NVMe-oF: Protocols & Transports Deep Dive

Abstract Block storage access across Storage Area Networks (SANs) have an interesting protocol and transport history. The NVMe-oF transport family provides storage administrators with the most efficient and streamlined protocols so far leading to more efficient data transfers and better SAN deployments. In this session we will explore some of the protocol history to set the context for a deep dive into NVMe/TCP, NVMe/RoCE, and NVMe/FC. We will then examine network configurations, network topology, QoS settings, and offload processing considerations. This knowledge is critical when deciding how to build, deploy, operate, and evaluate the performance of a SAN as well as understanding end to end hardware and software implementation tradeoffs. Agenda SAN Transport History and Overview Protocol History Protocol Comparisons NVMe/FC Deep Dive NVMe/RoCE Deep Dive NVMe/TCP Deep Dive Networking Configurations and Topologies for NVMe-oF QoS, Flow Control and congestion L2 local vs L3 routed vs Overlay Offload Processing Considerations and Comparisons

Cross Comparison of SAN transports
First principles behavior for NVMe-oF transports
Practical networking considerations for deploying NVMe-oF
Implications of NVMe-oF transports for data flow and packet processing