ThinkSystem P5620 Mixed Use NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSDs

The ThinkSystem P5620 Mixed Use NVMe SSDs are advanced data center SSDs optimized for mixed read-write performance, endurance, and strong data protection for Lenovo servers. With a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, they are designed for greater performance and endurance in a cost-effective design, and to support a broader set of workloads. Now with SED encryption as standard, these drives help ensure data security, even when the drive is removed from the server.

The P5620 SSDs are based on Intel-developed controller, firmware, and 144-layer TLC Intel 3D NAND technology. Rigorous qualification and compatibility testing by Lenovo ensures a highly reliable SSD.

Figure 1. ThinkSystem P5620 Mixed Use NVMe SSDs (shown without the ThinkSystem hot-swap tray)

The following table lists the ordering part numbers and feature codes for the P5620 SSDs.

The part numbers for the drives include the following items:

• One drive with a hot-swap tray attached (hot-swap drives only)
• Publication flyer

Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) is PCIe high performance SSD technology that provides high I/O throughput and low latency. NVMe interfaces remove SAS/SATA bottlenecks and unleash all of the capabilities of contemporary NAND flash memory. Each NVMe PCI SSD has direct PCIe x4 connection, which provides at significantly greater bandwidth and lower latency than SATA/SAS-based SSD solutions. NVMe drives are also optimized for heavy multi-threaded workloads by using internal parallelism and many other improvements, such as enlarged I/O queues.

The P5620 SSDs have the following key characteristics:

• Based on the Solidigm D7-P5620 SSDs (formerly known as the Intel D7-P5620 SSDs)
• PCIe 4.0 connection for each NVMe drive
• Also supports PCIe 3.0 host connection for servers with first and second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors or with PCIe 3.0 NVMe switch adapters
• Compliant with Trusted Computing Group Opal 2.01 Security Subsystem Class cryptographic standard (TCG Opal 2.01 SSC)
• Intel 144-layer TLC 3D NAND Flash Memory
• Ultra-low I/O latency, with a read latency as low as of 9 µs and write latency as low as 12 µs
• Suitable for mixed read-write workloads
• Available in capacities up to 12.8 TB
• Variable sector size and end-to-end data-path protection
• Enhanced power-loss data protection
• Thermal throttling and monitoring
• SMART health reporting
• Supports the following specifications:
  • PCI Express Base Specification Rev. 4.0
  • NVM Express 1.4
  • NVM Express Management Interface 1.1

The key metric for solid state drives is their endurance (life expectancy). SSDs have a huge, but finite, number of program/erase (P/E) cycles, which determines how long the drives can perform write operations and thus their life expectancy. Write Intensive SSDs have better endurance than Mixed Use SSDs, which in turn have better endurance than Read Intensive SSDs.

SSD write endurance is typically measured by the number of program/erase cycles that the drive can incur over its lifetime, which is listed as TBW in the device specification. The TBW value that is assigned to a solid-state device is the total bytes of written data that a drive can be guaranteed to complete. Reaching this limit does not cause the drive to immediately fail; the TBW simply denotes the maximum number of writes that can be guaranteed.

A solid-state device does not fail upon reaching the specified TBW, but at some point after surpassing the TBW value (and based on manufacturing variance margins), the drive reaches the end-of-life point, at which time the drive goes into read-only mode. Because of such behavior, careful planning must be done to use SSDs in the application environments to ensure that the TBW of the drive is not exceeded before the required life expectancy.

For example, the 3.2 TB P5620 drive has an endurance of 17,500 TB of total bytes written (TBW). This means that for full operation over five years, write workload must be limited to no more than 9,589 GB of writes per day, which is equivalent to 3.0 full drive writes per day (DWPD). For the device to last three years, the drive write workload must be limited to no more than 15,982 GB of writes per day, which is equivalent to 5.0 full drive writes per day.  

All ThinkSystem P5620 Mixed Use NVMe SSDs support drive encryption.

The following sections describe the benefits in more details.

When the self-encrypting drive is in normal use, its owner need not maintain authentication keys (otherwise known as credentials or passwords) in order to access the data on the drive. The self-encrypting drive will encrypt data being written to the drive and decrypt data being read from it, all without requiring an authentication key from the owner.

Nearly all drives eventually leave the data center and their owner's control. Corporate data resides on such drives, and when most leave the data center, the data they contain is still readable. Even data that has been striped across many drives in a RAID array is vulnerable to data theft because just a typical single stripe in today’s high-capacity arrays is large enough to expose for example, hundreds of names and bank account numbers.

In an effort to avoid data breaches and the ensuing customer notifications required by data privacy laws, companies use different methods to erase the data on retired drives before they leave the premises and potentially fall into the wrong hands. Current retirement practices that are designed to make data unreadable rely on significant human involvement in the process, and are thus subject to both technical and human failure.

Self-encrypting drives eliminate the need to overwrite, destroy, or store retired drives. When the drive is to be retired, it can be cryptographically erased, a process that is nearly instantaneous regardless of the capacity of the drive.

Self-encrypting drives reduce IT operating expenses by reducing asset control challenges and disposal costs. Data security with self-encrypting drives helps ensure compliance with privacy regulations without hindering IT efficiency. So called "Safe Harbor" clauses in government regulations allow companies to not have to notify customers of occurrences of data theft if that data was encrypted and therefore unreadable.

Using a self-encrypting drive when auto-lock mode is enabled simply requires securing the drive with an authentication key. When secured in this manner, the drive’s data encryption key is locked whenever the drive is powered down. In other words, the moment the self-encrypting drive is switched off or unplugged, it automatically locks down the drive’s data.

When the self-encrypting drive is then powered back on, it requires authentication before being able to unlock its encryption key and read any data on the drive, thus protecting against misplacement and theft.

While using self-encrypting drives just for the instant secure erase is an extremely efficient and effective means to help securely retire a drive, using self-encrypting drives in auto-lock mode provides even more advantages. From the moment the drive or system is removed from the data center (with or without authorization), the drive is locked. No advance thought or action is required from the data center administrator to protect the data. This helps prevent a breach should the drive be mishandled and helps secure the data against the threat of insider or outside theft.

The following table present technical specifications for the P5620 SSDs. Note that the performance data and power consumption is based on a PCIe 4.0 host interface.

* Latency measured using 4 KB transfer size with queue depth = 1 on a random workload.

The following tables list the ThinkSystem servers that are compatible.

NVMe PCIe SSDs require a NVMe drive backplane and some form of PCIe connection to processors. PCIe connections can take the form of either an adapter (PCIe Interposer or PCIe extender/switch adapter) or simply a cable that connects to an onboard NVMe connector.

Consult the relevant server product guide for details about required components for NVMe drive support.

The P5620 SSDs support the following operating systems:

To effectively manage a large deployment of SEDs in Lenovo servers, IBM Security Key Lifecycle Manager (SKLM) offers a centralized key management solution. Certain Lenovo servers support Features on Demand (FoD) license upgrades that enable SKLM support.

The following table lists the part numbers and feature codes to enable SKLM support in the management processor of the server.

The IBM Security Key Lifecycle Manager software is available from Lenovo using the ordering information listed in the following table.

The following tables list the ThinkSystem servers that support the FoD upgrades for SKLM support.

The SSDs carry a 1-year, customer-replaceable unit (CRU) limited warranty. When installed in a supported Lenovo server, these drives assume the server’s base warranty and any warranty upgrade.

Solid State Memory cells have an intrinsic, finite number of program/erase cycles that each cell can incur. As a result, each solid state device has a maximum amount of program/erase cycles to which it can be subjected. The warranty for Lenovo solid state drives (SSDs) is limited to drives that have not reached the maximum guaranteed number of program/erase cycles, as documented in the Official Published Specifications for the SSD product. A drive that reaches this limit may fail to operate according to its Specifications.

The P5620 SSDs have the following physical dimensions and weight:

• Height: 15 mm (0.6 in.)
• Width: 70 mm (2.8 in.)
• Depth: 100 mm (4.0 in.)
• Weight: 146 g (5.15 oz)

The P5620 SSDs are supported in the following environment:

• Temperature (operational): 0 to 70 °C (32 to 158 °F) at 0 to 3,048 m (0 to 10,000 ft)
• Relative humidity: 5 to 90% (non-condensing)
• Maximum altitude (operational): 3,048 m (10,000 ft)
• Shock: 1,000 G (Max) at 0.5 ms
• Vibration: 2.17 G_RMS (5-700 Hz)

The P5620 SSDs conform to the following regulations:

• FCC Title 47, Part 15B, Class B
• CA/CSA-CEI/IEC CISPR 22:02
• EN 55024: 1998
• EN 55022: 2006
• EN-60950-1 2nd Edition
• UL/CSA EN-60950-1 2nd Edition
• Low Voltage Directive 2006/95/EC
• C-Tick: AS/NZS3584
• BSMI: CNS 13438
• KCC Article 11.1
• RoHS DIRECTIVE 2011/65/EU
• WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC

For more information, see the following documents:

• Storage Options for ThinkSystem Servers
  https://lenovopress.com/lp0761-storage-options-for-thinksystem-servers
• ServerProven
  http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven
• Solidigm D7 Series product page
  https://www.solidigm.com/us/en/products/data-center/d7.html