Kyle McRobert
What is SANBlaze SBExpress-RM3 / RM4?
The SANBlaze SBExpress-RM3 / RM4 is a complete turnkey PCIe® Gen 4 NVMe 2.5″ SSD validation test system (RM3 for PCIe Gen 3). The SBExpress-RM4 feature set provides unique functions applicable to all aspects of a product lifecycle – from engineering development, through validation and QA, to manufacturing test environments.
The ability to drive NVMe SSDs with a wide range of configurable attributes provides engineers with a flexible, multi-controller supported validation test platform.
The SANBlaze SBExpress-RM4 hardware provides a rackmount chassis with sixteen dual or single port front-accessible drives. The hardware can be easily daisy-chained for maximum scalability and provides excellent airflow for thermal chamber testing.
Standard sanblaze features
What the SANBlaze SBExpress-RM3 and RM4 systems offer you:
- Measure voltage and power at each drive
- Test coverage for all aspects of the NVMe specification
- UNH Conformance Testing supported
- NVMe-MI (Management Interface) testing over SMBus supported
- SGL, SR-IOV, full namespace control and reservations
- Drive multiple ports of traffic simultaneously
- Send specific or custom op codes in an easy-to-use, scriptable format
- Read / write / compare testing
- Error injection
- Vendor-unique commands supported
- Drive and test single or multiple NVMe target devices
What are Quarch SANBlaze rack risers?
The SANBlaze Rack Riser Modules allow remote switching of power, drive presence, PCIe data pins, and sideband signals to PCIe SFF Disk Drives whilst plugged into a SANBlaze Express host system.
These modules contain the same functionality as a standard QTL1743 Torridon U.2 breaker module but are customized to work with the SANBlaze system and require no additional controllers or cabling.
Any standard drive compatible with the SFF-8639 can be controlled. Each set of pins can be individually switched, allowing complete control over the power-up sequence of a drive. The switches can be sequenced at precise timings to simulate a hot-swap event, including pin bounce. Individual pins can be broken or glitched at any time to simulate a fault in the system.
Control of the modules is done via the SANBlaze RM3/ RM4 via their inbuilt USB hub. Direct USB control for manual testing and firmware updates can be made by connecting to the USB port on the SANBlaze device.
Benefits of using the Quarch rack riser in the SANBlaze systems
- Accurately simulate hot swaps as switches physically break data and power lanes, with glitches as short as 50nS.
- Unlike using standard Quarch modules there is no need to have a separate Quarch control or cabling as the Quarch Risers are completely integrated into the SANBlaze system.
- Improved SI (signal integrity). One of the main losses in a system is through the connectors; however, with the Quarch module being integrated into the system this reduces the number of connectors thus reducing losses.
- Having a single control interface allows for a wider range of tests, as you get all the testing capability of a SANBlaze system and a Quarch System all rolled into one.
The Quarch SANBlaze Rack Risers are available through SANBlaze:
RM3 Rack Risers:
- QTL2203 – Quarch SANBlaze Dualport Rack Riser Module
- QTL2282 – Quarch SANBlaze Single Port Rack Riser
RM4 Rack Risers:
- QTL2318 – Quarch SANBlaze Gen4 U.2 Rack Riser – NEW!
- QTL2378 – Quarch SANBlaze Gen4 U.3 Rack Riser – NEW!
See SANBlaze’s blog post “Which Riser Card Should I Use?”
