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MDADM(8) MDADM(8)
NAME
mdadm - manage MD devices aka Linux Software Raid.
SYNOPSIS
mdadm [mode] [options]
DESCRIPTION
RAID devices are virtual devices created from two or more real block
devices. This allows multiple devices (typically disk drives or parti-
tions there-of) to be combined into a single device to hold (for exam-
ple) a single filesystem. Some RAID levels include redundancy and so
can survive some degree of device failure.
Linux Software RAID devices are implemented through the md (Multiple
Devices) device driver.
Currently, Linux supports LINEAR md devices, RAID0 (striping), RAID1
(mirroring), RAID4, RAID5, RAID6, and MULTIPATH.
MULTIPATH is not a Software RAID mechanism, but does involve multiple
devices. For MULTIPATH each device is a path to one common physical
storage device.
mdadm is a program that can be used to create, manage, and monitor MD
devices. As such it provides a similar set of functionality to the
raidtools packages. The key differences between mdadm and raidtools
are:
? mdadm is a single program and not a collection of programs.
? mdadm can perform (almost) all of its functions without having a
configuration file and does not use one by default. Also mdadm
helps with management of the configuration file.
? mdadm can provide information about your arrays (through Query,
Detail, and Examine) that raidtools cannot.
mdadm does not use /etc/raidtab, the raidtools configuration file, at
all. It has a different configuration file with a different format
and an different purpose.
MODES
mdadm has 7 major modes of operation:
Assemble
Assemble the parts of a previously created array into an active
array. Components can be explicitly given or can be searched
for. mdadm checks that the components do form a bona fide
array, and can, on request, fiddle superblock information so as
to assemble a faulty array.
Build Build a legacy array without per-device superblocks.
Create Create a new array with per-device superblocks.
Manage This is for doing things to specific components of an array
such as adding new spares and removing faulty devices.
Misc This mode allows operations on independent devices such as
examine MD superblocks, erasing old superblocks and stopping
active arrays.
Follow or Monitor
Monitor one or more md devices and act on any state changes.
This is only meaningful for raid1, 4, 5, 6 or multipath arrays
as only these have interesting state. raid0 or linear never
have missing, spare, or failed drives, so there is nothing to
monitor.
Grow Grow (or shrink) an array, or otherwise reshape it in some way.
Currently supported growth options including changing the
active size of componenet devices in RAID level 1/4/5/6 and
changing the number of active devices in RAID1.
OPTIONS
Available options are:
-A, --assemble
Assemble a pre-existing array.
-B, --build
Build a legacy array without superblocks.
-C, --create
Create a new array.
-Q, --query
Examine a device to see (1) if it is an md device and (2) if it
is a component of an md array. Information about what is dis-
covered is presented.
-D, --detail
Print detail of one or more md devices.
-E, --examine
Print content of md superblock on device(s).
-F, --follow, --monitor
Select Monitor mode.
-G, --grow
Change the size or shape of an active array.
-h, --help
Display help message or, after above option, mode specific help
message.
--help-options
Display more detailed help about command line parsing and some
commonly used options.
-V, --version
Print version information for mdadm.
-v, --verbose
Be more verbose about what is happening.
-b, --brief
Be less verbose. This is used with --detail and --examine.
-f, --force
Be more forceful about certain operations. See the various
modes of the exact meaning of this option in different con-
texts.
-c, --config=
Specify the config file. Default is /etc/mdadm.conf. If the
config file given is partitions then nothing will be read, but
mdadm will act as though the config file contained exactly
DEVICE partitions and will read /proc/partitions to find a list
of devices to scan. If the word none is given for the config
file, then mdadm will act as though the config file were empty.
-s, --scan
scan config file or /proc/mdstat for missing information. In
general, this option gives mdadm permission to get any missing
information, like component devices, array devices, array iden-
tities, and alert destination from the configuration file:
/etc/mdadm.conf. One exception is MISC mode when using
--detail or --stop in which case --scan says to get a list of
array devices from /proc/mdstat.
For create or build:
-c, --chunk=
Specify chunk size of kibibytes. The default is 64.
--rounding=
Specify rounding factor for linear array (==chunk size)
-l, --level=
Set raid level. When used with --create, options are: linear,
raid0, 0, stripe, raid1, 1, mirror, raid4, 4, raid5, 5, raid6,
6, multipath, mp. Obviously some of these are synonymous.
When used with --build, only linear, raid0, 0, stripe are
valid.
-p, --parity=
Set raid5 parity algorithm. Options are: left-asymmetric, left-
symmetric, right-asymmetric, right-symmetric, la, ra, ls, rs.
The default is left-symmetric.
--layout=
same as --parity
-n, --raid-devices=
Specify the number of active devices in the array. This, plus
the number of spare devices (see below) must equal the number
of component-devices (including "missing" devices) that are
listed on the command line for --create. Setting a value of 1
is probably a mistake and so requires that --force be specified
first. A value of 1 will then be allowed for linear, multi-
path, raid0 and raid1. It is never allowed for raid4 or raid5.
This number can only be changed using --grow for RAID1 arrays,
and only on kernels which provide necessary support.
-x, --spare-devices=
Specify the number of spare (eXtra) devices in the initial
array. Spares can also be added and removed later. The number
of component devices listed on the command line must equal the
number of raid devices plus the number of spare devices.
-z, --size=
Amount (in Kibibytes) of space to use from each drive in
RAID1/4/5/6. This must be a multiple of the chunk size, and
must leave about 128Kb of space at the end of the drive for the
RAID superblock. If this is not specified (as it normally is
not) the smallest drive (or partition) sets the size, though if
there is a variance among the drives of greater than 1%, a
warning is issued.
This value can be set with --grow for RAID level 1/4/5/6. If
the array was created with a size smaller than the currently
active drives, the extra space can be accessed using --grow.
--assume-clean
Tell mdadm that the array pre-existed and is known to be clean.
This is only really useful for Building RAID1 array. Only use
this if you really know what you are doing. This is currently
only supported for --build.
-R, --run
Insist that mdadm run the array, even if some of the components
appear to be active in another array or filesystem. Normally
mdadm will ask for confirmation before including such compo-
nents in an array. This option causes that question to be sup-
pressed.
-f, --force
Insist that mdadm accept the geometry and layout specified
without question. Normally mdadm will not allow creation of an
array with only one device, and will try to create a raid5
array with one missing drive (as this makes the initial resync
work faster). With --force, mdadm will not try to be so
clever.
-a, --auto{=no,yes,md,mdp,part,p}{NN}
Instruct mdadm to create the device file if needed, and to
allocate an unused minor number. "yes" or "md" causes a non-
partitionable array to be used. "mdp", "part" or "p" causes a
partitionable array (2.6 and later) to be used. The argument-
ment can also come immediately after "-a". e.g. "-ap".
For partitionable arrays, mdadm will create the device file for
the whole array and for the first 4 partitions. A different
number of partitions can be specified at the end of this option
(e.g. --auto=p7). If the device name ends with a digit, the
partition names add an underscore, a 'p', and a number, e.g.
"/dev/home1_p3". If there is no trailing digit, then the par-
tition names just have a number added, e.g. "/dev/scratch3".
For assemble:
-u, --uuid=
uuid of array to assemble. Devices which don't have this uuid
are excluded
-m, --super-minor=
Minor number of device that array was created for. Devices
which don't have this minor number are excluded. If you create
an array as /dev/md1, then all superblocks will contain the
minor number 1, even if the array is later assembled as
/dev/md2.
Giving the literal word "dev" for --super-minor will cause
mdadm to use the minor number of the md device that is being
assembled. e.g. when assembling /dev/md0, will look for super
blocks with a minor number of 0.
-f, --force
Assemble the array even if some superblocks appear out-of-date
-R, --run
Attempt to start the array even if fewer drives were given than
are needed for a full array. Normally if not all drives are
found and --scan is not used, then the array will be assembled
but not started. With --run an attempt will be made to start
it anyway.
-a, --auto{=no,yes,md,mdp,part}
See this option under Create and Build options.
-U, --update=
Update the superblock on each device while assembling the
array. The argument given to this flag can be one of sparc2.2,
summaries, or super-minor.
The sparc2.2 option will adjust the superblock of an array
what was created on a Sparc machine running a patched 2.2 Linux
kernel. This kernel got the alignment of part of the
superblock wrong. You can use the --examine --sparc2.2 option
to mdadm to see what effect this would have.
The super-minor option will update the prefered minor field on
each superblock to match the minor number of the array being
assembled. This is not needed on 2.6 and later kernels as they
make this adjustment automatically.
The summaries option will correct the summaries in the
superblock. That is the counts of total, working, active,
failed, and spare devices.
For Manage mode:
-a, --add
hotadd listed devices.
-r, --remove
remove listed devices. They must not be active. i.e. they
should be failed or spare devices.
-f, --fail
mark listed devices as faulty.
--set-faulty
same as --fail.
For Examine mode:
--sparc2.2
In an array was created on a 2.2 Linux kernel patched with RAID
support, the superblock will have been created incorrectly, or
at least incompatibly with 2.4 and later kernels. Using the
--sparc2.2 flag with --examine will fix the superblock before
displaying it. If this appears to do the right thing, then the
array can be successfully assembled using --assemble
--update=sparc2.2.
For Misc mode:
-R, --run
start a partially built array.
-S, --stop
deactivate array, releasing all resources.
-o, --readonly
mark array as readonly.
-w, --readwrite
mark array as readwrite.
--zero-superblock
If the device contains a valid md superblock, the block is
over-written with zeros. With --force the block where the
superblock would be is over-written even if it doesn't appear
to be valid.
-t, --test
When used with --detail, the exit status of mdadm is set to
reflect the status of the device.
For Monitor mode:
-m, --mail
Give a mail address to send alerts to.
-p, --program, --alert
Give a program to be run whenever an event is detected.
-d, --delay
Give a delay in seconds. mdadm polls the md arrays and then
waits this many seconds before polling again. The default is
60 seconds.
-f, --daemonise
Tell mdadm to run as a background daemon if it decides to moni-
tor anything. This causes it to fork and run in the child, and
to disconnect form the terminal. The process id of the child
is written to stdout. This is useful with --scan which will
only continue monitoring if a mail address or alert program is
found in the config file.
-1, --oneshot
Check arrays only once. This will generate NewArray events and
more significantly DegradedArray events. Running
mdadm --monitor --scan -1
from a cron script will ensure regular notification of any
degraded arrays.
-t, --test
Generate a TestMessage alert for every array found at startup.
This alert gets mailed and passed to the alert program. This
can be used for testing that alert message to get through suc-
cessfully.
ASSEMBLE MODE
Usage: mdadm --assemble md-device options-and-component-devices...
Usage: mdadm --assemble --scan md-devices-and-options...
Usage: mdadm --assemble --scan options...
This usage assembles one or more raid arrays from pre-existing compo-
nents. For each array, mdadm needs to know the md device, the iden-
tity of the array, and a number of component-devices. These can be
found in a number of ways.
In the first usage example (without the --scan) the first device given
is the md device. In the second usage example, all devices listed are
treated as md devices and assembly is attempted. In the third (where
no devices are listed) all md devices that are listed in the configu-
ration file are assembled.
If precisely one device is listed, but --scan is not given, then mdadm
acts as though --scan was given and identify information is extracted
from the configuration file.
The identity can be given with the --uuid option, with the --super-
minor option, can be found in the config file, or will be taken from
the super block on the first component-device listed on the command
line.
Devices can be given on the --assemble command line or in the config
file. Only devices which have an md superblock which contains the
right identity will be considered for any array.
The config file is only used if explicitly named with --config or
requested with (a possibly implicit) --scan. In the later case,
/etc/mdadm.conf is used.
If --scan is not given, then the config file will only be used to find
the identity of md arrays.
Normally the array will be started after it is assembled. However if
--scan is not given and insufficient drives were listed to start a
complete (non-degraded) array, then the array is not started (to guard
against usage errors). To insist that the array be started in this
case (as may work for RAID1, 4, 5 or 6), give the --run flag.
If an auto option is given, either on the command line (--auto) or in
the configuration file (e.g. auto=part), then mdadm will create the md
device if necessary or will re-create it if it doesn't look usable as
it is.
This can be useful for handling partitioned devices (which don't have
a stable device number - it can change after a reboot) and when using
"udev" to manage your /dev tree (udev cannot handle md devices because
of the unusual device initialisation conventions).
If the option to "auto" is "mdp" or "part" or (on the command line
only) "p", then mdadm will create a partitionable array, using the
first free one that is not inuse, and does not already have an entry
in /dev (apart from numeric /dev/md* entries).
If the option to "auto" is "yes" or "md" or (on the command line)
nothing, then mdadm will create a traditional, non-partitionable md
array.
It is expected that the "auto" functionality will be used to create
device entries with meaningful names such as "/dev/md/home" or
"/dev/md/root", rather than names based on the numerical array number.
When using this option to create a partitionable array, the device
files for the first 4 partitions are also created. If a different num-
ber is required it can be simply appended to the auto option. e.g.
"auto=part8". Partition names are created by appending a digit string
to the device name, with an intervening "_p" if the device name ends
with a digit.
The --auto option is also available in Build and Create modes. As
those modes do not use a config file, the "auto=" config option does
not apply to these modes.
BUILD MODE
Usage: mdadm --build device --chunk=X --level=Y --raid-devices=Z
devices
This usage is similar to --create. The difference is that it creates
a legacy array without a superblock. With these arrays there is no
difference between initially creating the array and subsequently
assembling the array, except that hopefully there is useful data there
in the second case.
The level may only be 0, raid0, or linear. All devices must be listed
and the array will be started once complete.
CREATE MODE
Usage: mdadm --create device --chunk=X --level=Y
--raid-devices=Z devices
This usage will initialise a new md array, associate some devices with
it, and activate the array.
This the --auto option is given (as described in more detail in the
section on Assemble mode), then the md device will be created with a
suitable device number if necessary.
As devices are added, they are checked to see if they contain raid
superblocks or filesystems. They are also checked to see if the vari-
ance in device size exceeds 1%.
If any discrepancy is found, the array will not automatically be run,
though the presence of a --run can override this caution.
To create a "degraded" array in which some devices are missing, simply
give the word "missing" in place of a device name. This will cause
mdadm to leave the corresponding slot in the array empty. For a RAID4
or RAID5 array at most one slot can be "missing"; for a RAID6 array at
most two slots. For a RAID1 array, only one real device needs to be
given. All of the others can be "missing".
When creating a RAID5 array, mdadm will automatically create a
degraded array with an extra spare drive. This is because building
the spare into a degraded array is in general faster than resyncing
the parity on a non-degraded, but not clean, array. This feature can
be over-ridden with the -I --force option.
The General Management options that are valid with --create are:
--run insist on running the array even if some devices look like they
might be in use.
--readonly
start the array readonly - not supported yet.
MANAGE MODE
Usage: mdadm device options... devices...
This usage will allow individual devices in an array to be failed,
removed or added. It is possible to perform multiple operations with
on command. For example:
mdadm /dev/md0 -f /dev/hda1 -r /dev/hda1 -a /dev/hda1
will firstly mark /dev/hda1 as faulty in /dev/md0 and will then remove
it from the array and finally add it back in as a spare. However only
one md array can be affected by a single command.
MISC MODE
Usage: mdadm options ... devices ...
MISC mode includes a number if distinct operations that operate on
distinct devices. The operations are:
--query
The device is examined to see if it is (1) an active md array,
or (2) a component of an md array. The information discovered
is reported.
--detail
The device should be an active md device. mdadm will display a
detailed description of the array. --brief or --scan will
cause the output to be less detailed and the format to be suit-
able for inclusion in /etc/mdadm.conf. The exit status of
mdadm will normally be 0 unless mdadm failed to get useful
information about the device(s). However if the --test option
is given, then the exit status will be:
0 The array is functioning normally.
1 The array has at least one failed device.
2 The array has multiple failed devices and hence is unus-
able (raid4 or raid5).
4 There was an error while trying to get information about
the device.
--examine
The device should be a component of an md array. mdadm will
read the md superblock of the device and display the contents.
If --brief is given, or --scan then multiple devices that are
components of the one array are grouped together and reported
in a single entry suitable for inclusion in /etc/mdadm.conf.
Having --scan without listing any devices will cause all
devices listed in the config file to be examined.
--stop The devices should be active md arrays which will be deacti-
vated, as long as they are not currently in use.
--run This will fully activate a partially assembled md array.
--readonly
This will mark an active array as read-only, providing that it
is not currently being used.
--readwrite
This will change a readonly array back to being read/write.
--scan For all operations except --examine, --scan will cause the
operation to be applied to all arrays listed in /proc/mdstat.
For --examine, --scan causes all devices listed in the config
file to be examined.
MONITOR MODE
Usage: mdadm --monitor options... devices...
This usage causes mdadm to periodically poll a number of md arrays and
to report on any events noticed. mdadm will never exit once it
decides that there are arrays to be checked, so it should normally be
run in the background.
As well as reporting events, mdadm may move a spare drive from one
array to another if they are in the same spare-group and if the desti-
nation array has a failed drive but not spares.
If any devices are listed on the command line, mdadm will only monitor
those devices. Otherwise all arrays listed in the configuration file
will be monitored. Further, if --scan is given, then any other md
devices that appear in /proc/mdstat will also be monitored.
The result of monitoring the arrays is the generation of events.
These events are passed to a separate program (if specified) and may
be mailed to a given E-mail address.
When passing event to program, the program is run once for each event
and is given 2 or 3 command-line arguements. The first is the name of
the event (see below). The second is the name of the md device which
is affected, and the third is the name of a related device if rele-
vant, such as a component device that has failed.
If --scan is given, then a program or an E-mail address must be speci-
fied on the command line or in the config file. If neither are avail-
able, then mdadm will not monitor anything. Without --scan mdadm will
continue monitoring as long as something was found to monitor. If no
program or email is given, then each event is reported to stdout.
The different events are:
DeviceDisappeared
An md array which previously was configured appears to no
longer be configured.
RebuildStarted
An md array started reconstruction.
RebuildNN
Where NN is 20, 40, 60, or 80, this indicates that rebuild
has passed that many percentage of the total.
RebuildFinished
An md array that was rebuilding, isn't any more, either
because it finished normally or was aborted.
Fail An active component device of an array has been marked as
faulty.
FailSpare
A spare component device which was being rebuilt to replace
a faulty device has failed.
SpareActive
A spare component device which was being rebuilt to replace
a faulty device as been successfully rebuild and has been
made active.
NewArray
A new md array has been detected in the /proc/mdstat file.
DegradedArray
A newly noticed array appears to be degraded. This message
is not generated when mdadm notices a drive failure which
causes degradation, but only when mdadm notices that an
array is degraded when it first sees the array.
MoveSpare
A spare drive has been moved from one array in a spare-
group to another to allow a failed drive to be replaced.
TestMessage
An array was found at startup, and the --test flag was
given.
Only Fail , FailSpare , DegradedArray , and TestMessage cause Email to
be sent. All events cause the program to be run. The program is run
with two or three arguments, they being the event name, the array
device and possibly a second device.
Each event has an associated array device (e.g. /dev/md1) and possi-
bly a second device. For Fail, FailSpare, and SpareActive the second
device is the relevant component device. For MoveSpare the second
device is the array that the spare was moved from.
For mdadm to move spares from one array to another, the different
arrays need to be labelled with the same spare-group in the configura-
tion file. The spare-group name can be any string. It is only neces-
sary that different spare groups use different names.
When mdadm detects that an array which is in a spare group has fewer
active devices than necessary for the complete array, and has no spare
devices, it will look for another array in the same spare group that
has a full complement of working drive and a spare. It will then
attempt to remove the spare from the second drive and add it to the
first. If the removal succeeds but the adding fails, then it is added
back to the original array.
GROW MODE
The GROW mode is used for changing the size or shape of an active
array. For this to work, the kernel must support the necessary
change. Various types of growth may be added during 2.6 development,
possibly including restructuring a raid5 array to have more active
devices.
Currently the only support available is to change the "size" attribute
for arrays with redundancy, and the raid-disks attribute of RAID1
arrays.
Normally when an array is build the "size" it taken from the smallest
of the drives. If all the small drives in an arrays are, one at a
time, removed and replaced with larger drives, then you could have an
array of large drives with only a small amount used. In this situa-
tion, changing the "size" with "GROW" mode will allow the extra space
to start being used. If the size is increased in this way, a "resync"
process will start to make sure the new parts of the array are syn-
chronised.
Note that when an array changes size, any filesystem that may be
stored in the array will not automatically grow to use the space. The
filesystem will need to be explicitly told to use the extra space.
A RAID1 array can work with any number of devices from 1 upwards
(though 1 is not very useful). There may be times which you want to
increase or decrease the number of active devices. Note that this is
different to hot-add or hot-remove which changes the number of inac-
tive devices.
When reducing the number of devices in a RAID1 array, the slots which
are to be removed from the array must already be vacant. That is, the
devices that which were in those slots must be failed and removed.
When the number of devices is increased, any hot spares that are
present may be activated immediately.
EXAMPLES
mdadm --query /dev/name-of-device
This will find out if a given device is a raid array, or is part of
one, and will provide brief information about the device.
mdadm --assemble --scan
This will assemble and start all arrays listed in the standard confile
file. This command will typically go in a system startup file.
mdadm --stop --scan
This will shut down all array that can be shut down (i.e. are not cur-
rently in used). This will typically going in a system shutdown
script.
mdadm --follow --scan --delay=120
If (and only if) there is an Email address or program given in the
standard config file, then monitor the status of all arrays listed in
that file by polling them ever 2 minutes.
mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/hd[ac]1
Create /dev/md0 as a RAID1 array consisting of /dev/hda1 and
/dev/hdc1.
echo 'DEVICE /dev/hd*[0-9] /dev/sd*[0-9]' > mdadm.conf
mdadm --detail --scan >> mdadm.conf
This will create a prototype config file that describes currently
active arrays that are known to be made from partitions of IDE or SCSI
drives. This file should be reviewed before being used as it may con-
tain unwanted detail.
echo 'DEVICE /dev/hd[a-z] /dev/sd*[a-z]' > mdadm.conf
mdadm --examine --scan --config=mdadm.conf >> mdadm.conf This will
find what arrays could be assembled from existign IDE and SCSI whole
drives (not partitions) and store the information is the format of a
config file. This file is very likely to contain unwanted detail,
particularly the devices= entries. It should be reviewed and edited
before being used as an actual config file.
mdadm --examine --brief --scan --config=partitions
mdadm -Ebsc partitions
Create a list of devices by reading /proc/partitions, scan these for
RAID superblocks, and printout a brief listing of all that was found.
mdadm -Ac partitions -m 0 /dev/md0
Scan all partitions and devices listed in /proc/partitions and assem-
ble /dev/md0 out of all such devices with a RAID superblock with a
minor number of 0.
mdadm --monitor --scan --daemonise > /var/run/mdadm
If config file contains a mail address or alert program, run mdadm in
the background in monitor mode monitoring all md devices. Also write
pid of mdadm daemon to /var/run/mdadm.
mdadm --create --help
Providew help about the Create mode.
mdadm --config --help
Provide help about the format of the config file.
mdadm --help
Provide general help.
FILES
/proc/mdstat
If you're using the /proc filesystem, /proc/mdstat lists all active md
devices with information about them. mdadm uses this to find arrays
when --scan is given in Misc mode, and to monitor array reconstruction
on Monitor mode.
/etc/mdadm.conf
The config file lists which devices may be scanned to see if they con-
tain MD super block, and gives identifying information (e.g. UUID)
about known MD arrays. See mdadm.conf(5) for more details.
NOTE
mdadm was previously known as mdctl.
SEE ALSO
For information on the various levels of RAID, check out:
http://ostenfeld.dk/~jakob/Software-RAID.HOWTO/
for new releases of the RAID driver check out:
ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/mingo/raid-patches
or
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~neilb/patches/linux-stable/
mdadm.conf(5), md(4).
raidtab(5), raid0run(8), raidstop(8), mkraid(8)
v1.6.0 MDADM(8)
UNIX/Linux commands referenced on this page: