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 Re‐
18 porting Technology (SMART) system built into most ATA/SATA and SCSI/SAS
19 hard drives and solid-state drives. The purpose of SMART is to monitor
20 the reliability of the hard drive and predict drive failures, and to
21 carry out different types of drive self-tests. This version of smartd
22 is compatible with ACS-3, ACS-2, ATA8-ACS, ATA/ATAPI-7 and earlier
23 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 At‐
28 tributes via the SYSLOG interface. The default location for these SYS‐
29 LOG 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 al‐
54 ready running, then is told with a HUP signal to re-read the configura‐
55 tion file, and then find a syntax error in this file, it will print an
56 error message and then continue, ignoring the contents of the (faulty)
57 configuration file, as if the HUP signal had never been received.
58 When smartd is running in debug mode, the INT signal (normally gener‐
60 ated from a shell with CONTROL-C) is treated in the same way as a HUP
61 signal: it makes smartd reload its configuration file. To exit smartd
62 use CONTROL-\.
63 [Linux only] [NEW EXPERMIMENTAL SMARTD FEATURE] If smartd is started as
65 a systemd(1) service and 'Type=Notify' is specified in the service
66 file, the service manager is notified after successful startup. Other
67 state changes are reported via systemd notify STATUS messages. Notifi‐
68 cation of successful reloads (after HUP signal) is not supported. To
69 detect this process start-up type, smartd checks whether the environ‐
70 ment variable 'NOTIFY_SOCKET' is set. Note that it is required to set
71 the '-n' ('--nofork') option in the 'ExecStart=/usr/sbin/smartd' com‐
72 mand line if 'Type=Notify' is used.
73 On startup, in the absence of the configuration file /etc/smartmon‐
75 tools/smartd.conf, the smartd daemon first scans for all devices that
76 support SMART. The scanning is done as follows:
77 LINUX: Examine all entries "/dev/hd[a-t]" for IDE/ATA devices, and
79 "/dev/sd[a-z]", "/dev/sd[a-c][a-z]" for ATA/SATA or SCSI/SAS
80 devices. Disks behind RAID controllers are not included.
81 If directive '-d nvme' or no '-d' directive is specified, ex‐
83 amine all entries "/dev/nvme[0-99]" for NVMe devices.
84 smartd then monitors for all possible SMART errors (corresponding to
86 the '-a' Directive in the configuration file; see the smartd.conf(5)
87 man page).
88
91 -A PREFIX, --attributelog=PREFIX
92 Writes smartd attribute information (normalized and raw attri‐
93 bute values) to files 'PREFIX''MODEL-SERIAL.ata.csv' or 'PRE‐
94 FIX''VENDOR-MODEL-SERIAL.scsi.csv'. At each check cycle at‐
95 tributes are logged as a line of semicolon separated triplets of
96 the form "attribute-ID;attribute-norm-value;attribute-raw-
97 value;". For SCSI devices error counters and temperature
98 recorded in the form "counter-name;counter-value;". Each line
99 is led by a date string of the form "yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS" (in
100 UTC).
101 MODEL and SERIAL are build from drive identify information, in‐
103 valid characters are replaced by underline.
104 If the PREFIX has the form '/path/dir/' (e.g.
106 '/var/lib/smartd/'), then files 'MODEL-SERIAL.ata.csv' are cre‐
107 ated in directory '/path/dir'. If the PREFIX has the form
108 '/path/name' (e.g. '/var/lib/misc/attrlog-'), then files 'nameM‐
109 ODEL-SERIAL.ata.csv' are created in directory '/path/'. The
110 path must be absolute, except if debug mode is enabled.
111 -B [+]FILE, --drivedb=[+]FILE
113 [ATA only] Read the drive database from FILE. The new database
114 replaces the built in database by default. If '+' is specified,
115 then the new entries prepend the built in entries. Please see
116 the smartctl(8) man page for further details.
117 -c FILE, --configfile=FILE
119 Read smartd configuration Directives from FILE, instead of from
120 the default location /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf (Windows:
121 EXEDIR/smartd.conf). If FILE does not exist, then smartd will
122 print an error message and exit with nonzero status. Thus, '-c
123 /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf' can be used to verify the exis‐
124 tence of the default configuration file.
125 By using '-' for FILE, the configuration is read from standard
127 input. This is useful for commands like:
128 echo /dev/sdb -m user@home -M test | smartd -c - -q onecheck
129 to perform quick and simple checks without a configuration file.
130 -C, --capabilities
132 [Linux only] Use libcap-ng to drop unneeded Linux process capa‐
133 bilities(7). The following capabilities are kept: CAP_SYS_AD‐
134 MIN, CAP_SYS_RAWIO, CAP_MKNOD.
135 Warning: Mail notification does not work when used.
137 -d, --debug
139 Runs smartd in "debug" mode. In this mode, it displays status
140 information to STDOUT rather than logging it to SYSLOG and does
141 not fork(2) into the background and detach from the controlling
142 terminal. In this mode, smartd also prints more verbose infor‐
143 mation about what it is doing than when operating in "daemon"
144 mode. In this mode, the INT signal (normally generated from a
145 terminal with CONTROL-C) makes smartd reload its configuration
146 file. Please use CONTROL-\ to exit
147 -D, --showdirectives
149 Prints a list (to STDOUT) of all the possible Directives which
150 may appear in the configuration file /etc/smartmon‐
151 tools/smartd.conf, and then exits. These Directives are de‐
152 scribed in the smartd.conf(5) man page. They may appear in the
153 configuration file following the device name.
154 -h, --help, --usage
156 Prints usage message to STDOUT and exits.
157 -i N, --interval=N
159 Sets the interval between disk checks to N seconds, where N is a
160 decimal integer. The minimum allowed value is ten and the maxi‐
161 mum is the largest positive integer that can be represented on
162 your system (often 2^31-1). The default is 1800 seconds.
163 Note that the superuser can make smartd check the status of the
165 disks at any time by sending it the SIGUSR1 signal, for example
166 with the command:
167 kill -SIGUSR1 <pid>
168 where <pid> is the process id number of smartd. One may also
169 use:
170 killall -USR1 smartd
171 for the same purpose.
172 -l FACILITY, --logfacility=FACILITY
174 Uses syslog facility FACILITY to log the messages from smartd.
175 Here FACILITY is one of local0, local1, ..., local7, or daemon
176 [default]. If this command-line option is not used, then by de‐
177 fault messages from smartd are logged to the facility daemon.
178 If you would like to have smartd messages logged somewhere other
180 than the default location, include (for example) '-l local3' in
181 its start up argument list. Tell the syslog daemon to log all
182 messages from facility local3 to (for example)
183 '/var/log/smartd.log'.
184 For more detailed information, please refer to the man pages for
186 the local syslog daemon, typically syslogd(8), syslog-ng(8) or
187 rsyslogd(8).
188 -n, --no-fork
190 Do not fork into background; this is useful when executed from
191 modern init methods like initng, minit, supervise or systemd.
192 -p NAME, --pidfile=NAME
194 Writes pidfile NAME containing the smartd Process ID number
195 (PID). To avoid symlink attacks make sure the directory to
196 which pidfile is written is only writable for root. Without
197 this option, or if the --debug option is given, no PID file is
198 written on startup. If smartd is killed with a maskable signal
199 then the pidfile is removed.
200 -q WHEN, --quit=WHEN
202 Specifies when, if ever, smartd should exit. The valid argu‐
203 ments are to this option are:
204 nodev - Exit if there are no devices to monitor, or if any er‐
206 rors are found at startup in the configuration file. This is
207 the default.
208 errors - Exit if there are no devices to monitor, or if any er‐
210 rors are found in the configuration file /etc/smartmon‐
211 tools/smartd.conf at startup or whenever it is reloaded.
212 nodevstartup - Exit if there are no devices to monitor at
214 startup. But continue to run if no devices are found whenever
215 the configuration file is reloaded.
216 never - Only exit if a fatal error occurs (no remaining system
218 memory, invalid command line arguments). In this mode, even if
219 there are no devices to monitor, or if the configuration file
220 /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf has errors, smartd will continue
221 to run, waiting to load a configuration file listing valid de‐
222 vices.
223 onecheck - Start smartd in debug mode, then register devices,
225 then check device's SMART status once, and then exit with zero
226 exit status if all of these steps worked correctly.
227 This last option is intended for 'distribution-writers' who want
229 to create automated scripts to determine whether or not to auto‐
230 matically start up smartd after installing smartmontools. After
231 starting smartd with this command-line option, the distribu‐
232 tion's install scripts should wait a reasonable length of time
233 (say ten seconds). If smartd has not exited with zero status by
234 that time, the script should send smartd a SIGTERM or SIGKILL
235 and assume that smartd will not operate correctly on the host.
236 Conversely, if smartd exits with zero status, then it is safe to
237 run smartd in normal daemon mode. If smartd is unable to moni‐
238 tor any devices or encounters other problems then it will return
239 with non-zero exit status.
240 showtests - Start smartd in debug mode, then register devices,
242 then write a list of future scheduled self tests to stdout, and
243 then exit with zero exit status if all of these steps worked
244 correctly. Device's SMART status is not checked.
245 This option is intended to test whether the '-s REGEX' direc‐
247 tives in smartd.conf will have the desired effect. The output
248 lists the next test schedules, limited to 5 tests per type and
249 device. This is followed by a summary of all tests of each de‐
250 vice within the next 90 days.
251 -r TYPE, --report=TYPE
253 Intended primarily to help smartmontools developers understand
254 the behavior of smartmontools on non-conforming or poorly-con‐
255 forming hardware. This option reports details of smartd trans‐
256 actions with the device. The option can be used multiple times.
257 When used just once, it shows a record of the ioctl() transac‐
258 tions with the device. When used more than once, the detail of
259 these ioctl() transactions are reported in greater detail. The
260 valid arguments to this option are:
261 ioctl - report all ioctl() transactions.
263 ataioctl - report only ioctl() transactions with ATA devices.
265 scsiioctl - report only ioctl() transactions with SCSI devices.
267 nvmeioctl - report only ioctl() transactions with NVMe devices.
269 Any argument may include a positive integer to specify the level
271 of detail that should be reported. The argument should be fol‐
272 lowed by a comma then the integer with no spaces. For example,
273 ataioctl,2 The default level is 1, so '-r ataioctl,1' and '-r
274 ataioctl' are equivalent.
275 -s PREFIX, --savestates=PREFIX
277 Reads/writes smartd state information from/to files 'PRE‐
278 FIX''MODEL-SERIAL.ata.state' or 'PREFIX''VENDOR-MODEL-SE‐
279 RIAL.scsi.state'. This preserves SMART attributes, drive min
280 and max temperatures (-W directive), info about last sent warn‐
281 ing email (-m directive), and the time of next check of the
282 self-test REGEXP (-s directive) across boot cycles.
283 MODEL and SERIAL are build from drive identify information, in‐
285 valid characters are replaced by underline.
286 If the PREFIX has the form '/path/dir/' (e.g.
288 '/var/lib/smartd/'), then files 'MODEL-SERIAL.ata.state' are
289 created in directory '/path/dir'. If the PREFIX has the form
290 '/path/name' (e.g. '/var/lib/misc/smartd-'), then files 'nameMO‐
291 DEL-SERIAL.ata.state' are created in directory '/path/'. The
292 path must be absolute, except if debug mode is enabled.
293 The state information files are read on smartd startup. The
295 files are always (re)written after reading the configuration
296 file, before rereading the configuration file (SIGHUP), before
297 smartd shutdown, and after a check forced by SIGUSR1. After a
298 normal check cycle, a file is only rewritten if an important
299 change (which usually results in a SYSLOG output) occurred.
300 -w PATH, --warnexec=PATH
302 Run the executable PATH instead of the default script when
303 smartd needs to send warning messages. PATH must point to an
304 executable binary file or script. The default script is
305 /etc/smartmontools/smartd_warning.sh.
306 -V, --version, --license, --copyright
308 Prints version, copyright, license, home page and SVN revision
309 information for your copy of smartd to STDOUT and then exits.
310
313 smartd
314 Runs the daemon in forked mode. This is the normal way to run smartd.
315 Entries are logged to SYSLOG.
316 smartd -d -i 30
318 Run in foreground (debug) mode, checking the disk status every 30 sec‐
319 onds.
320 smartd -q onecheck
322 Registers devices, and checks the status of the devices exactly once.
323 The exit status (the shell $? variable) will be zero if all went well,
324 and nonzero if no devices were detected or some other problem was en‐
325 countered.
326
329 The syntax of the smartd.conf(5) file is discussed separately.
330
333 smartd will make log entries at loglevel LOG_INFO if the Normalized
334 SMART Attribute values have changed, as reported using the '-t', '-p',
335 or '-u' Directives. For example:
336 'Device: /dev/sda, SMART Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed
337 from 94 to 93'
338 Note that in this message, the value given is the 'Normalized' not the
339 'Raw' Attribute value (the disk temperature in this case is about 22
340 Celsius). The '-R' and '-r' Directives modify this behavior, so that
341 the information is printed with the Raw values as well, for example:
342 'Device: /dev/sda, SMART Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed
343 from 94 [Raw 22] to 93 [Raw 23]'
344 Here the Raw values are the actual disk temperatures in Celsius. The
345 way in which the Raw values are printed, and the names under which the
346 Attributes are reported, is governed by the various '-v Num,Descrip‐
347 tion' Directives described previously.
348 Please see the smartctl manual page for further explanation of the dif‐
350 ferences between Normalized and Raw Attribute values.
351 smartd will make log entries at loglevel LOG_CRIT if a SMART Attribute
353 has failed, for example:
354 'Device: /dev/sdc, Failed SMART Attribute: 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct'
355 This loglevel is used for reporting enabled by the '-H', -f',
356 '-l selftest', and '-l error' Directives. Entries reporting failure of
357 SMART Prefailure Attributes should not be ignored: they mean that the
358 disk is failing. Use the smartctl utility to investigate.
359
362 When smartd makes log entries, these are time-stamped. The time stamps
363 are in the computer's local time zone, which is generally set using ei‐
364 ther the environment variable 'TZ' or using a time-zone file such as
365 /etc/localtime. You may wish to change the timezone while smartd is
366 running (for example, if you carry a laptop to a new time-zone and
367 don't reboot it). Due to a bug in the tzset(3) function of many unix
368 standard C libraries, the time-zone stamps of smartd might not change.
369 For some systems, smartd will work around this problem if the time-zone
370 is set using /etc/localtime. The work-around fails if the time-zone is
371 set using the 'TZ' variable (or a file that it points to).
372
375 The exit status (return value) of smartd can have the following values:
376 0: Daemon startup successful, or smartd was killed by a SIGTERM (or
378 in debug mode, a SIGQUIT).
379 1: Commandline did not parse.
381 2: There was a syntax error in the config file.
383 3: Forking the daemon failed.
385 4: Couldn't create PID file.
387 5: Config file does not exist (only returned in conjunction with
389 the '-c' option).
390 6: Config file exists, but cannot be read.
392 8: smartd ran out of memory during startup.
394 10: An inconsistency was found in smartd's internal data structures.
396 This should never happen. It must be due to either a coding or
397 compiler bug. Please report such failures to smartmontools de‐
398 velopers, see REPORTING BUGS below.
399 16: A device explicitly listed in /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf
401 can't be monitored.
402 17: smartd didn't find any devices to monitor.
404 254: When in daemon mode, smartd received a SIGINT or SIGQUIT. (Note
406 that in debug mode, SIGINT has the same effect as SIGHUP, and
407 makes smartd reload its configuration file. SIGQUIT has the
408 same effect as SIGTERM and causes smartd to exit with zero exit
409 status.
410 132 and above
412 smartd was killed by a signal that is not explicitly listed
413 above. The exit status is then 128 plus the signal number. For
414 example if smartd is killed by SIGKILL (signal 9) then the exit
415 status is 137.
416
419 /usr/sbin/smartd
420 full path of this executable.
421 /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf
423 configuration file (see smartd.conf(5) man page).
424 /etc/smartmontools/smartd_warning.sh
426 script run on warnings (see '-w' option above and '-M exec' di‐
427 rective on smartd.conf(5) man page).
428 /etc/smartmontools/smartd_warning.d/
430 plugin directory for smartd warning script (see '-m' directive
431 on smartd.conf(5) man page).
432 /usr/share/smartmontools/drivedb.h
434 drive database (see '-B' option).
435 /etc/smartmontools/smart_drivedb.h
437 optional local drive database (see '-B' option).
438
441 Bruce Allen (project initiator),
442 Christian Franke (project manager, Windows port and all sort of
443 things),
444 Douglas Gilbert (SCSI subsystem),
445 Volker Kuhlmann (moderator of support and database mailing list),
446 Gabriele Pohl (wiki & development team support),
447 Alex Samorukov (FreeBSD port and more, new Trac wiki).
448 Many other individuals have made contributions and corrections, see AU‐
450 THORS, ChangeLog and repository files.
451 The first smartmontools code was derived from the smartsuite package,
453 written by Michael Cornwell and Andre Hedrick.
454
457 To submit a bug report, create a ticket in smartmontools wiki:
458 <https://www.smartmontools.org/>.
459 Alternatively send the info to the smartmontools support mailing list:
460 <https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/smartmontools-support>.
461
464 smartd.conf(5), smartctl(8).
465 update-smart-drivedb(8).
466 systemd.exec(5).
467
470 Please see the following web site for more info: <https://www.smartmon‐
471 tools.org/>
472 An introductory article about smartmontools is Monitoring Hard Disks
474 with SMART, by Bruce Allen, Linux Journal, January 2004, pages 74–77.
475 See <https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983>.
476 If you would like to understand better how SMART works, and what it
478 does, a good place to start is with Sections 4.8 and 6.54 of the first
479 volume of the 'AT Attachment with Packet Interface-7' (ATA/ATAPI-7)
480 specification Revision 4b. This documents the SMART functionality
481 which the smartmontools utilities provide access to.
482 The functioning of SMART was originally defined by the SFF-8035i revi‐
484 sion 2 and the SFF-8055i revision 1.4 specifications. These are publi‐
485 cations of the Small Form Factors (SFF) Committee.
486 Links to these and other documents may be found on the Links page of
488 the smartmontools Wiki at <https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/Links>.
489
492 smartmontools-7.2 2020-12-30 r5155
493 $Id: smartd.8.in 4861 2018-12-16 18:24:57Z chrfranke $
494smartmontools-7.2 2020-12-30 SMARTD(8)