MDADM.CONF(5) File Formats Manual MDADM.CONF(5)
NAME
mdadm.conf - configuration for management of Software RAID with mdadm
SYNOPSIS
/etc/mdadm.conf
DESCRIPTION
mdadm is a tool for creating, managing, and monitoring RAID devices us-
ing the md driver in Linux.
Some common tasks, such as assembling all arrays, can be simplified by
describing the devices and arrays in this configuration file.
SYNTAX
The file should be seen as a collection of words separated by white
space (space, tab, or newline). Any word that beings with a hash sign
(#) starts a comment and that word together with the remainder of the
line is ignored.
Spaces can be included in a word using quotation characters. Either
single quotes (') or double quotes (") may be used. All the characters
from one quotation character to next identical character are protected
and will not be used to separate words to start new quoted strings. To
include a single quote it must be between double quotes. To include a
double quote it must be between single quotes.
Any line that starts with white space (space or tab) is treated as
though it were a continuation of the previous line.
Empty lines are ignored, but otherwise each (non continuation) line must
start with a keyword as listed below. The keywords are case insensitive
and can be abbreviated to 3 characters.
The keywords are:
DEVICE A device line lists the devices (whole devices or partitions)
that might contain a component of an MD array. When looking for
the components of an array, mdadm will scan these devices (or any
devices listed on the command line).
The device line may contain a number of different devices (sepa-
rated by spaces) and each device name can contain wild cards as
defined by glob(7).
Also, there may be several device lines present in the file.
Alternatively, a device line can contain either or both of the
words containers and partitions. The word containers will cause
mdadm to look for assembled CONTAINER arrays and included them as
a source for assembling further arrays.
The word partitions will cause mdadm to read /proc/partitions and
include all devices and partitions found therein. mdadm does not
use the names from /proc/partitions but only the major and minor
device numbers. It scans /dev to find the name that matches the
numbers.
If no DEVICE line is present in any config file, then "DEVICE
partitions containers" is assumed.
For example:
DEVICE /dev/hda* /dev/hdc*
DEV /dev/sd*
DEVICE /dev/disk/by-path/pci*
DEVICE partitions
ARRAY The ARRAY lines identify actual arrays. The second word on the
line may be the name of the device where the array is normally
assembled, such as /dev/md1 or /dev/md/backup. If the name does
not start with a slash ('/'), it is treated as being in /dev/md/.
Alternately the word <ignore> (complete with angle brackets) can
be given in which case any array which matches the rest of the
line will never be automatically assembled. If no device name is
given, mdadm will use various heuristics to determine an appro-
priate name.
Subsequent words identify the array, or identify the array as a
member of a group. If multiple identities are given, then a com-
ponent device must match ALL identities to be considered a match.
Each identity word has a tag, and equals sign, and some value.
The tags are:
uuid= The value should be a 128 bit uuid in hexadecimal, with punc-
tuation interspersed if desired. This must match the uuid
stored in the superblock.
super-minor=
The value is an integer which indicates the minor number that
was stored in the superblock when the array was created. When
an array is created as /dev/mdX, then the minor number X is
stored.
devices=
The value is a comma separated list of device names or device
name patterns. Only devices with names which match one entry
in the list will be used to assemble the array. Note that
the devices listed there must also be listed on a DEVICE
line.
level= The value is a RAID level. This is not normally used to
identify an array, but is supported so that the output of
mdadm --examine --scan
can be use directly in the configuration file.
num-devices=
The value is the number of devices in a complete active ar-
ray. As with level= this is mainly for compatibility with
the output of
mdadm --examine --scan.
spares=
The value is a number of spare devices to expect the array to
have. The sole use of this keyword and value is as follows:
mdadm --monitor will report an array if it is found to have
fewer than this number of spares when --monitor starts or
when --oneshot is used.
spare-group=
The value is a textual name for a group of arrays. All ar-
rays with the same spare-group name are considered to be part
of the same group. The significance of a group of arrays is
that mdadm will, when monitoring the arrays, move a spare
drive from one array in a group to another array in that
group if the first array had a failed or missing drive but no
spare.
bitmap=
The option specifies a file in which a write-intent bitmap
should be found. When assembling the array, mdadm will pro-
vide this file to the md driver as the bitmap file. This has
the same function as the --bitmap-file option to --assemble.
metadata=
Specify the metadata format that the array has. This is
mainly recognised for comparability with the output of mdadm
-Es.
container=
Specify that this array is a member array of some container.
The value given can be either a path name in /dev, or a UUID
of the container array.
member=
Specify that this array is a member array of some container.
Each type of container has some way to enumerate member ar-
rays, often a simple sequence number. The value identifies
which member of a container the array is. It will usually
accompany a "container=" word.
MAILADDR
The mailaddr line gives an E-mail address that alerts should be
sent to when mdadm is running in --monitor mode (and was given
the --scan option). There should only be one MAILADDR line and
it should have only one address. Any subsequent addresses are
silently ignored.
MAILFROM
The mailfrom line (which can only be abbreviated to at least 5
characters) gives an address to appear in the "From" address for
alert mails. This can be useful if you want to explicitly set a
domain, as the default from address is "root" with no domain.
All words on this line are catenated with spaces to form the ad-
dress.
Note that this value cannot be set via the mdadm commandline. It
is only settable via the config file. There should only be one
MAILADDR line and it should have only one address. Any subse-
quent addresses are silently ignored.
PROGRAM
The program line gives the name of a program to be run when mdadm
--monitor detects potentially interesting events on any of the
arrays that it is monitoring. This program gets run with two or
three arguments, they being the Event, the md device, and possi-
bly the related component device.
There should only be one program line and it should be given only
one program. Any subsequent programs are silently ignored.
CREATE The create line gives default values to be used when creating ar-
rays, new members of arrays, and device entries for arrays.
There should only be one create line. Any subsequent lines will
override the previous settings.
Keywords used in the CREATE line and supported values are:
owner=
group= These can give user/group ids or names to use instead of sys-
tem defaults (root/wheel or root/disk).
mode= An octal file mode such as 0660 can be given to override the
default of 0600.
metadata=
The name of the metadata format to use if none is explicitly
given. This can be useful to impose a system-wide default of
version-1 superblocks.
names=yes
It has been possible to create md devices with a name like
md_home rather than just a number, like md3. mdadm will use
the numeric alternative by default as other tools that inter-
act with md arrays may expect only numbers. If names=yes is
given in mdadm.conf then mdadm will use a name when appropri-
ate. If names=no is given, then non-numeric md device names
will not be used even if the default changes in a future re-
lease of mdadm.
bbl=no By default, mdadm will reserve space for a bad block list
(bbl) on all devices included in or added to any array that
supports them. Setting bbl=no will prevent this, so newly
added devices will not have a bad block log.
HOMEHOST
The homehost line gives a default value for the --homehost= op-
tion to mdadm. There should normally be only one other word on
the line. It should either be a host name, or one of the special
words <system>, <none> and <ignore>. If <system> is given, then
the gethostname(2) systemcall is used to get the host name. This
is the default.
If <ignore> is given, then a flag is set so that when arrays are
being auto-assembled the checking of the recorded homehost is
disabled. If <ignore> is given it is also possible to give an
explicit name which will be used when creating arrays. This is
the only case when there can be more that one other word on the
HOMEHOST line. If there are other words, or other HOMEHOST
lines, they are silently ignored.
If <none> is given, then the default of using gethostname(2) is
over-ridden and no homehost name is assumed.
When arrays are created, this host name will be stored in the
metadata. When arrays are assembled using auto-assembly, arrays
which do not record the correct homehost name in their metadata
will be assembled using a "foreign" name. A "foreign" name alway
ends with a digit string preceded by an underscore to differenti-
ate it from any possible local name. e.g. /dev/md/1_1 or
/dev/md/home_0.
HOMECLUSTER
The homcluster line gives a default value for the --homecluster=
option to mdadm. It specifies the cluster name for the md de-
vice. The md device can be assembled only on the cluster which
matches the name specified. If homcluster is not provided, mdadm
tries to detect the cluster name automatically.
There should only be one homecluster line. Any subsequent lines
will be silently ignored.
AUTO A list of names of metadata format can be given, each preceded by
a plus or minus sign. Also the word homehost is allowed as is
all preceded by plus or minus sign. all is usually last.
When mdadm is auto-assembling an array, either via --assemble or
--incremental and it finds metadata of a given type, it checks
that metadata type against those listed in this line. The first
match wins, where all matches anything. If a match is found that
was preceded by a plus sign, the auto assembly is allowed. If
the match was preceded by a minus sign, the auto assembly is dis-
allowed. If no match is found, the auto assembly is allowed.
If the metadata indicates that the array was created for this
host, and the word homehost appears before any other match, then
the array is treated as a valid candidate for auto-assembly.
This can be used to disable all auto-assembly (so that only ar-
rays explicitly listed in mdadm.conf or on the command line are
assembled), or to disable assembly of certain metadata types
which might be handled by other software. It can also be used to
disable assembly of all foreign arrays - normally such arrays are
assembled but given a non-deterministic name in /dev/md/.
The known metadata types are 0.90, 1.x, ddf, imsm.
AUTO should be given at most once. Subsequent lines are silently
ignored. Thus a later config file in a config directory will not
overwrite the setting in an earlier config file.
POLICY This is used to specify what automatic behavior is allowed on de-
vices newly appearing in the system and provides a way of marking
spares that can be moved to other arrays as well as the migration
domains. Domain can be defined through policy line by specifying
a domain name for a number of paths from /dev/disk/by-path/. A
device may belong to several domains. The domain of an array is a
union of domains of all devices in that array. A spare can be
automatically moved from one array to another if the set of the
destination array's domains contains all the domains of the new
disk or if both arrays have the same spare-group.
To update hot plug configuration it is necessary to execute mdadm
--udev-rules=<path_to_file> e.g. /etc/udev/rules.d/65-md-
bare.rules command after changing the config file. And also run
udevadm control --reload otherwise, a reboot is needed.
Keywords used in the POLICY line and supported values are:
domain=
any arbitrary string
metadata=
0.9 1.x ddf or imsm
path= file glob matching anything from /dev/disk/by-path
type= either disk or part.
action=
include, re-add, spare, spare-same-slot, or force-spare
auto= yes, no, or homehost.
The action item determines the automatic behavior allowed for de-
vices matching the path and type in the same line. If a device
matches several lines with different actions then the most permis-
sive will apply. The ordering of policy lines is irrelevant to the
end result.
include
allows adding a disk to an array if metadata on that disk
matches that array
re-add will include the device in the array if it appears to be a
current member or a member that was recently removed and the
array has a write-intent-bitmap to allow the re-add function-
ality.
spare as above and additionally: if the device is bare it can be-
come a spare if there is any array that it is a candidate for
based on domains and metadata.
spare-same-slot
as above and additionally if given slot was used by an array
that went degraded recently and the device plugged in has no
metadata then it will be automatically added to that array
(or it's container)
force-spare
as above and the disk will become a spare in remaining cases
PART-POLICY
This is similar to POLICY and accepts the same keyword assign-
ments. It allows a consistent set of policies to applied to each
of the partitions of a device.
A PART-POLICY line should set type=disk and identify the path to
one or more disk devices. Each partition on these disks will be
treated according to the action= setting from this line. If a
domain is set in the line, then the domain associated with each
patition will be based on the domain, but with "-partN" appended,
when N is the partition number for the partition that was found.
SYSFS The SYSFS line lists custom values of MD device's sysfs attrib-
utes which will be stored in sysfs after the array is assembled.
Multiple lines are allowed and each line has to contain the uuid
or the name of the device to which it relates. Lines are applied
in reverse order.
uuid= hexadecimal identifier of MD device. This has to match the
uuid stored in the superblock.
name= name of the MD device as was given to mdadm when the array
was created. It will be ignored if uuid is not empty.
MONITORDELAY
The monitordelay line gives a delay in seconds mdadm shall wait
before pooling md arrays when mdadm is running in --monitor mode.
-d/--delay command line argument takes precedence over the config
file.
If multiple MINITORDELAY lines are provided, only first non-zero
value is considered.
ENCRYPTION_NO_VERIFY
The ENCRYPTION_NO_VERIFY disables encryption verification for de-
vices with particular encryption support detected. Currently,
only verification of SATA OPAL encryption can be disabled. It
does not disable ATA security encryption verification. Currently
effective only for IMSM metadata. Available parameter sata_opal
.
FILES
/etc/mdadm.conf
The default config file location, used when mdadm is running without
--config option.
/etc/mdadm.conf.d
The default directory with config files. Used when mdadm is running
without --config option, after successful reading of the /etc/mdadm.conf
default config file. Files in that directory are read in lexical order.
/etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
Alternative config file that is read, when mdadm is running without
--config option and the /etc/mdadm.conf default config file was not
opened successfully.
/etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf.d
The alternative directory with config files. Used when mdadm is runninng
without --config option, after reading the /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf alter-
native config file whether it was successful or not. Files in that di-
rectory are read in lexical order.
EXAMPLE
DEVICE /dev/sd[bcdjkl]1
DEVICE /dev/hda1 /dev/hdb1
# /dev/md0 is known by its UUID.
ARRAY /dev/md0 UUID=3aaa0122:29827cfa:5331ad66:ca767371
# /dev/md1 contains all devices with a minor number of
# 1 in the superblock.
ARRAY /dev/md1 superminor=1
# /dev/md2 is made from precisely these two devices
ARRAY /dev/md2 devices=/dev/hda1,/dev/hdb1
# /dev/md4 and /dev/md5 are a spare-group and spares
# can be moved between them
ARRAY /dev/md4 uuid=b23f3c6d:aec43a9f:fd65db85:369432df
spare-group=group1
ARRAY /dev/md5 uuid=19464854:03f71b1b:e0df2edd:246cc977
spare-group=group1
# /dev/md/home is created if need to be a partitionable md array
# any spare device number is allocated.
ARRAY /dev/md/home UUID=9187a482:5dde19d9:eea3cc4a:d646ab8b
auto=part
# One domain comprising of devices attached to specified paths is de-
fined.
# Bare device matching first path will be made an imsm spare on hot
plug.
# If more than one array is created on devices belonging to domain1 and
# one of them becomes degraded, then any imsm spare matching any path
for
# given domain name can be migrated.
POLICY domain=domain1 metadata=imsm path=pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-*
action=spare
POLICY domain=domain1 metadata=imsm path=pci-0000:04:00.0-scsi-[01]*
action=include
MAILADDR root@mydomain.tld
PROGRAM /usr/sbin/handle-mdadm-events
CREATE group=system mode=0640 auto=part-8
HOMEHOST <system>
AUTO +1.x homehost -all
SYSFS name=/dev/md/raid5 group_thread_cnt=4 sync_speed_max=1000000
SYSFS uuid=bead5eb6:31c17a27:da120ba2:7dfda40d group_thread_cnt=4
sync_speed_max=1000000
MONITORDELAY 60
ENCRYPTION_NO_VERIFY sata_opal
SEE ALSO
mdadm(8), md(4).
MDADM.CONF(5)
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