Command Section

GRAID(8)                FreeBSD System Manager's Manual               GRAID(8)

NAME
     graid - control utility for software RAID devices

SYNOPSIS
     graid label [-f] [-o fmtopt] [-S size] [-s strip] format label level
           prov ...
     graid add [-f] [-S size] [-s strip] name label level
     graid delete [-f] name [label | num]
     graid insert name prov ...
     graid remove name prov ...
     graid fail name prov ...
     graid stop [-fv] name ...
     graid list
     graid status
     graid load
     graid unload

DESCRIPTION
     The graid utility is used to manage software RAID configurations,
     supported by the GEOM RAID class.  GEOM RAID class uses on-disk metadata
     to provide access to software-RAID volumes defined by different RAID
     BIOSes.  Depending on RAID BIOS type and its metadata format, different
     subsets of configurations and features are supported.  To allow booting
     from RAID volume, the metadata format should match the RAID BIOS type and
     its capabilities.  To guarantee that these match, it is recommended to
     create volumes via the RAID BIOS interface, while experienced users are
     free to do it using this utility.

     The first argument to graid indicates an action to be performed:

     label        Create an array with single volume.  The format argument
                  specifies the on-disk metadata format to use for this array,
                  such as "Intel".  The label argument specifies the label of
                  the created volume.  The level argument specifies the RAID
                  level of the created volume, such as: "RAID0", "RAID1", etc.
                  The subsequent list enumerates providers to use as array
                  components.  The special name "NONE" can be used to reserve
                  space for absent disks.  The order of components can be
                  important, depending on specific RAID level and metadata
                  format.

                  Additional options include:

                  -f              Enforce specified configuration creation if
                                  it is officially unsupported, but
                                  technically can be created.

                  -o fmtopt       Specifies metadata format options.

                  -S size         Use size bytes on each component for this
                                  volume.  Should be used if several volumes
                                  per array are planned, or if smaller
                                  components going to be inserted later.
                                  Defaults to size of the smallest component.

                  -s strip        Specifies strip size in bytes.  Defaults to
                                  131072.

     add          Create another volume on the existing array.  The name
                  argument is the name of the existing array, reported by
                  label command.  The rest of arguments are the same as for
                  the label command.

     delete       Delete volume(s) from the existing array.  When the last
                  volume is deleted, the array is also deleted and its
                  metadata erased.  The name argument is the name of existing
                  array.  Optional label or num arguments allow specifying
                  volume for deletion.

                  Additional options include:

                  -f     Delete volume(s) even if it is still open.

     insert       Insert specified provider(s) into specified array instead of
                  the first missing or failed components.  If there are no
                  such components, mark disk(s) as spare.

     remove       Remove the specified provider(s) from the specified array
                  and erase metadata.  If there are spare disks present, the
                  removed disk(s) will be replaced by spares.

     fail         Mark the given disks(s) as failed, removing from active use
                  unless absolutely necessary due to exhausted redundancy.  If
                  there are spare disks present - failed disk(s) will be
                  replaced with one of them.

     stop         Stop the given array.  The metadata will not be erased.

                  Additional options include:

                  -f     Stop the given array even if some of its volumes are
                         opened.

     list         See geom(8).

     status       See geom(8).

     load         See geom(8).

     unload       See geom(8).

     Additional options include:

     -v     Be more verbose.

SUPPORTED METADATA FORMATS
     The GEOM RAID class follows a modular design, allowing different metadata
     formats to be used.  Support is currently implemented for the following
     formats:

     DDF    The format defined by the SNIA Common RAID Disk Data Format v2.0
            specification.  Used by some Adaptec RAID BIOSes and some hardware
            RAID controllers.  Because of high format flexibility different
            implementations support different set of features and have
            different on-disk metadata layouts.  To provide compatibility, the
            GEOM RAID class mimics capabilities of the first detected DDF
            array.  Respecting that, it may support different number of disks
            per volume, volumes per array, partitions per disk, etc.  The
            following configurations are supported: RAID0 (2+ disks), RAID1
            (2+ disks), RAID1E (3+ disks), RAID3 (3+ disks), RAID4 (3+ disks),
            RAID5 (3+ disks), RAID5E (4+ disks), RAID5EE (4+ disks), RAID5R
            (3+ disks), RAID6 (4+ disks), RAIDMDF (4+ disks), RAID10 (4+
            disks), SINGLE (1 disk), CONCAT (2+ disks).

            Format supports two options "BE" and "LE", that mean big-endian
            byte order defined by specification (default) and little-endian
            used by some Adaptec controllers.

     Intel  The format used by Intel RAID BIOS.  Supports up to two volumes
            per array.  Supports configurations: RAID0 (2+ disks), RAID1 (2
            disks), RAID5 (3+ disks), RAID10 (4 disks).  Configurations not
            supported by Intel RAID BIOS, but enforceable on your own risk:
            RAID1 (3+ disks), RAID1E (3+ disks), RAID10 (6+ disks).

     JMicron
            The format used by JMicron RAID BIOS.  Supports one volume per
            array.  Supports configurations: RAID0 (2+ disks), RAID1 (2
            disks), RAID10 (4 disks), CONCAT (2+ disks).  Configurations not
            supported by JMicron RAID BIOS, but enforceable on your own risk:
            RAID1 (3+ disks), RAID1E (3+ disks), RAID10 (6+ disks), RAID5 (3+
            disks).

     NVIDIA
            The format used by NVIDIA MediaShield RAID BIOS.  Supports one
            volume per array.  Supports configurations: RAID0 (2+ disks),
            RAID1 (2 disks), RAID5 (3+ disks), RAID10 (4+ disks), SINGLE (1
            disk), CONCAT (2+ disks).  Configurations not supported by NVIDIA
            MediaShield RAID BIOS, but enforceable on your own risk: RAID1 (3+
            disks).

     Promise
            The format used by Promise and AMD/ATI RAID BIOSes.  Supports
            multiple volumes per array.  Each disk can be split to be used by
            up to two arbitrary volumes.  Supports configurations: RAID0 (2+
            disks), RAID1 (2 disks), RAID5 (3+ disks), RAID10 (4 disks),
            SINGLE (1 disk), CONCAT (2+ disks).  Configurations not supported
            by RAID BIOSes, but enforceable on your own risk: RAID1 (3+
            disks), RAID10 (6+ disks).

     SiI    The format used by SiliconImage RAID BIOS.  Supports one volume
            per array.  Supports configurations: RAID0 (2+ disks), RAID1 (2
            disks), RAID5 (3+ disks), RAID10 (4 disks), SINGLE (1 disk),
            CONCAT (2+ disks).  Configurations not supported by SiliconImage
            RAID BIOS, but enforceable on your own risk: RAID1 (3+ disks),
            RAID10 (6+ disks).

SUPPORTED RAID LEVELS
     The GEOM RAID class follows a modular design, allowing different RAID
     levels to be used.  Full support for the following RAID levels is
     currently implemented: RAID0, RAID1, RAID1E, RAID10, SINGLE, CONCAT.  The
     following RAID levels supported as read-only for volumes in optimal state
     (without using redundancy): RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID5R, RAID6,
     RAIDMDF.

RAID LEVEL MIGRATION
     The GEOM RAID class has no support for RAID level migration, allowed by
     some metadata formats.  If you started migration using BIOS or in some
     other way, make sure to complete it there.  Do not run GEOM RAID class on
     migrating volumes under pain of possible data corruption!

2TiB BARRIERS
     NVIDIA metadata format does not support volumes above 2TiB.

SYSCTL VARIABLES
     The following sysctl(8) variable can be used to control the behavior of
     the RAID GEOM class.

     kern.geom.raid.aggressive_spare: 0
             Use any disks without metadata connected to controllers of the
             vendor matching to volume metadata format as spare.  Use it with
             much care to not lose data if connecting unrelated disk!

     kern.geom.raid.clean_time: 5
             Mark volume as clean when idle for the specified number of
             seconds.

     kern.geom.raid.debug: 0
             Debug level of the RAID GEOM class.

     kern.geom.raid.enable: 1
             Enable on-disk metadata taste.

     kern.geom.raid.idle_threshold: 1000000
             Time in microseconds to consider a volume idle for rebuild
             purposes.

     kern.geom.raid.name_format: 0
             Providers name format: 0 -- raid/r{num}, 1 -- raid/{label}.

     kern.geom.raid.read_err_thresh: 10
             Number of read errors equated to disk failure.  Write errors are
             always considered as disk failures.

     kern.geom.raid.start_timeout: 30
             Time to wait for missing array components on startup.

     kern.geom.raid.X.enable: 1
             Enable taste for specific metadata or transformation module.

EXIT STATUS
     Exit status is 0 on success, and non-zero if the command fails.

SEE ALSO
     geom(4), geom(8), gvinum(8)

HISTORY
     The graid utility appeared in FreeBSD 9.0.

AUTHORS
     Alexander Motin <mav@FreeBSD.org>
     M. Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6          April 4, 2013         FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6

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