCP/IP NVMe fabric up to 200G
– Discovery Information Registration and Discovery Information De-Registration for Centralized Discovery for IP-based Fabrics
– SGL error injection
– T10 DIF error injection
– Script editor capability from the GUI
"Certified by SANBlaze, the most robust test suite now being recognized and adopted by major SSD manufacturers and system OEMs, has become even more valuable with the addition of OCP 1.0a and low power sub-state testing," said Rick Walsh, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing at SANBlaze. "With low-power sub-state client SSD drive testing used in tablets and laptops, and the latest OCP 1.0a testing suite, we continue to offer a robust certification test suite that the storage market relies upon."
