Rocket 1580B   

NVMe Surprise Add & Remove Solution

NVMe Surprise Add & Remove capability (a.k.a. Hot Plug and Hot-Swap support) is of critical importance for an increasing number of professional server and workstation environments, and when properly implemented, can minimize downtime. The ability to add, remove or replace storage media without powering down the host platform can drastically streamline field service workflows, as the host platform can remain fully operational during maintenance and upgrade sessions.

The Rocket 1580B’s integrated NVMe Surprise Add & Remove features are boon customers that need to integrate enterprise grade storage expansion and serviceability to any Industrial, Data Center or Professional PC platform with a free PCIe 4.0 x16 slot. The Rocket 1580B can save customers hundreds if not thousands over competing NVMe solutions which are generally designed for enterprise server environments.

The PEX88048’s creates what Broadcom describes as a “Synthetic Hierarchy” to isolate the host OS from PCIe topology changes and errors associated with a surprise addition (an SSD being suddenly plugged into the Rocket 1580B). It essentially creates virtual “placeholders” for any unused NVMe device channels which can then be replaced with an actual physical NVMe SSD should the need arise.

Working in a similar vein, Downstream Port Containment and Read Tracking capability work to ensure the host system operates and performs normally whenever a drive is suddenly removed. When the SSD is unplugged, a virtual “placeholder” drive will be activated in its place until a hot unplug event is registered by the host. This enables administrators to safely remove SSDs at will, without powering down or rebooting the OS.