NVMe 2.0 specs are now available

The NVMe storage interface is celebrating its 10 year anniversary with an upgraded 2.0 spec sheet. The most significant change from version 1.4 launched 2 uears ago is the overall spec reorganization to better reflect the broader uses of the interface, from the PCIe block storage protocol of choice, to network storage protocol and other different storage paradigms. NVMe 2.0 does not really add anything relevant for client/consumer SSDs that will soon make the jump to PCIe 5.0, but the drastic spec reorganization should allow for more frequent future updates.

Here is a list with the most notable features introduced with the 2.0 specs:

• A more modular approach to specs
• The base spec now includes both locally-attached devices and NVMeoF (over Fabrics)
• Consumer SSDs need to use a PCIe transport spec and block storage command set
• Other transport specs include networked NVMe over Fabrics through TCP or RDMA
• Other command set options include Zoned Namespace and Key-Value
• Adds standard capacity management mechanism for endurance groups and NVM sets
• Adds a new Domains layer of partitioning for massive NVMeoF appliances
• New system for handling multiple command sets now makes it possible for different namespaces behind the same controller to support different command sets, rather than requiring all namespaces to support all of the command sets their parent controller supports
• Computational storage command set is still in development and not ready for standardization
• Extends the existing Protection Information support from supporting 16-bit CRCs to also supporting 32-bit and 64-bit CRCs for enterprise use cases
• New security feature called Command Group Control that uses a new Lockdown command: can be used to put a drive in a state where both ordinary reads and writes are allowed, but various admin commands are locked out so the drive's other features cannot be reconfigured.
• Explicit support for hard drives: enterprises can unify their storage networking with NVMe over Fabrics and drop older protocols like iSCSI

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