Transferring data between solid state drives (SSDs) via a connection between the SSDs

A storage system, comprising:

• a first solid state drive (SSD) having i) a first built-in network interface device configured to communicate via a network fabric, and ii) a first processor;
• a second SSD having i) a second built-in network interface device configured to communicate via the network fabric, and ii) a second processor;
• and
• the network fabric;
• wherein the first processor of the first SSD is configured to:
• i) open a connection between the first SSD and the second SSD over the network fabric, wherein the first SSD is communicatively coupled to the second SSD further over an interconnect associated with a host computer, ii) based on a non-volatile memory over fabric (NVMe-oF) communication protocol, encapsulate in a capsule a non-volatile memory express (NVMe) command to transfer data between the first SSD and the second SSD over the connection, and iii) provide the capsule to the first built-in network interface device to send the capsule to the second built-in network interface device of the second SSD over the connection;
• and
• wherein the second processor of the second SSD is configured to:
• i) receive the capsule from the second built-in network interface device, ii) decapsulate the NVMe command from the capsule according to the NVMe-oF communication protocol, and iii) execute the NVMe command to transfer the data between the first SSD and the second SSD over the connection, the data being transferred according to the NVMe-oF communication protocol and without any of the data being transferred to the host computer.