This topic describes the instance family, image, and cloud disk requirements for using the NVMe protocol with an ECS instance. It also covers related operations.
Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) is a high-speed interface protocol designed for solid-state storage, such as flash-based SSDs. It enables storage devices to communicate directly with CPUs and reduces data transfer latency. Attaching a cloud disk to an ECS instance over the NVMe protocol significantly reduces I/O latency.
Usage limits
To use the NVMe protocol with an ECS instance, the instance family, image, and cloud disk must meet the following requirements:
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Resource |
Description |
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Instance family |
The instance family must support the NVMe protocol by default. Note
You can call the DescribeInstanceTypes operation to query instance families. Then, check the NvmeSupport parameter in the response to confirm whether the instance family supports NVMe. |
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Image |
The image must include the NVMe driver. Note
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Cloud disk |
Only ESSDs and ESSD AutoPL disks are supported. Note
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Billing
There are no additional charges for using the NVMe protocol. NVMe-supported resources are billed according to their standard methods. For more information about the billing of ECS resources, see Billing overview.
Related operations
When using the NVMe protocol with your ECS instance, you may need to perform the following operations:
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Actions |
Description |
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Create an ECS instance that supports the NVMe protocol |
When you create an instance, you can create ESSDs or ESSD AutoPL disks along with the instance. |
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Purchase an ESSD, ESSD AutoPL disk, or Regional ESSD separately and attach it to an ECS instance |
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Initialize an NVMe disk |
NVMe disks, whether created with an instance or purchased separately, must be initialized before use. For more information, see Initialize a data disk. Note
When you initialize an NVMe disk, its device name and partition name differ from those of other cloud disks. For more information, see Device names of NVMe disks. |
Other operations are similar to those for other cloud disks. For more information, see Manage cloud disks.
Device names
When you attach an ESSD or an ESSD AutoPL disk to a Linux instance over the NVMe protocol, its device and partition names differ from those of other cloud disks. You can run the sudo fdisk -lu command to view the names.
The following command output shows an example of three cloud disks attached to an instance:
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Device names use the format
/dev/nvmeXn1.-
System disk: /dev/nvme0n1
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Data disks: /dev/nvme1n1, /dev/nvme2n1, and so on.
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Partition names use the format
<Device name>p<Partition number>. For example, if the system disk /dev/nvme0n1 has three partitions, the partitions are named /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, and /dev/nvme0n1p3.
ecs-user@iZbjxxx:~$ sudo fdisk -lu
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 40 GiB, 42949672960 bytes, 83886080 sectors
Disk model: Alibaba Cloud Elastic Block Storage
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: F53CFB28-7636-46F8-BA70-5CDF01E0FD43
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1 2048 4095 2048 1M BIOS boot
/dev/nvme0n1p2 4096 395263 391168 191M EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p3 395264 83886046 83490783 39.8G Linux filesystem
Disk /dev/nvme1n1: 40 GiB, 42949672960 bytes, 83886080 sectors
Disk model: Alibaba Cloud Elastic Block Storage
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk /dev/nvme2n1: 40 GiB, 42949672960 bytes, 83886080 sectors
Disk model: Alibaba Cloud Elastic Block Storage
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes