What NVME SSD are supported or will work on a UCS C240 M3?

[Tech-crazy]

Hi All!

I have some older C240 M3 servers that we are looking to repurpose for lab gear. I've been trying to research the spec sheet here, and it shows that the server has 5 PCIE 3 slots, 3 of which are x8 speed (of different heights). We are looking to use these servers for VMWARE virtualization to test out topologies and things before deploying them to customer networks.

So my question is are NVME SSDs even supported in these servers? I don't see any M.2 slots here. I've been looking at these pcie 3 m.2 adapters from Amazon as I have not found any Cisco parts for this. Is there an official Cisco page I am missing?

Furthermore, if any drives are supported, which ones are they? Looking at "server-grade" SSDs, well they are just wayyyyy to expensive for lab based usage. Although we'd like to stick with official Cisco parts as we are a gold partner and can probably get some decent pricing if needed. I'd love to be able to try the 970 evo plus nvme ssd as it seems to have a good price/performance ratio from that benchmark. Again, I'd prefer to stick to Cisco parts if possible I just can't seem to find any!

Please let me know your thoughts, thanks!

[Kirk J]

Greetings.

As you have noted, the M3s do not have M.2 connections.

For the M4/M5 servers, those use 2.5" form factor NVMEs , and have specific slots that are NVME controller wired.

The M5s do have a mini M.2 storage carrier for the 'boot' drive, but I'm not sure if that will fit those samsung regular M.2 form factor drives.

For the M3s, your only option would be to purchase 3rd party 'M.2 PCIE Adapter for SATA or PCIE NVMe SSD'.

Keep in mind that the CIMC is not going to recognize these for OOB management purposes, and only your OS would see them.

Typically the fans will rev up when it knows unrecognized gear is present, as it doesn't have knowledge of what the cooling requirements exactly are.

The M3s would probably not support booting to those, but I suspect most OS's that have a driver for the NVME/controller will be able to use it.

Just my 2¢¢, and not TAC supported option ; )

Kirk...