Below is a list of white papers, presentations, webcasts, and even a video that discuss SSDs, SSD performance and how it should be measured.  The list is in the recommended order of reading / viewing, and ranges from basic overviews to technical details.  Hope you find this useful.

1. What more logical place to start than Solid State Storage 101?  This white paper talks about SSDs, how they work and how they fit into system architectures.
2. Another white paper, NAND Flash Solid State Storage for the Enterprise, looks at Flash memory in more detail and how SSD controllers work.
3. Facing an SSS Decision? Here is How SNIA is Helping Users Evaluate SSS Performance is a presentation that starts to delve into SSD performance and the basic principles of the SSS Performance Test Specification.
4. The presentation Validating SSS Performance also introduces the SSS PTS, but in additional detail.
5. The Solid State Storage Performance Test Specification (SSS PTS) White Paper provides an easily understandable introduction to the SSS PTS.
6. Here’s a video of our own Eden Kim Describing the SSS PTS at Storage Visions 2012.
7. SNIA Solid State Storage Test Specification is a more technical description of the contents of the SSS PTS.
8. Now that you’ve read all about them, the actual SSS PTS documents can be downloaded here.
9. And finally, SSSI has put together a webpage on Understanding SSD Performance, which explains the test results generated from the SSS PTS and what they mean to users.

You can find a lot of other informative material related to SSDs on the SSSI Education page.

If you have any questions, comments or requests, please comment on this post or send a message to asksssi@snia.org.

Volunteer of the Year recognizes an individual who, above all others in 2011, consistently stepped up and helped SNIA achieve something new and groundbreaking or who significantly advanced an existing program. Congratulations to Paul Wassenberg of Marvell, SNIA Solid State Storage Initiative Chair, winner of the 2011 SNIA Volunteer of the Year for his leadership in Solid State Storage education and outreach of SSSI activities including the Enterprise and Client Performance Test Specifications and Understanding SSD Performance Project .

The Industry Impact Honoree recognizes an individual who has significantly advanced a cause for SNIA leading to an impact on the industry or the Association. Congratulations to Eden Kim of Calypso Systems, SNIA Solid State Storage Technical Work Group, winner of the 2011 Industry Impact Award for his leadership on development of the Solid State Storage Enterprise and Client Performance Test Specifications.

The Most Significant Impact by a Technical Work Group recognizes the SNIA TWG, which above all others in 2011, had members and efforts which consistently stepped up and helped SNIA achieve something new and groundbreaking or which significantly advanced an existing program. Congratulations to the Solid State Storage Technical Work Group, honored in 2011 for their development of the Solid State Storage Enterprise and Client Performance Test Specifications.

Eden Kim, SNIA SSS TWG Chair, receiving "SNIA Industry Impact Award" from Wayne Adams, SNIA Chairman of the Board, and Leo Leger, SNIA Executive Director

The project outcomes so far include a new webpage at www.snia.org/forums/sssi/pts, a white paper (www.snia.org/forums/sssi/knowledge/education), and a webcast.

Join us for the webcast on January 19 at 11AM Pacific Time by going to www.brighttalk.com/webcast/663/40549.

SNIA Solid State Storage Initiative just completed two excellent webcasts on Solid State Storage – a topic that is getting the 2012 buzz.    In my involvement with the SNIA SSSI, I was lucky enough to introduce both webcasts, and they really brought some new perspectives to light.

Put them on your holiday viewing list, and you’ll jumpstart your 2012 education just in time to see the SSSI at Storage Visions, January 8-9, 2012 in Las Vegas.

I would suggest beginning with a session that gives a glimpse into how IT professionals look at solid state drives and high speed memory technologies.  Jim Bagley of Storage Strategies NOW gives a quick background of the solid state drive and high-speed memory market and then dives into solid state storage growth and how businesses are adopting and deploying solid state storage for rapid access to transactional data, the cloud and virtual desktop infrastructures.

This session includes the results of an IT Professionals Adoption Survey, co-sponsored by the SNIA and the Solid State Storage Initiative (SSSI), which presents information on the status of solid state drives (SSDs) and high-speed memory, and that’s where it gets interesting.  You’ll want to compare your organization to these answers from 300+ professionals, and see where you stand with SSD adoption, how SSDs have affected the perception of the value of IT as a business enabler, and which storage applications are deploying SSDs.

The webcast is entitled “Solid State Adoption and Use – a Glimpse into the IT Professional Mind” and you can access it here.

Stay tuned for my next blog entry, I’ll give your present #2, and maybe even a bonus gift.

Preview and register here:

http://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/663/39135

Join the SNIA Solid State Storage Initiative and Jim Bagley of Storage Strategies NOW for a topical and informative look into solid state storage growth and how businesses are adopting and deploying solid state storage for rapid access to transactional data, the cloud and virtual desktop infrastructures. This session will include the results of an IT Professionals Adoption Survey, co-sponsored by the SNIA and the Solid State Storage Initiative (SSSI), which presents information on the status of solid state drives and high-speed memory.

Solid Security:  The Rise of Self-Encrypted Solid State Drives

http://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/663/37987  

Protecting user data is important in storage devices.  If valuable information is on a storage device, it makes sense to make sure that that data isn’t accessible by unauthorized individuals or organizations.  Protecting user data from being stolen or accessed leads to the use of encryption in storage devices. 

With one of the hottest drive categories – solid state drives (SSDs) – rapidly penetrating data centers,  this hour-long webcast provides a valuable introduction to  self-encrypting drives (SEDs) and explains why organizations need SEDs Solid State Drives in their environment.  Listen, ask questions, and find out from your peers where they are in incorporating SEDs and SSDs in their environment.

It’s a free download on his Storage Tuning blog.

This is a boon for anyone that might want to run a internal preliminary test before pursuing a more formal route.

The bash script uses the Flexible I/O utility (FIO) to run through part of the SSSI PTS.  FIO does the heavy lifting, and the script manages it.  The script outputs comma separated (CSV) data and the download includes an Excel pivot table that helps format the results and select the measurement window.

Since this is a bare-bones implementation the SSD must be initialized manually before the test script is run.

The test runs the IOPS Test from the PTS.  This test covers a range of block sizes, read/write ratios and iterates until the steady state for the device is reached (with a maximum of 25 iterations).  Altogether the test takes over a day to run.

Once the test is complete, the downloadable pivot tables allow users to select the steady-state measurement window and report the data in a recommended format.

See Mr. Bowen’s blog at http://storagetuning.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/sssi-performance-test-specification/ for details on this valuable download.

You’ll find the link on the SSSI Blogroll.