nvme-format: protection information enabled although metadata size is 0

[Keith Busch]

On Mon, Oct 31, 2022 at 10:27:34AM +0100, Binarus wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> after having read the subjects of the posts in October, I am afraid that a
> dumb newbie question like the following may be inappropriate here. But due
> to the lack of other options (tried other Q & A sites without success), I'll
> be brave ... Having said this:
> 
> On a machine with Debian Bullseye and nvme-cli 1.12, I have formatted an
> Intel DC P3700 the following way:
> 
>   nvme format /dev/nvme0 -l 3 -i 1 -f

You correctly surmised that the device is behaving out-of-compliance
with the specification. The device should have returned an "Invalid
Format" error since, as you found, this is the error to return when
"enabling protection information when there are not sufficient metadata
resources".

You're unlikely to find a fix for this EOL device, though. It's just a
firmware bug that you should avoid.