Learn the UNIX/Linux command line
Home Man Pages
DMRAID(8) DMRAID(8)
NAME
dmraid - discover and activate software (ATA)RAID
SYNOPSIS
dmraid
{-a|--activate} {y|n|yes|no}
[-d|--debug]... [-v|--verbose]... [-i|--ignorelocking]
[-f|--format FORMAT[,FORMAT...]]
[-p|--no_partitions]
[--separator SEPARATOR]
[-t|--test]
[RAID-set...]
dmraid
{-b|--block_devices}
[-c|--display_columns][FIELD[,FIELD...]]...
[-d|--debug]... [-v|--verbose]...
[--separator SEPARATOR]
[device-path...]
dmraid
{-h|--help}
dmraid
{-l|--list_formats}
[-d|--debug]... [-v|--verbose]...
dmraid
{-n|--native_log}
[-d|--debug]... [-v|--verbose]... [-i|--ignorelocking]
[-f|--format FORMAT[,FORMAT...]]
[--separator SEPARATOR]
[device-path...]
dmraid
{-r|--raid_devices}
[-c|--display_columns][FIELD[,FIELD...]]...
[-d|--debug]... [-v|--verbose]... [-i|--ignorelocking]
[-D|--dump_metadata]
[-f|--format FORMAT[,FORMAT...]]
[--separator SEPARATOR]
[device-path...]
dmraid
{-r|--raid_devices}
[-d|--debug]... [-v|--verbose]... [-i|--ignorelocking]
[-E|--erase_metadata]
[-f|--format FORMAT[,FORMAT...]]
[--separator SEPARATOR]
[device-path...]
dmraid
{-s|--sets}...[a|i|active|inactive]
[-c|--display_columns][FIELD[,FIELD...]]...
[-d|--debug]... [-v|--verbose]... [-i|--ignorelocking]
[-f|--format FORMAT[,FORMAT...]]
[-g|--display_group]
[--separator SEPARATOR]
[RAID-set...]
dmraid
{-V/--version}
DESCRIPTION
dmraid discovers block and software RAID devices (eg, ATARAID) by
using multiple different metadata format handlers which support vari-
ous formats (eg, Highpoint 37x series). It offers activating RAID
sets made up by 2 or more discovered RAID devices, display properties
of devices and sets (see option -l for supported metadata formats).
Block device access to activated RAID sets occurs via device-mapper
nodes /dev/mapper/RaidSetName. RaidSetName starts with the format
name (see -l option) which can be used to access all RAID sets of a
specific format easily with certain options (eg, -a below).
OPTIONS
-a, --activate {y|n} [RAID set...]
Activates or deactivates all or particular software RAID set.
In case metadata format handlers are chosen with -f , only RAID
sets with such format(s) can be activated or deactivated. Use-
ful if devices have multiple metadata signatures. When acti-
vating RAID sets, -p disables the activation of partitions on
them. RAID set names given on command line don't need to be
fully specified (eg, "dmraid -ay sil" would activate all dis-
covered Silicon Image Medley RAID sets).
{-b|--block_devices} [device-path...]
List all or particular discovered block devices with their
properties (size, serial number). Add -c to display block
device names only and -cc for CSV column output of block device
properties. See description of -c below for FIELD identifiers.
[-d|--debug]...
Enable debugging output. Opion can be given multiple times
increasing the debug output level.
[-c|--display_columns][FIELD[,FIELD...]]...
Display properties of block devices, RAID sets and devices in
column(s). Optional list specifying which FIELDs to display.
For -b:
d[evpath]|p[ath], sec[tors]|si[ze], ser[ialnumber].
For -r:
de[vpath]|p[ath], f[ormat], r[aidname], t[ype], st[atus],
se[ctors]|si[ze], da[taoffset]|o[ffset].
For -s:
f[ormat], r[aidname], t[ype], sta[tus], str[ide],
se[ctors]|si[ze], su[bsets], d[evices], sp[ares].
[-f|--format FORMAT[,FORMAT...]]
Use metadata format handler(s) to discover RAID devices. See
-l for a list of supported format handler names. This is useful
to select particular formats in case multiple metadata signa-
tures are found on a device. A comma seperated list of format
names can be specified which may not contain white space.
{-h|--help}
Display help text.
{-i|--ignorelocking}
Don't take out any locks. Useful in early boot where no
read/write access to /var is available.
{-l|--list_formats}
List all available metadata format handlers with their names
and descriptions. Supported RAID levels are listed in parenthe-
sis:
S: Span (concatination)
0: RAID0 (stripe)
1: RAID1 (mirror)
10: RAID10 (mirror on top of stripes)
01: RAID10 (stripe on top of mirrors)
{-n|--native_log} [device-path...]
Display metadata in native, vendor-specific format. In case a
metadata format handler is chosen with -f only RAID devices
with such format will be displayed in native format. If
device-path(s) is/are given on the command line, native meta-
data output is restricted to those listed.
{-r|--raid_devices} [device-path...]
List all discovered RAID devices with format, RAID level, sec-
tors used and data offset into the device. In case a metadata
format handler is chosen with -f , only RAID devices with such
format can be discovered. Useful if devices have multiple meta-
data signatures. If -D is added to -r the RAID metadata gets
dumped into files named devicename_formatname.dat. The offset
in sectors where the metadata is located on the device is writ-
ten into files named devicename_formatname.offset and the size
of the device into files named devicename_formatname.size.
If -E is added to -r the RAID metadata on the devices gets con-
ditionally erased. Useful to erase old metadata after new one
of different type has been stored on a device in order to avoid
discovering both. If you enter -E option -D will be enforced in
order to have a fallback in case the wrong metadata got erased.
Manual copying back onto the device is needed to recover from
erasing the wrong metadata using the dumped files device-
name_formatname.dat and devicename_formatname.offset. Eg, to
restore all *.dat files in the working directory to the respec-
tive devices:
for f in *.dat
do
dd if=$f of=/dev/${f%%_*} \
seek='cat ${f%%dat}offset' bs=1
done
If device-path(s) is/are given on the command line, the above
actions are restricted to those listed. Add -c to display RAID
device names only and -cc for CSV column output of RAID device
properties. See description of -c above for FIELD identifiers.
--separator SEPARATOR
Use SEPARATOR as a delimiter for all options taking or display-
ing lists.
-s... [a|i] [RAID-set...]
Display properties of RAID sets. Multiple RAID set names can be
given on the command line which don't need to be fully speci-
fied (eg, "dmraid -s hpt" would display all discovered High-
point RAID sets). Enter -s twice to display RAID subsets too.
Add -c to display names of RAID sets only, -cc for CSV column
output of RAID set properties and -ccc for inclusion of block
devices in the listing. Doesn't imply -s -s to show RAID sub-
sets (implied for group sets, e.g. isw). Add -g to include
information about group RAID sets (as with Intel Software RAID)
in the listing. See description of -c above for FIELD identi-
fiers.
[-v|--verbose]...
Enable verbose runtime information output. Opion can be given
multiple times increasing the verbosity level.
EXAMPLES
"dmraid -l" lists all supported metadata formats with their names
along with some descriptive information, eg:
hpt37x : (+) Highpoint HPT37X
hpt45x : (+) Highpoint HPT45X
isw : (+) Intel Software RAID
lsi : (0) LSI Logic MegaRAID
nvidia : (+) NVidia RAID
pdc : (+) Promise FastTrack
sil : (+) Silicon Image(tm) Medley(tm)
via : (+) VIA Software RAID
dos : (+) DOS partitions on SW RAIDs
(0): Discover, (+): Discover+Activate
"dmraid -ay" activates all software RAID sets discovered.
"dmraid -an" deactivates all active software RAID sets which are not
open (eg, mounted filesystem on them).
"dmraid -ay -f pdc" (pdc looked up from "dmraid -l") activates all
software RAID sets with Promise format discovered and ignores all
other supported formats.
"dmraid -r" discovers all software RAID devices supported on your sys-
tem, eg:
/dev/dm-46: hpt45x, "hpt45x_chidjhaiaa-0", striped, ok, 320172928 sec-
tors, data@ 0
/dev/dm-50: hpt45x, "hpt45x_chidjhaiaa-0", striped, ok, 320172928 sec-
tors, data@ 0
/dev/dm-54: hpt45x, "hpt45x_chidjhaiaa-1", striped, ok, 320172928 sec-
tors, data@ 0
/dev/dm-58: hpt45x, "hpt45x_chidjhaiaa-1", striped, ok, 320172928 sec-
tors, data@ 0
"dmraid -s -s hpt45x_chidjhaiaa" displays properties of set
"hpt45x_chidjhaiaa", eg:
*** Superset
name : hpt45x_chidjhaiaa
size : 640345856
stride : 128
type : raid10
status : ok
subsets: 2
dev : 4
spare : 0
---> Subset
name : hpt45x_chidjhaiaa-0
size : 640345856
stride : 128
type : stripe
status : ok
subsets: 0
dev : 2
spare : 0
---> Subset
name : hpt45x_chidjhaiaa-1
size : 640345856
stride : 128
type : stripe
status : ok
subsets: 0
dev : 2
spare : 0
"dmraid -s -ccs hpt45" displays properties in column format of all
sets and subsets with hpt45* format, eg:
hpt45x_chidjhaiaa,640345856,128,raid10,ok,4,0
hpt45x_chidjhaiaa-a,640345856,128,stripe,ok,2,0
hpt45x_chidjhaiaa-b,640345856,128,stripe,ok,2,0
"dmraid -r --sep : -cpath:size" display paths and sizes in sectors for
RAID devices in column format using ':' as a delimiter, eg:
/dev/dm-8:320173055
/dev/dm-12:320173055
/dev/dm-22:320173055
/dev/dm-26:320173055
/dev/dm-30:586114703
/dev/dm-34:586114703
/dev/dm-38:586114703
/dev/dm-42:586114703
/dev/dm-46:156301487
/dev/dm-50:156301487
/dev/dm-54:390624896
/dev/dm-58:390624896
/dev/dm-62:390624896
/dev/dm-66:390624896
DIAGNOSTICS
dmraid returns an exit code of 0 for success or 1 for error.
AUTHOR
Heinz Mauelshagen
Heinz Mauelshagen DMRAID TOOL DMRAID(8)
UNIX/Linux commands referenced on this page: