============================== NVMe/TCP Initiator for Linux

Prerequisites

• Kernel 5.0 or later
• RHEL 9.2 or later
• Ubuntu 24.04 or later
• SLES 15 SP3 or later

Installation

1. Install the nvme-cli:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   yum install nvme-cli

2. Load the NVMe-oF module:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   modprobe nvme-fabrics

3. Verify the NVMe/TCP target is reachable:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   nvme discover -t tcp -a GATEWAY_IP -s 8009

4. Connect to the NVMe/TCP target. For High-availability use the connect-all command:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   nvme connect-all --traddr GATEWAY_IP --transport tcp -l 1800 -s 8009

   • '-l 1800' is recommended to allow the initiator to continue trying to connect to GWs for 1800 seconds. This is helpful in cases that the GW is temporarily unavailable for any reason.

   • '-s 8009' is the port address of the Discovery controller. The connect-all command will connect to the DC first, and then will use the information it retrns to connect to the GWs.

Next steps

Verify that the initiator is set up correctly:

1. Verify that the initiator is connected to all NVMe-oF gateways and subsystems in the gateway group

   .. prompt:: bash #

   nvme list-subsys

   example output:

   nvme-subsys<X> - NQN=<NQN>
   +- nvmeX tcp traddr=<GW IP>,trsvcid=4420 live +- nvmeY tcp traddr=<GW IP>,trsvcid=4420 live +- nvmeZ tcp traddr=<GW IP>,trsvcid=4420 live +- nvmeW tcp traddr=<GW IP>,trsvcid=4420 live

2. List the NVMe block devices.

   .. prompt:: bash #

   nvme list

3. Create a filesystem on the desired device:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   mkfs.ext4 NVME_NODE_PATH

4. Mount the filesystem:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   mkdir /mnt/nvmeof

   .. prompt:: bash #

   mount NVME_NODE_PATH /mnt/nvmeof

5. List the NVME-oF files:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   ls /mnt/nvmeof

6. Create a text file in the /mnt/nvmeof directory:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   echo "Hello NVME-oF" > /mnt/nvmeof/hello.text

7. Verify that the file can be accessed:

   .. prompt:: bash #

   cat /mnt/nvmeof/hello.text