NVMe SSD Classification by SNIA

The SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) published its NVMe SSD Classification.

NVM Express technology is driving the next generation of SSDs for data centers. NVMe SSDs are not limited by legacy form factors or protocols, and they can better address the needs of servers and storage in enterprise and hyperscale data centers. Each of these use cases has distinct requirements and application environments, and they are outlined in the table below.

There will always be exceptions to these guidelines, but these are generally fit profiles for NVMe SSD classification.

Updated February 2021

NVMe SSD Classification	Enterprise Server	Enterprise Storage	Data Center / Hyperscale Server	Data Center / Hyperscale Storage
Applications / Use Cases	Traditional DAS/RAID CRM/ERM/collaborative/ HCI	AFA Cache	Boot Cloud data storage Server data storage	durable storage, RAID, EC, JBOD/JBOF
Power	12-25W	12-25W	8.25-11W (M.2), 12-25W (E1.S), 12-25W (U.2)	12-25W (E1.S), 25W (E1.L)
Performance	high performance, read intensive and mixed workload class drives, and best in class sets targets	high performance, mixed workload, and best in class sets targets	IO/s/TB scaling, mixed workloads	read bandwidth, seq write (ZNS)
Latency	Care about ave latency. Better than SAS/SATA	Mixed workload QoS	Read QoS, tail latencies	read priority
Endurance	1 (mainstream/Read Intensive (RI)),3 (Multi Use (MU))	1 (mainstream/RI),3 (MU)	<=1 Drive Writes Per Day (DWPD)	<1 DWPD
Capacity	1-8TB (2020)	2-16TB (2020)	1-2TB (2020) > 4TB 2021-22	4-8TB TLC, >8TB QLC
Form Factors	2.5” (U.2), E3.S, E3.L	2.5” (U.2), E3.S, E3.L	M.2->E1.S U.2 (7 &15 mm-Z)	U.2, E1.L, E1.S
Management	NVMe-MI (OOB), Swordfish (NVMe-oF)	NVMe-MI (OOB), Swordfish (NVMe-oF)	NVMe CLI (IB via SW), NVMe-MI basic for temp only (BMC)	NVMe CLI (IB via SW)
Features	Security, manageability	Dual-port X8/16 PCIe AIC Higher price (>SAS) Up to 30TB	Single-port QoS Sets / IOD Latency, TRIM performance Multi-tenancy	ZNS, SDS
SSD Vendor Examples	Enterprise Server	Enterprise Storage	Data Center / Hyperscale Server	Data Center / Hyperscale Storage
Kioxia	CM6, CD6	CM6	XD5	XD5
Intel	P4510 (3.0), P5500 (4.0)	D4510 (3.0)	P4510 (3.0)	P4326 (QLC, 3.0)
Samsung	PM1733/5, SZ1735	PM1733/5, SZ1735	PM9A3	PM9A3