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Getting Started with Zoned Storage Devices

Learn how to set up a Linux system that supports zoned block devices so that you can start experimenting with emulated and physical zoned storage devices.

Setting up a Zoned Storage Compatible Linux System

Linux distributions consist of a Linux kernel and a collection of system and user applications. The zoned-block-device features that are available in your distribution depend on several things: the version of the Linux kernel and its configuration, and the various system utilities that are installed.

Learn more about the support provided by various Linux distributions and how to modify them to improve zoned block device support.

Getting Started with an Emulated Zoned Block Device

Emulating a zoned block device makes it possible to develop and test applications for zoned block devices without the expense of a complex hardware setup.

Learn how to create emulated zoned block devices with the emulated zone configuration that matches a particular device type and model (SMR hard disks or NVMe SSDs with Zoned Namespace support).

Getting Started with an SMR Hard Disk

Host-managed SMR hard disks have a device type that is different than the device type of regular hard disks. Host-managed SMR hard disks require compatible host-bus-adapters (HBA) to connect to hosts.

Learn how to identify SMR hard disks and verify that the host system is operating correctly.

Getting Started with a NVMe SSD with Zoned Namespace support

Learn how to identify NVMe SSD with Zoned Namespace support and verify that the host system is operating correctly.