Nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) has gained incredible adoption as a low-latency interface for connecting host systems with SSDs. NVMe storage attached directly to host systems via peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) is commonly available in high-end storage servers, laptops, and mobile devices.
A complementary specification, NVMe over fabrics (NVMeoF) defines the attachment of that same NVM storage media over a fabric with microsecond-level latency. The NVMe-oF specification was designed to be agnostic of the underlying transport, and an additional transport specific binding specification is provided to define exactly how a transport can carry NVMe traffic.
Just as PCIe-connected NVMe SSDs have many use cases and flavors (form factor, number of ports, flash type), NVMe over fabrics enables a variety of implementation types.