1SMARTD(8) SMART Monitoring Tools SMARTD(8)
2
6 smartd - SMART Disk Monitoring Daemon
7
10 smartd [options]
11
14 [This man page is generated for the Linux version of smartmontools. It
15 does not contain info specific to other platforms.]
16 smartd is a daemon that monitors the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and
18 Reporting Technology (SMART) system built into most ATA/SATA and
19 SCSI/SAS hard drives and solid-state drives. The purpose of SMART is
20 to monitor the reliability of the hard drive and predict drive fail‐
21 ures, and to carry out different types of drive self-tests. This ver‐
22 sion of smartd is compatible with ACS-3, ACS-2, ATA8-ACS, ATA/ATAPI-7
23 and earlier standards (see REFERENCES below).
24 smartd will attempt to enable SMART monitoring on ATA devices (equiva‐
26 lent to smartctl -s on) and polls these and SCSI devices every 30 min‐
27 utes (configurable), logging SMART errors and changes of SMART
28 Attributes via the SYSLOG interface. The default location for these
29 SYSLOG notifications and warnings is system-dependent (typically
30 /var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog). To change this default loca‐
31 tion, please see the '-l' command-line option described below.
32 In addition to logging to a file, smartd can also be configured to send
34 email warnings if problems are detected. Depending upon the type of
35 problem, you may want to run self-tests on the disk, back up the disk,
36 replace the disk, or use a manufacturer's utility to force reallocation
37 of bad or unreadable disk sectors. If disk problems are detected,
38 please see the smartctl manual page and the smartmontools web page/FAQ
39 for further guidance.
40 If you send a USR1 signal to smartd it will immediately check the sta‐
42 tus of the disks, and then return to polling the disks every 30 min‐
43 utes. See the '-i' option below for additional details.
44 smartd can be configured at start-up using the configuration file
46 /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf (Windows: EXEDIR/smartd.conf). If the
47 configuration file is subsequently modified, smartd can be told to re-
48 read the configuration file by sending it a HUP signal, for example
49 with the command:
50 killall -HUP smartd.
51 On startup, if smartd finds a syntax error in the configuration file,
53 it will print an error message and then exit. However if smartd is
54 already running, then is told with a HUP signal to re-read the configu‐
55 ration file, and then find a syntax error in this file, it will print
56 an error message and then continue, ignoring the contents of the
57 (faulty) configuration file, as if the HUP signal had never been
58 received.
59 When smartd is running in debug mode, the INT signal (normally gener‐
61 ated from a shell with CONTROL-C) is treated in the same way as a HUP
62 signal: it makes smartd reload its configuration file. To exit smartd
63 use CONTROL-\.
64 [Linux only] [NEW EXPERMIMENTAL SMARTD FEATURE] If smartd is started as
66 a systemd(1) service and 'Type=Notify' is specified in the service
67 file, the service manager is notified after successful startup. Other
68 state changes are reported via systemd notify STATUS messages. Notifi‐
69 cation of successful reloads (after HUP signal) is not supported. To
70 detect this process start-up type, smartd checks whether the environ‐
71 ment variable 'NOTIFY_SOCKET' is set. Note that it is required to set
72 the '-n' ('--nofork') option in the 'ExecStart=/usr/sbin/smartd' com‐
73 mand line if 'Type=Notify' is used.
74 On startup, in the absence of the configuration file /etc/smartmon‐
76 tools/smartd.conf, the smartd daemon first scans for all devices that
77 support SMART. The scanning is done as follows:
78 LINUX: Examine all entries "/dev/hd[a-t]" for IDE/ATA devices, and
80 "/dev/sd[a-z]", "/dev/sd[a-c][a-z]" for ATA/SATA or SCSI/SAS
81 devices. Disks behind RAID controllers are not included.
82 If directive '-d nvme' or no '-d' directive is specified,
84 examine all entries "/dev/nvme[0-99]" for NVMe devices.
85 smartd then monitors for all possible SMART errors (corresponding to
87 the '-a' Directive in the configuration file; see the smartd.conf(5)
88 man page).
89
92 -A PREFIX, --attributelog=PREFIX
93 Writes smartd attribute information (normalized and raw
94 attribute values) to files 'PREFIX''MODEL-SERIAL.ata.csv' or
95 'PREFIX''VENDOR-MODEL-SERIAL.scsi.csv'. At each check cycle
96 attributes are logged as a line of semicolon separated triplets
97 of the form "attribute-ID;attribute-norm-value;attribute-raw-
98 value;". For SCSI devices error counters and temperature
99 recorded in the form "counter-name;counter-value;". Each line
100 is led by a date string of the form "yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS" (in
101 UTC).
102 MODEL and SERIAL are build from drive identify information,
104 invalid characters are replaced by underline.
105 If the PREFIX has the form '/path/dir/' (e.g.
107 '/var/lib/smartd/'), then files 'MODEL-SERIAL.ata.csv' are cre‐
108 ated in directory '/path/dir'. If the PREFIX has the form
109 '/path/name' (e.g. '/var/lib/misc/attrlog-'), then files 'nameM‐
110 ODEL-SERIAL.ata.csv' are created in directory '/path/'. The
111 path must be absolute, except if debug mode is enabled.
112 -B [+]FILE, --drivedb=[+]FILE
114 [ATA only] Read the drive database from FILE. The new database
115 replaces the built in database by default. If '+' is specified,
116 then the new entries prepend the built in entries. Please see
117 the smartctl(8) man page for further details.
118 -c FILE, --configfile=FILE
120 Read smartd configuration Directives from FILE, instead of from
121 the default location /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf (Windows:
122 EXEDIR/smartd.conf). If FILE does not exist, then smartd will
123 print an error message and exit with nonzero status. Thus, '-c
124 /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf' can be used to verify the exis‐
125 tence of the default configuration file.
126 By using '-' for FILE, the configuration is read from standard
128 input. This is useful for commands like:
129 echo /dev/sdb -m user@home -M test | smartd -c - -q onecheck
130 to perform quick and simple checks without a configuration file.
131 -C, --capabilities
133 [Linux only] Use libcap-ng to drop unneeded Linux process capa‐
134 bilities(7). The following capabilities are kept:
135 CAP_SYS_ADMIN, CAP_SYS_RAWIO, CAP_MKNOD.
136 Warning: Mail notification does not work when used.
138 -d, --debug
140 Runs smartd in "debug" mode. In this mode, it displays status
141 information to STDOUT rather than logging it to SYSLOG and does
142 not fork(2) into the background and detach from the controlling
143 terminal. In this mode, smartd also prints more verbose infor‐
144 mation about what it is doing than when operating in "daemon"
145 mode. In this mode, the INT signal (normally generated from a
146 terminal with CONTROL-C) makes smartd reload its configuration
147 file. Please use CONTROL-\ to exit
148 -D, --showdirectives
150 Prints a list (to STDOUT) of all the possible Directives which
151 may appear in the configuration file /etc/smartmon‐
152 tools/smartd.conf, and then exits. These Directives are
153 described in the smartd.conf(5) man page. They may appear in
154 the configuration file following the device name.
155 -h, --help, --usage
157 Prints usage message to STDOUT and exits.
158 -i N, --interval=N
160 Sets the interval between disk checks to N seconds, where N is a
161 decimal integer. The minimum allowed value is ten and the maxi‐
162 mum is the largest positive integer that can be represented on
163 your system (often 2^31-1). The default is 1800 seconds.
164 Note that the superuser can make smartd check the status of the
166 disks at any time by sending it the SIGUSR1 signal, for example
167 with the command:
168 kill -SIGUSR1 <pid>
169 where <pid> is the process id number of smartd. One may also
170 use:
171 killall -USR1 smartd
172 for the same purpose.
173 -l FACILITY, --logfacility=FACILITY
175 Uses syslog facility FACILITY to log the messages from smartd.
176 Here FACILITY is one of local0, local1, ..., local7, or daemon
177 [default]. If this command-line option is not used, then by
178 default messages from smartd are logged to the facility daemon.
179 If you would like to have smartd messages logged somewhere other
181 than the default location, include (for example) '-l local3' in
182 its start up argument list. Tell the syslog daemon to log all
183 messages from facility local3 to (for example)
184 '/var/log/smartd.log'.
185 For more detailed information, please refer to the man pages for
187 the local syslog daemon, typically syslogd(8), syslog-ng(8) or
188 rsyslogd(8).
189 -n, --no-fork
191 Do not fork into background; this is useful when executed from
192 modern init methods like initng, minit, supervise or systemd.
193 -p NAME, --pidfile=NAME
195 Writes pidfile NAME containing the smartd Process ID number
196 (PID). To avoid symlink attacks make sure the directory to
197 which pidfile is written is only writable for root. Without
198 this option, or if the --debug option is given, no PID file is
199 written on startup. If smartd is killed with a maskable signal
200 then the pidfile is removed.
201 -q WHEN, --quit=WHEN
203 Specifies when, if ever, smartd should exit. The valid argu‐
204 ments are to this option are:
205 nodev - Exit if there are no devices to monitor, or if any
207 errors are found at startup in the configuration file. This is
208 the default.
209 errors - Exit if there are no devices to monitor, or if any
211 errors are found in the configuration file /etc/smartmon‐
212 tools/smartd.conf at startup or whenever it is reloaded.
213 nodevstartup - Exit if there are no devices to monitor at
215 startup. But continue to run if no devices are found whenever
216 the configuration file is reloaded.
217 never - Only exit if a fatal error occurs (no remaining system
219 memory, invalid command line arguments). In this mode, even if
220 there are no devices to monitor, or if the configuration file
221 /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf has errors, smartd will continue
222 to run, waiting to load a configuration file listing valid
223 devices.
224 onecheck - Start smartd in debug mode, then register devices,
226 then check device's SMART status once, and then exit with zero
227 exit status if all of these steps worked correctly.
228 This last option is intended for 'distribution-writers' who want
230 to create automated scripts to determine whether or not to auto‐
231 matically start up smartd after installing smartmontools. After
232 starting smartd with this command-line option, the distribu‐
233 tion's install scripts should wait a reasonable length of time
234 (say ten seconds). If smartd has not exited with zero status by
235 that time, the script should send smartd a SIGTERM or SIGKILL
236 and assume that smartd will not operate correctly on the host.
237 Conversely, if smartd exits with zero status, then it is safe to
238 run smartd in normal daemon mode. If smartd is unable to moni‐
239 tor any devices or encounters other problems then it will return
240 with non-zero exit status.
241 showtests - Start smartd in debug mode, then register devices,
243 then write a list of future scheduled self tests to stdout, and
244 then exit with zero exit status if all of these steps worked
245 correctly. Device's SMART status is not checked.
246 This option is intended to test whether the '-s REGEX' direc‐
248 tives in smartd.conf will have the desired effect. The output
249 lists the next test schedules, limited to 5 tests per type and
250 device. This is followed by a summary of all tests of each
251 device within the next 90 days.
252 -r TYPE, --report=TYPE
254 Intended primarily to help smartmontools developers understand
255 the behavior of smartmontools on non-conforming or poorly-con‐
256 forming hardware. This option reports details of smartd trans‐
257 actions with the device. The option can be used multiple times.
258 When used just once, it shows a record of the ioctl() transac‐
259 tions with the device. When used more than once, the detail of
260 these ioctl() transactions are reported in greater detail. The
261 valid arguments to this option are:
262 ioctl - report all ioctl() transactions.
264 ataioctl - report only ioctl() transactions with ATA devices.
266 scsiioctl - report only ioctl() transactions with SCSI devices.
268 nvmeioctl - report only ioctl() transactions with NVMe devices.
270 Any argument may include a positive integer to specify the level
272 of detail that should be reported. The argument should be fol‐
273 lowed by a comma then the integer with no spaces. For example,
274 ataioctl,2 The default level is 1, so '-r ataioctl,1' and '-r
275 ataioctl' are equivalent.
276 -s PREFIX, --savestates=PREFIX
278 Reads/writes smartd state information from/to files 'PRE‐
279 FIX''MODEL-SERIAL.ata.state' or 'PREFIX''VEN‐
280 DOR-MODEL-SERIAL.scsi.state'. This preserves SMART attributes,
281 drive min and max temperatures (-W directive), info about last
282 sent warning email (-m directive), and the time of next check of
283 the self-test REGEXP (-s directive) across boot cycles.
284 MODEL and SERIAL are build from drive identify information,
286 invalid characters are replaced by underline.
287 If the PREFIX has the form '/path/dir/' (e.g.
289 '/var/lib/smartd/'), then files 'MODEL-SERIAL.ata.state' are
290 created in directory '/path/dir'. If the PREFIX has the form
291 '/path/name' (e.g. '/var/lib/misc/smartd-'), then files 'nameMO‐
292 DEL-SERIAL.ata.state' are created in directory '/path/'. The
293 path must be absolute, except if debug mode is enabled.
294 The state information files are read on smartd startup. The
296 files are always (re)written after reading the configuration
297 file, before rereading the configuration file (SIGHUP), before
298 smartd shutdown, and after a check forced by SIGUSR1. After a
299 normal check cycle, a file is only rewritten if an important
300 change (which usually results in a SYSLOG output) occurred.
301 -w PATH, --warnexec=PATH
303 Run the executable PATH instead of the default script when
304 smartd needs to send warning messages. PATH must point to an
305 executable binary file or script. The default script is
306 /etc/smartmontools/smartd_warning.sh.
307 -V, --version, --license, --copyright
309 Prints version, copyright, license, home page and SVN revision
310 information for your copy of smartd to STDOUT and then exits.
311
314 smartd
315 Runs the daemon in forked mode. This is the normal way to run smartd.
316 Entries are logged to SYSLOG.
317 smartd -d -i 30
319 Run in foreground (debug) mode, checking the disk status every 30 sec‐
320 onds.
321 smartd -q onecheck
323 Registers devices, and checks the status of the devices exactly once.
324 The exit status (the shell $? variable) will be zero if all went well,
325 and nonzero if no devices were detected or some other problem was
326 encountered.
327
330 The syntax of the smartd.conf(5) file is discussed separately.
331
334 smartd will make log entries at loglevel LOG_INFO if the Normalized
335 SMART Attribute values have changed, as reported using the '-t', '-p',
336 or '-u' Directives. For example:
337 'Device: /dev/sda, SMART Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed
338 from 94 to 93'
339 Note that in this message, the value given is the 'Normalized' not the
340 'Raw' Attribute value (the disk temperature in this case is about 22
341 Celsius). The '-R' and '-r' Directives modify this behavior, so that
342 the information is printed with the Raw values as well, for example:
343 'Device: /dev/sda, SMART Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed
344 from 94 [Raw 22] to 93 [Raw 23]'
345 Here the Raw values are the actual disk temperatures in Celsius. The
346 way in which the Raw values are printed, and the names under which the
347 Attributes are reported, is governed by the various '-v Num,Descrip‐
348 tion' Directives described previously.
349 Please see the smartctl manual page for further explanation of the dif‐
351 ferences between Normalized and Raw Attribute values.
352 smartd will make log entries at loglevel LOG_CRIT if a SMART Attribute
354 has failed, for example:
355 'Device: /dev/sdc, Failed SMART Attribute: 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct'
356 This loglevel is used for reporting enabled by the '-H', -f',
357 '-l selftest', and '-l error' Directives. Entries reporting failure of
358 SMART Prefailure Attributes should not be ignored: they mean that the
359 disk is failing. Use the smartctl utility to investigate.
360
363 When smartd makes log entries, these are time-stamped. The time stamps
364 are in the computer's local time zone, which is generally set using
365 either the environment variable 'TZ' or using a time-zone file such as
366 /etc/localtime. You may wish to change the timezone while smartd is
367 running (for example, if you carry a laptop to a new time-zone and
368 don't reboot it). Due to a bug in the tzset(3) function of many unix
369 standard C libraries, the time-zone stamps of smartd might not change.
370 For some systems, smartd will work around this problem if the time-zone
371 is set using /etc/localtime. The work-around fails if the time-zone is
372 set using the 'TZ' variable (or a file that it points to).
373
376 The exit status (return value) of smartd can have the following values:
377 0: Daemon startup successful, or smartd was killed by a SIGTERM (or
379 in debug mode, a SIGQUIT).
380 1: Commandline did not parse.
382 2: There was a syntax error in the config file.
384 3: Forking the daemon failed.
386 4: Couldn't create PID file.
388 5: Config file does not exist (only returned in conjunction with
390 the '-c' option).
391 6: Config file exists, but cannot be read.
393 8: smartd ran out of memory during startup.
395 10: An inconsistency was found in smartd's internal data structures.
397 This should never happen. It must be due to either a coding or
398 compiler bug. Please report such failures to smartmontools
399 developers, see REPORTING BUGS below.
400 16: A device explicitly listed in /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf
402 can't be monitored.
403 17: smartd didn't find any devices to monitor.
405 254: When in daemon mode, smartd received a SIGINT or SIGQUIT. (Note
407 that in debug mode, SIGINT has the same effect as SIGHUP, and
408 makes smartd reload its configuration file. SIGQUIT has the
409 same effect as SIGTERM and causes smartd to exit with zero exit
410 status.
411 132 and above
413 smartd was killed by a signal that is not explicitly listed
414 above. The exit status is then 128 plus the signal number. For
415 example if smartd is killed by SIGKILL (signal 9) then the exit
416 status is 137.
417
420 /usr/sbin/smartd
421 full path of this executable.
422 /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf
424 configuration file (see smartd.conf(5) man page).
425 /etc/smartmontools/smartd_warning.sh
427 script run on warnings (see '-w' option above and '-M exec'
428 directive on smartd.conf(5) man page).
429 /etc/smartmontools/smartd_warning.d/
431 plugin directory for smartd warning script (see '-m' directive
432 on smartd.conf(5) man page).
433 /usr/share/smartmontools/drivedb.h
435 drive database (see '-B' option).
436 /etc/smartmontools/smart_drivedb.h
438 optional local drive database (see '-B' option).
439
442 Bruce Allen (project initiator),
443 Christian Franke (project manager, Windows port and all sort of
444 things),
445 Douglas Gilbert (SCSI subsystem),
446 Volker Kuhlmann (moderator of support and database mailing list),
447 Gabriele Pohl (wiki & development team support),
448 Alex Samorukov (FreeBSD port and more, new Trac wiki).
449 Many other individuals have made contributions and corrections, see
451 AUTHORS, ChangeLog and repository files.
452 The first smartmontools code was derived from the smartsuite package,
454 written by Michael Cornwell and Andre Hedrick.
455
458 To submit a bug report, create a ticket in smartmontools wiki:
459 <https://www.smartmontools.org/>.
460 Alternatively send the info to the smartmontools support mailing list:
461 <https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/smartmontools-support>.
462
465 smartd.conf(5), smartctl(8).
466 update-smart-drivedb(8).
467 systemd.exec(5).
468
471 Please see the following web site for more info: <https://www.smartmon‐
472 tools.org/>
473 An introductory article about smartmontools is Monitoring Hard Disks
475 with SMART, by Bruce Allen, Linux Journal, January 2004, pages 74–77.
476 See <https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983>.
477 If you would like to understand better how SMART works, and what it
479 does, a good place to start is with Sections 4.8 and 6.54 of the first
480 volume of the 'AT Attachment with Packet Interface-7' (ATA/ATAPI-7)
481 specification Revision 4b. This documents the SMART functionality
482 which the smartmontools utilities provide access to.
483 The functioning of SMART was originally defined by the SFF-8035i revi‐
485 sion 2 and the SFF-8055i revision 1.4 specifications. These are publi‐
486 cations of the Small Form Factors (SFF) Committee.
487 Links to these and other documents may be found on the Links page of
489 the smartmontools Wiki at <https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/Links>.
490
493 smartmontools-7.2 2021-01-17 r5171
494 $Id: smartd.8.in 4861 2018-12-16 18:24:57Z chrfranke $
495smartmontools-7.2 2021-01-17 SMARTD(8)