Summit T416 Analyzer

Teledyne LeCroy is the main supplier of protocol analyzers and exercisers to companies developing SSD and other similar storage products using the new NVMe, SATA Express and SCSI Express high-speed serial data standards. Protocol analyzers and exercisers are used by developers and validation engineers to directly record and examine data traffic on serial data communication links between devices and systems. This equipment enables developers to reduce debug and test schedules, lower engineering development costs on new products and meet aggressive time-to-market requirements.

	Title	Time
	NVMe Protocol Analysis Features for Storage Development and Test	36:27

As storage developers make the transition from legacy SAS and SATA protocol-based SSDs to the more advanced NVMe and SATA Express technologies, they are encountering limitations in available design and test tools including limited trace recording times and a lack of standardized analysis reports for PCIe-based storage. These two issues are significant for the newer technologies of NVMe and SATA Express due to the following:

• High performance SSD testing can require recording data traffic beyond a few minutes. This is not possible for many protocol analyzers due to limitations in their recording architectures.
• While some test tool suppliers have claimed support for the NVMe and SATA Express protocols, support for these protocols has remained minimal. This has hampered developer's productivity due to the use of reporting systems designed for the older technologies, which are not optimized for quality testing on NVMe and SATA Express products.

The Summit T34 protocol analyzer, specifically targeted at PCIe storage applications, now supports long trace recordings with a new NVMe Enhanced Mode. The Summit T34 can also be configured with up to 64 GB of trace recording memory. NVMe Enhanced Mode builds on and optimizes the existing deep buffer memory to allow users long recording time capability. Depending on the speed of the DUT (Device Under Test), the recording time can be maximized to up to several hours for a single trace capture. This feature is useful for tasks such as measuring performance or determining how well your Queue handling algorithms are functioning. An example of the metrics that are now available include the ability to measure the NVMe queue distribution over a sustained period of time. The ability to gather queue behavior for long periods helps driver and OS developers fine tune their applications and balance queue loads for optimized product performance.

With over a decade of experience in providing PCI Express, SAS/SATA and other serial data protocols with standardized error analysis and product performance reports, Teledyne LeCroy has now created an NVMe and SATA Express SSD Performance and Analysis capability. Trace Expert™, a new feature in the PCIe Protocol Suite, creates a detailed report that the SSD industry requires to obtain a common understanding of how their SSD or storage systems are operating and includes information on the necessary PCIe based components. Information such as NVMe queues, commands, doorbell and control registers and many other metrics are captured, analyzed and organized into a detailed report providing developers a comprehensive status document for their products including a wide range of performance statistics.

In addition to the standard storage protocols, all of our NVMe platforms also fully support, Trusted Computer Group (TCG), Single Root I/O Virtualization (SRIOV), Multi-Root I/O Virtualization (MRIOV) and Address Translation Services (ATS). A full list of capabilities, views and reports can be found on the product pages (listed below) for each of our analyzers.

NVMe over PCIe Specification Decoding and Analysis - NVMe Initialization Decoding
• Decode NVMe Commands
• Analyze NVMe Queues
• NVMe Multiple Pointer Based Transactions
• NVMe Power Management
• Extract the PCIe SSD Base Address automatically

The Summit™ T416 analyzer is the computer industry's first high speed PCIe 4.0 protocol analyzer that meets the challenge of 16GT/s and up to x16 lane width protocol analysis. Many PCIe 4.0 product designs are already in progress using the PCIe 4.0 specification. Companies are currently working with the Teledyne LeCroy Summit Z416 protocol exerciser for PCIe 4.0 at the deployment of PCIe 4.0 for host system emulation with their testing needs. This combination of a protocol analyzer and exerciser make Teledyne LeCroy the only supplier of protocol test and development tools for PCIe Gen 4. High speed interposers that provide protocol analyzer connectivity to CEM or other form factor sockets on system boards will still continue to be the principle way to capture PCIe traffic into the protocol analyzer.

PCIe 4.0 technology achieves twice the effective data throughput rate of the PCIe 3.0 standard through a combination of increased data bit rate (8 GT/s moving to 16 GT/s), PCIe 4.0 uses similar encoding as PCIe 3.0 that have proven reliable for data transmission.

With advanced features such as support for PCI Express Spec 4.0, data rates of 2.5, 5, 8 and 16 GT/s, lane widths from x1 to x16, and a full 128 GB of trace memory, the Summit T416 Protocol Analyzer provides unmatched capability and flexibility for developers and users of advanced PCI Express products. The Summit T416 is by far the most advanced and sophisticated PCI Express Analyzer available in the market today.

As with other Teledyne LeCroy PCI Express analyzers, the Summit T416 leverages the intuitive and powerful CATC Trace analysis software system, embedding a deep understanding of the PCI Express protocol hierarchy and intricacies. The colorful, intuitive and easy to use graphical display allows you to quickly capture and validate PCI Express product designs. All Teledyne LeCroy PCI Express protocol analyzers employ high-impedance, non-intrusive probing technology, thereby allowing fully unaltered data pass-through.

In addition to a full suite of advanced hardware and software features, the Summit T416 provides user-convenience and analysis features, such as support for "lane swizzling" which allows a board developer to lay out a Mid-Bus probe pad with lanes in non-standard order, simplifying the design of the board. Internally the Summit T416 maps the lanes back into their correct order and accurately displays the embedded bus traffic. Other software features include enhanced error checking for automatic identification of additional error types, more compact trace files that allow for faster analysis of trace data, and the choice of simplified or advanced modes for setting up trace recording options.

The raw recording mode, Bit Tracer, allows bytes to be recorded as they come across the link, allowing debugging of PHY layer problems and combining the features of a logic analyzer format with a protocol analyzer format. The new auto sense link feature monitors negotiation between devices of different lane widths, and the bifurcated link support recombines multilink PCI Express operations that have been separated into narrower links.

The Summit T416 also supports Ethernet LAN port as a standard feature. By connecting over a LAN, engineers can operate the system remotely (e.g., install the client software on their desktop systems, and control an analyzer operating in a remote lab). Also, multiple engineers working collaboratively can time-share use of a single analyzer, reducing the need for an additional analyzer for each engineer, and increasing the cost effectiveness of the product.

By leveraging years of experience in protocol analysis tools for emerging markets, Teledyne LeCroy's PCI Express protocol analyzers blend sophisticated functionality with practical features to speed the development of PCI Express IP cores, semiconductors, storage, graphics, servers, workstations, bridges, and switches.