Configure Ubuntu 24.04 for NVMe-oF with ONTAP storage

03/10/2026 Contributors

NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF), including NVMe over Fibre Channel (NVMe/FC) and other transports, is supported with Ubuntu 24.04 and Asymmetric Namespace Access (ANA). In NVMe-oF environments, ANA is the equivalent of ALUA multipathing in iSCSI and FC environments and is implemented with in-kernel NVMe multipath.

Learn how to configure NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) hosts for Ubuntu 24.04. For more support and feature information, see Ubuntu ONTAP support and features.

NVMe-oF with Ubuntu 24.04 has the following known limitations:

SAN booting using the NVMe-oF protocol is currently not supported for Ubuntu 24.04 with ONTAP.

For additional details on supported configurations, see the Interoperability Matrix Tool.

Step 1: Install Ubuntu and NVMe software and verify your configuration

To configure your host for NVMe-oF you need to install the host and NVMe software packages, enable multipathing, and verify your host NQN configuration.

Steps

Install Ubuntu 24.04 on the server. After the installation is complete, verify that you are running the specified Ubuntu 24.04 kernel:
```
uname -r
```
Example Ubuntu kernel version:
```
6.8.0-31-generic
```
Install the nvme-cli package:
```
apt list | grep nvme
```
The following example shows an nvme-cli package version:
```
nvme-cli/noble-updates 2.8-1ubuntu0.1 amd64
```
On the Ubuntu 24.04 host, check the hostnqn string at /etc/nvme/hostnqn:
```
cat /etc/nvme/hostnqn
```
The following example shows an hostnqn version:
```
nqn.2014-08.org.nvmexpress:uuid:ace1xxxx-1f5a-xxxx-b0c3-3a6xxxx1a6ff
```

On the ONTAP system, verify that the hostnqn string from /etc/nvme/hostnqn matches the hostnqn string for the corresponding subsystem on the ONTAP storage system:

vserver nvme subsystem host show -vserver vs_106_fc_nvme

Show example

Vserver     Subsystem          Host NQN
----------- --------------- ----------------------------------------------------------
vs_106_fc_nvme ub_106 nqn.2014-08.org.nvmexpress:uuid:c047xxxx-e91e-xxxx-9995-ba4xxxx14631

If the hostnqn strings don't match, use the vserver modify command to update the hostnqn string on your corresponding ONTAP storage system subsystem to match the hostnqn string from /etc/nvme/hostnqn on the host.

Step 2: Configure NVMe/FC and NVMe/TCP

Configure NVMe/FC for Broadcom/Emulex or Marvell/Qlogic adapters, or configure NVMe/TCP using manual discovery and connect operations.

Broadcom/Emulex

Configure NVMe/FC for a Broadcom/Emulex adapter.

Steps

Verify that you're using the supported adapter model:

Display the model names:

cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/modelname

You should see the following output:

LPe36002-M64
LPe36002-M64

Display the model descriptions:

cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/modeldesc

You should see output similar to the following example:

Emulex LPe36002-M64 2-Port 64Gb Fibre Channel Adapter
Emulex LPe36002-M64 2-Port 64Gb Fibre Channel Adapter

Verify that you're using the recommended Broadcom lpfc firmware and inbox driver:
1. Display the firmware version:
  cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/fwrev
  The command returns the firmware versions:
  14.4.317.10, sli-4:6:d 14.4.317.10, sli-4:6:d
2. Display the inbox driver version:
  cat /sys/module/lpfc/version
  The following example shows a driver version:
  0:14.2.0.17
  For the current list of supported adapter driver and firmware versions, see the Interoperability Matrix Tool.

Verify that lpfc_enable_fc4_type is set to 3:

cat /sys/module/lpfc/parameters/lpfc_enable_fc4_type

Verify that you can view your initiator ports:
```
cat /sys/class/fc_host/host*/port_name
```
You should see output similar to:
```
0x100000109bf0447b
0x100000109bf0447c
```
Verify that your initiator ports are online:
```
cat /sys/class/fc_host/host*/port_state
```
You should see the following output:
```
Online
Online
```

Verify that the NVMe/FC initiator ports are enabled and that the target ports are visible:

cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/nvme_info

Show example output

NVME Initiator Enabled
XRI Dist lpfc0 Total 6144 IO 5894 ELS 250
NVME LPORT lpfc0 WWPN x100000109bf0447b WWNN x200000109bf0447b DID x022600 ONLINE
NVME RPORT       WWPN x200fd039eaa8138b WWNN x200ad039eaa8138b DID x021006 TARGET DISCSRVC ONLINE

NVME Statistics
LS: Xmt 0000000187 Cmpl 0000000187 Abort 00000000
LS XMIT: Err 00000000  CMPL: xb 00000000 Err 00000000
Total FCP Cmpl 0000000014096514 Issue 000000001407fcd6 OutIO fffffffffffe97c2
        abort 00000048 noxri 00000000 nondlp 0000001c qdepth 00000000 wqerr 00000000 err 00000000
FCP CMPL: xb 00000048 Err 00000077

NVME Initiator Enabled
XRI Dist lpfc1 Total 6144 IO 5894 ELS 250
NVME LPORT lpfc1 WWPN x100000109bf0447c WWNN x200000109bf0447c DID x022300 ONLINE
NVME RPORT       WWPN x2010d039eaa8138b WWNN x200ad039eaa8138b DID x021106 TARGET DISCSRVC ONLINE

NVME Statistics
LS: Xmt 0000000187 Cmpl 0000000187 Abort 00000000
LS XMIT: Err 00000000  CMPL: xb 00000000 Err 00000000
Total FCP Cmpl 00000000140970ed Issue 00000000140813da OutIO fffffffffffea2ed
        abort 00000047 noxri 00000000 nondlp 0000002b qdepth 00000000 wqerr 00000000 err 00000000
FCP CMPL: xb 00000047 Err 00000075

NVMe/FC - Marvell/QLogic

The native inbox qla2xxx driver included in the Ubuntu 24.04 GA kernel has the latest upstream fixes. These fixes are essential for ONTAP support.

Configure NVMe/FC for a Marvell/QLogic adapter.

Steps

Verify that you are using the supported adapter driver and firmware versions:
```
cat /sys/class/fc_host/host*/symbolic_name
```
The following example shows driver and firmware versions:
```
QLE2872 FW: v9.15.00 DVR: v10.02.09.100-k
QLE2872 FW: v9.15.00 DVR: v10.02.09.100-k
```
Verify that ql2xnvmeenable is set. This enables the Marvell adapter to function as an NVMe/FC initiator:
```
cat /sys/module/qla2xxx/parameters/ql2xnvmeenable
```
The expected output is 1.

NVMe/TCP

NVMe/TCP doesn't support the auto-connect operation. Instead, you can discover the NVMe/TCP subsystems and namespaces by performing the NVMe/TCP connect or connect-all operations manually.

Steps

Check that the initiator port can fetch the discovery log page data across the supported NVMe/TCP LIFs:

nvme discover -t tcp -w <host-traddr> -a <traddr>

Show example

# nvme discover -t tcp -w 192.168.167.150 -a 192.168.167.155
Discovery Log Number of Records 8, Generation counter 10
=====Discovery Log Entry 0======
trtype:  tcp
adrfam:  ipv4
subtype: current discovery subsystem
treq:    not specified
portid:  4
trsvcid: 8009
subnqn:  nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.9b7d42b764ff11efb8fed039eabac370:discovery
traddr:  192.168.167.156
eflags:  explicit discovery connections, duplicate discovery information*
sectype: none
=====Discovery Log Entry 1======
trtype:  tcp
adrfam:  ipv4
subtype: current discovery subsystem
treq:    not specified
portid:  2
trsvcid: 8009
subnqn:  nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.9b7d42b764ff11efb8fed039eabac370:discovery
traddr:  192.168.166.156
eflags:  explicit discovery connections, duplicate discovery information*
sectype: none
=====Discovery Log Entry 2======
trtype:  tcp
adrfam:  ipv4
subtype: current discovery subsystem
treq:    not specified
portid:  3
trsvcid: 8009
subnqn:  nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.9b7d42b764ff11efb8fed039eabac370:discovery
traddr:  192.168.167.155
eflags:  explicit discovery connections, duplicate discovery information*
sectype: none
=====Discovery Log Entry 3======
trtype:  tcp
adrfam:  ipv4
subtype: current discovery subsystem
treq:    not specified
portid:  1
trsvcid: 8009
subnqn:  nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.9b7d42b764ff11efb8fed039eabac370:discovery
traddr:  192.168.166.155
eflags:  explicit discovery connections, duplicate discovery information*
sectype: none
=====Discovery Log Entry 4======
trtype:  tcp
adrfam:  ipv4
subtype: nvme subsystem
treq:    not specified
portid:  4
trsvcid: 4420
subnqn:  nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.9b7d42b764ff11efb8fed039eabac370:subsystem.ubuntu_24.04_tcp_211
traddr:  192.168.167.156
eflags:  none
sectype: none
=====Discovery Log Entry 5======
trtype:  tcp
adrfam:  ipv4
subtype: nvme subsystem
treq:    not specified
portid:  2
trsvcid: 4420
subnqn:  nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.9b7d42b764ff11efb8fed039eabac370:subsystem.ubuntu_24.04_tcp_211
traddr:  192.168.166.156
eflags:  none
sectype: none
=====Discovery Log Entry 6======
trtype:  tcp
adrfam:  ipv4
subtype: nvme subsystem
treq:    not specified
portid:  3
trsvcid: 4420
subnqn:  nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.9b7d42b764ff11efb8fed039eabac370:subsystem.ubuntu_24.04_tcp_211
traddr:  192.168.167.155
eflags:  none
sectype: none
=====Discovery Log Entry 7======
trtype:  tcp
adrfam:  ipv4
subtype: nvme subsystem
treq:    not specified
portid:  1
trsvcid: 4420
subnqn:  nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.9b7d42b764ff11efb8fed039eabac370:subsystem.ubuntu_24.04_tcp_211
traddr:  192.168.166.155
eflags:  none
sectype: none

Verify that the other NVMe/TCP initiator-target LIF combinations can successfully retrieve discovery log page data:

nvme discover -t tcp -w <host-traddr> -a <traddr>

Show example output

#nvme discover -t tcp -w 192.168.167.150 -a 192.168.167.155
#nvme discover -t tcp -w 192.168.167.150 -a 192.168.167.156
#nvme discover -t tcp -w 192.168.166.150 -a 192.168.166.155
#nvme discover -t tcp -w 192.168.166.150 -a 192.168.166.156

Run the nvme connect-all command across all the supported NVMe/TCP initiator-target LIFs across the nodes:

nvme connect-all -t tcp -w <host-traddr> -a <traddr>

Show example

#nvme connect-all -t tcp -w 192.168.167.150 -a 192.168.167.155
#nvme connect-all -t tcp -w 192.168.167.150 -a 192.168.167.156
#nvme connect-all -t tcp -w 192.168.166.150 -a 192.168.166.155
#nvme connect-all -t tcp -w 192.168.166.150 -a 192.168.166.156

Beginning with Ubuntu 24.04, the ctrl_loss_tmo timeout default setting for NVMe/TCP is turned off. This means there is no limit on the number of retries (indefinite retry) and you don't need to manually configure a specific ctrl_loss_tmo timeout duration when using the nvme connect or nvme connect-all commands (option -l ). With this default behavior, the NVMe/TCP controllers don't experience timeouts in the event of a path failure and remain connected indefinitely.

Step 3: Optionally, enable 1MB I/O for NVMe/FC

ONTAP reports a Max Data Transfer Size (MDTS) of 8 in the Identify Controller data. This means the maximum I/O request size can be up to 1MB. To issue I/O requests of size 1MB for a Broadcom NVMe/FC host, you should increase the lpfc value of the lpfc_sg_seg_cnt parameter to 256 from the default value of 64.

These steps don't apply to Qlogic NVMe/FC hosts.

Steps

Set the lpfc_sg_seg_cnt parameter to 256:
```
cat /etc/modprobe.d/lpfc.conf
```
You should see an output similar to the following example:
```
options lpfc lpfc_sg_seg_cnt=256
```
Run the dracut -f command, and reboot the host.

Verify that the value for lpfc_sg_seg_cnt is 256:

cat /sys/module/lpfc/parameters/lpfc_sg_seg_cnt

Step 4: Verify multipathing configuration

Verify that the in-kernel NVMe multipath status, ANA status, and ONTAP namespaces are correct for the NVMe-oF configuration.

Steps

Verify that the appropriate NVMe-oF settings (such as, model set to NetApp ONTAP Controller and load balancing iopolicy set to round-robin) for the respective ONTAP namespaces correctly display on the host:
1. Verify that the in-kernel NVMe multipath is enabled:
  cat /sys/module/nvme_core/parameters/multipath
  The expected output is "Y".
2. Display the subsystems:
  cat /sys/class/nvme-subsystem/nvme-subsys*/model
  You should see the following output:
  NetApp ONTAP Controller NetApp ONTAP Controller
3. Display the policy:
  cat /sys/class/nvme-subsystem/nvme-subsys*/iopolicy
  You should see the following output:
  round-robin round-robin

Verify that the namespaces are created and correctly discovered on the host:

nvme list

Show example output

Node         SN                         Model
---------------------------------------------------------
/dev/nvme0n1 81CZ5BQuUNfGAAAAAAAB	NetApp ONTAP Controller


Namespace Usage   Format                FW            Rev
-----------------------------------------------------------
1                 21.47 GB / 21.47 GB	4 KiB + 0 B   FFFFFFFF

Verify that the controller state of each path is live and has the correct ANA status:

NVMe/FC

nvme list-subsys /dev/nvme0n1

Show example output

nvme-subsys4 - NQN=nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.8763d311b2ac11ed950ed039ea951c46:subsystem. ubuntu_24.04 \
+- nvme1 fc traddr=nn-0x20a6d039ea954d17:pn-0x20a7d039ea954d17,host_traddr=nn-0x200000109b1b95ef:pn-0x100000109b1b95ef live optimized
+- nvme2 fc traddr=nn-0x20a6d039ea954d17:pn-0x20a8d039ea954d17,host_traddr=nn-0x200000109b1b95f0:pn-0x100000109b1b95f0 live optimized
+- nvme3 fc traddr=nn-0x20a6d039ea954d17:pn-0x20aad039ea954d17,host_traddr=nn-0x200000109b1b95f0:pn-0x100000109b1b95f0 live non-optimized
+- nvme5 fc traddr=nn-0x20a6d039ea954d17:pn-0x20a9d039ea954d17,host_traddr=nn-0x200000109b1b95ef:pn-0x100000109b1b95ef live non-optimized

NVMe/TCP

nvme list-subsys /dev/nvme1n1

Show example output

nvme-subsys0 - NQN=nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.9b7d42b764ff11efb8fed039eabac370:subsystem.ubuntu_24.04_tcp_211
               hostnqn=nqn.2014-08.org.nvmexpress:uuid:4c4cxxxx-0050-xxxx-8035-c3cxxxxa5933
               iopolicy=round-robin
 +- nvme0 tcp traddr=192.168.166.155,trsvcid=4420,host_traddr=192.168.166.150,src_addr=192.168.166.150 live optimized
 +- nvme1 tcp traddr=192.168.167.155,trsvcid=4420,host_traddr=192.168.167.150,src_addr=192.168.167.150 live optimized
 +- nvme2 tcp traddr=192.168.166.156,trsvcid=4420,host_traddr=192.168.166.150,src_addr=192.168.166.150 live non-optimized
 +- nvme3 tcp traddr=192.168.167.156,trsvcid=4420,host_traddr=192.168.167.150,src_addr=192.168.167.150 live non-optimized

Verify that the NetApp plug-in displays the correct values for each ONTAP namespace device:

nvme netapp ontapdevices -o column

Show example output

Device        Vserver        Namespace Path          NSID UUID                                   Size
------------- -------------  ----------------------- ---- -------------------------------------- ---------
/dev/nvme0n1   vs_211_tcp    /vol/tcpvol1/ns1        1    1cc7bc78-8d7b-4d8e-a3c4-750f9461a6e9   21.47GB

JSON

nvme netapp ontapdevices -o json

Show example output

{

"ONTAPdevices" : [
{
      "Device":"/dev/nvme0n9",
      "Vserver":"vs_211_tcp",
      "Namespace_Path":"/vol/tcpvol9/ns9",
      "NSID":9,
      "UUID":"99640dd9-8463-4c12-8282-b525b39fc10b",
      "Size":"21.47GB",
      "LBA_Data_Size":4096,
      "Namespace_Size":5242880
    }
  ]
}

== Step 5: Review the known issues

There are no known issues for the NVMe-oF host configuration for Ubuntu 24.04 with ONTAP release.

Configure Ubuntu 24.04 for NVMe-oF with ONTAP storage

Creating your file...

Step 1: Install Ubuntu and NVMe software and verify your configuration

Step 2: Configure NVMe/FC and NVMe/TCP

Step 3: Optionally, enable 1MB I/O for NVMe/FC

Step 4: Verify multipathing configuration