SMARTD(8) SMART Monitoring Tools SMARTD(8)

NAME

smartd - SMART Disk Monitoring Daemon

SYNOPSIS

smartd [options]

DESCRIPTION

[This man page is generated for the Solaris version of smartmontools.
It does not contain info specific to other platforms.]

smartd is a daemon that monitors the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and
Reporting Technology (SMART) system built into most ATA/SATA and
SCSI/SAS hard drives and solid-state drives. The purpose of SMART is
to monitor the reliability of the hard drive and predict drive
failures, and to carry out different types of drive self-tests. This
version of smartd is compatible with ACS-3, ACS-2, ATA8-ACS,
ATA/ATAPI-7 and earlier standards (see REFERENCES below).

smartd will attempt to enable SMART monitoring on ATA devices
(equivalent to smartctl -s on) and polls these and SCSI devices every
30 minutes (configurable), logging SMART errors and changes of SMART
Attributes via the SYSLOG interface. The default location for these
SYSLOG notifications and warnings is system-dependent (typically
/var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog). To change this default
location, please see the '-l' command-line option described below.

In addition to logging to a file, smartd can also be configured to
send email warnings if problems are detected. Depending upon the
type of problem, you may want to run self-tests on the disk, back up
the disk, replace the disk, or use a manufacturer's utility to force
reallocation of bad or unreadable disk sectors. If disk problems are
detected, please see the smartctl manual page and the smartmontools
web page/FAQ for further guidance.

If you send a USR1 signal to smartd it will immediately check the
status of the disks, and then return to polling the disks every 30
minutes. See the '-i' option below for additional details.

smartd can be configured at start-up using the configuration file
/etc/smartd.conf (Windows: EXEDIR/smartd.conf). If the configuration
file is subsequently modified, smartd can be told to re-read the
configuration file by sending it a HUP signal, for example with the
command:
killall -HUP smartd.

On startup, if smartd finds a syntax error in the configuration file,
it will print an error message and then exit. However if smartd is
already running, then is told with a HUP signal to re-read the
configuration file, and then find a syntax error in this file, it
will print an error message and then continue, ignoring the contents
of the (faulty) configuration file, as if the HUP signal had never
been received.

When smartd is running in debug mode, the INT signal (normally
generated from a shell with CONTROL-C) is treated in the same way as
a HUP signal: it makes smartd reload its configuration file. To exit
smartd use CONTROL-\.

On startup, in the absence of the configuration file
/etc/smartd.conf, the smartd daemon first scans for all devices that
support SMART. The scanning is done as follows:

SOLARIS: Examine all entries "/dev/rdsk/*s0" for IDE/ATA and SCSI
disk devices, and entries "/dev/rmt/*" for SCSI tape
devices.

smartd then monitors for all possible SMART errors (corresponding to
the '-a' Directive in the configuration file; see the smartd.conf(5)
man page).

OPTIONS

-A PREFIX, --attributelog=PREFIX
Writes smartd attribute information (normalized and raw
attribute values) to files 'PREFIX''MODEL-SERIAL.ata.csv' or
'PREFIX''VENDOR-MODEL-SERIAL.scsi.csv'. At each check cycle
attributes are logged as a line of semicolon separated
triplets of the form "attribute-ID;attribute-norm-
value;attribute-raw-value;". For SCSI devices error counters
and temperature recorded in the form "counter-name;counter-
value;". Each line is led by a date string of the form "yyyy-
mm-dd HH:MM:SS" (in local time).

MODEL and SERIAL are build from drive identify information,
invalid characters are replaced by underline.

If the PREFIX has the form '/path/dir/' (e.g.
'/var/lib/smartd/'), then files 'MODEL-SERIAL.ata.csv' are
created in directory '/path/dir'. If the PREFIX has the form
'/path/name' (e.g. '/var/lib/misc/attrlog-'), then files
'nameMODEL-SERIAL.ata.csv' are created in directory '/path/'.
The path must be absolute, except if debug mode is enabled.

-B [+]FILE, --drivedb=[+]FILE
[ATA only] Read the drive database from FILE. The new
database replaces the built in database by default. If '+' is
specified, then the new entries prepend the built in entries.
Please see the smartctl(8) man page for further details.

-c FILE, --configfile=FILE
Read smartd configuration Directives from FILE, instead of
from the default location /etc/smartd.conf (Windows:
EXEDIR/smartd.conf). If FILE does not exist, then smartd will
print an error message and exit with nonzero status. Thus,
'-c /etc/smartd.conf' can be used to verify the existence of
the default configuration file.

By using '-' for FILE, the configuration is read from standard
input. This is useful for commands like:
echo /dev/sdb -m user@home -M test | smartd -c - -q onecheck
to perform quick and simple checks without a configuration
file.

-d, --debug
Runs smartd in "debug" mode. In this mode, it displays status
information to STDOUT rather than logging it to SYSLOG and
does not fork(2) into the background and detach from the
controlling terminal. In this mode, smartd also prints more
verbose information about what it is doing than when operating
in "daemon" mode. In this mode, the INT signal (normally
generated from a terminal with CONTROL-C) makes smartd reload
its configuration file. Please use CONTROL-\ to exit

-D, --showdirectives
Prints a list (to STDOUT) of all the possible Directives which
may appear in the configuration file /etc/smartd.conf, and
then exits. These Directives are described in the
smartd.conf(5) man page. They may appear in the configuration
file following the device name.

-h, --help, --usage
Prints usage message to STDOUT and exits.

-i N, --interval=N
Sets the interval between disk checks to N seconds, where N is
a decimal integer. The minimum allowed value is ten and the
maximum is the largest positive integer that can be
represented on your system (often 2^31-1). The default is
1800 seconds.
[NEW EXPERIMENTAL SMARTD 7.3 FEATURE] The interval could be
overridden with the '-c i=N' directive, see smartd.conf(5) man
page.

Note that the superuser can make smartd check the status of
the disks at any time by sending it the SIGUSR1 signal, for
example with the command:
kill -SIGUSR1 <pid>
where <pid> is the process id number of smartd. One may also
use:
killall -USR1 smartd
for the same purpose.

-l FACILITY, --logfacility=FACILITY
Uses syslog facility FACILITY to log the messages from smartd.
Here FACILITY is one of local0, local1, ..., local7, or daemon
[default]. If this command-line option is not used, then by
default messages from smartd are logged to the facility
daemon.

If you would like to have smartd messages logged somewhere
other than the default location, include (for example) '-l
local3' in its start up argument list. Tell the syslog daemon
to log all messages from facility local3 to (for example)
'/var/log/smartd.log'.

For more detailed information, please refer to the man pages
for the local syslog daemon, typically syslogd(8), syslog-
ng(8) or rsyslogd(8).

-n, --no-fork
Do not fork into background; this is useful when executed from
modern init methods like initng, minit, supervise or systemd.

-p NAME, --pidfile=NAME
Writes pidfile NAME containing the smartd Process ID number
(PID). To avoid symlink attacks make sure the directory to
which pidfile is written is only writable for root. Without
this option, or if the --debug option is given, no PID file is
written on startup. If smartd is killed with a maskable
signal then the pidfile is removed.

-q WHEN, --quit=WHEN
Specifies when, if ever, smartd should exit. The valid
arguments are to this option are:

nodev - Exit if there are no devices to monitor, or if any
errors are found at startup in the configuration file. This
is the default.

errors - Exit if there are no devices to monitor, or if any
errors are found in the configuration file /etc/smartd.conf at
startup or whenever it is reloaded.

nodevstartup - Exit if there are no devices to monitor at
startup. But continue to run if no devices are found whenever
the configuration file is reloaded.

never - Only exit if a fatal error occurs (no remaining system
memory, invalid command line arguments). In this mode, even
if there are no devices to monitor, or if the configuration
file /etc/smartd.conf has errors, smartd will continue to run,
waiting to load a configuration file listing valid devices.

nodev0 - [NEW EXPERIMENTAL SMARTD 7.3 FEATURE] Same as
'nodev', except that the exit status is 0 if there are no
devices to monitor.

nodev0startup - [NEW EXPERIMENTAL SMARTD 7.3 FEATURE] Same as
'nodevstartup', except that the exit status is 0 if there are
no devices to monitor.

errors,nodev0 - [NEW EXPERIMENTAL SMARTD 7.3 FEATURE] Same as
'errors', except that the exit status is 0 if there are no
devices to monitor.

onecheck - Start smartd in debug mode, then register devices,
then check device's SMART status once, and then exit with zero
exit status if all of these steps worked correctly.

This last option is intended for 'distribution-writers' who
want to create automated scripts to determine whether or not
to automatically start up smartd after installing
smartmontools. After starting smartd with this command-line
option, the distribution's install scripts should wait a
reasonable length of time (say ten seconds). If smartd has
not exited with zero status by that time, the script should
send smartd a SIGTERM or SIGKILL and assume that smartd will
not operate correctly on the host. Conversely, if smartd
exits with zero status, then it is safe to run smartd in
normal daemon mode. If smartd is unable to monitor any
devices or encounters other problems then it will return with
non-zero exit status.

showtests - Start smartd in debug mode, then register devices,
then write a list of future scheduled self tests to stdout,
and then exit with zero exit status if all of these steps
worked correctly. Device's SMART status is not checked.

This option is intended to test whether the '-s REGEX'
directives in smartd.conf will have the desired effect. The
output lists the next test schedules, limited to 5 tests per
type and device. This is followed by a summary of all tests
of each device within the next 90 days.

-r TYPE, --report=TYPE
Intended primarily to help smartmontools developers understand
the behavior of smartmontools on non-conforming or poorly-
conforming hardware. This option reports details of smartd
transactions with the device. The option can be used multiple
times. When used just once, it shows a record of the ioctl()
transactions with the device. When used more than once, the
detail of these ioctl() transactions are reported in greater
detail. The valid arguments to this option are:

ioctl - report all ioctl() transactions.

ataioctl - report only ioctl() transactions with ATA devices.

scsiioctl - report only ioctl() transactions with SCSI
devices.

Any argument may include a positive integer to specify the
level of detail that should be reported. The argument should
be followed by a comma then the integer with no spaces. For
example, ataioctl,2 The default level is 1, so '-r ataioctl,1'
and '-r ataioctl' are equivalent.

-s PREFIX, --savestates=PREFIX
Reads/writes smartd state information from/to files
'PREFIX''MODEL-SERIAL.ata.state' or
'PREFIX''VENDOR-MODEL-SERIAL.scsi.state'. This preserves
SMART attributes, drive min and max temperatures (-W
directive), info about last sent warning email (-m directive),
and the time of next check of the self-test REGEXP (-s
directive) across boot cycles.

MODEL and SERIAL are build from drive identify information,
invalid characters are replaced by underline.

If the PREFIX has the form '/path/dir/' (e.g.
'/var/lib/smartd/'), then files 'MODEL-SERIAL.ata.state' are
created in directory '/path/dir'. If the PREFIX has the form
'/path/name' (e.g. '/var/lib/misc/smartd-'), then files
'nameMODEL-SERIAL.ata.state' are created in directory
'/path/'. The path must be absolute, except if debug mode is
enabled.

The state information files are read on smartd startup. The
files are always (re)written after reading the configuration
file, before rereading the configuration file (SIGHUP), before
smartd shutdown, and after a check forced by SIGUSR1. After a
normal check cycle, a file is only rewritten if an important
change (which usually results in a SYSLOG output) occurred.

-w PATH, --warnexec=PATH
Run the executable PATH instead of the default script when
smartd needs to send warning messages. PATH must point to an
executable binary file or script. The default script is
/etc/smartd_warning.sh.

-u USER[:GROUP], --warn-as-user=USER[:GROUP]
[NEW EXPERIMENTAL SMARTD 7.3 FEATURE] Run the warning script
as a non-privileged user instead of root. The USER and
optional GROUP may be specified as numeric ids or names. If
no GROUP is specified, the default group of USER is used
instead.

If a warning occurs, a child process is created with fork(2).
This process closes all inherited file descriptors, connects
stdio to /dev/null, changes the user and group ids, removes
any supplementary group ids and then calls the popen(3)
function from the standard library.

If '0:0' is specified, user and group are not changed, but the
remaining actions still apply.

If '-' is specified, popen(3) is called directly. This is the
default.

-V, --version, --license, --copyright
Prints version, copyright, license, home page and SVN revision
information for your copy of smartd to STDOUT and then exits.

EXAMPLES

smartd
Runs the daemon in forked mode. This is the normal way to run
smartd. Entries are logged to SYSLOG.

smartd -d -i 30
Run in foreground (debug) mode, checking the disk status every 30
seconds.

smartd -q onecheck
Registers devices, and checks the status of the devices exactly once.
The exit status (the shell $? variable) will be zero if all went
well, and nonzero if no devices were detected or some other problem
was encountered.

CONFIGURATION

The syntax of the smartd.conf(5) file is discussed separately.

NOTES

smartd will make log entries at loglevel LOG_INFO if the Normalized
SMART Attribute values have changed, as reported using the '-t',
'-p', or '-u' Directives. For example:
'Device: /dev/sda, SMART Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed
from 94 to 93'
Note that in this message, the value given is the 'Normalized' not
the 'Raw' Attribute value (the disk temperature in this case is about
22 Celsius). The '-R' and '-r' Directives modify this behavior, so
that the information is printed with the Raw values as well, for
example:
'Device: /dev/sda, SMART Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed
from 94 [Raw 22] to 93 [Raw 23]'
Here the Raw values are the actual disk temperatures in Celsius. The
way in which the Raw values are printed, and the names under which
the Attributes are reported, is governed by the various '-v
Num,Description' Directives described previously.

Please see the smartctl manual page for further explanation of the
differences between Normalized and Raw Attribute values.

smartd will make log entries at loglevel LOG_CRIT if a SMART
Attribute has failed, for example:
'Device: /dev/sdc, Failed SMART Attribute: 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct'
This loglevel is used for reporting enabled by the '-H', -f',
'-l selftest', and '-l error' Directives. Entries reporting failure
of SMART Prefailure Attributes should not be ignored: they mean that
the disk is failing. Use the smartctl utility to investigate.

Under Solaris with the default /etc/syslog.conf configuration,
messages below loglevel LOG_NOTICE will not be recorded. Hence all
smartd messages with loglevel LOG_INFO will be lost. If you want to
use the existing daemon facility to log all messages from smartd, you
should change /etc/syslog.conf from:
...;daemon.notice;... /var/adm/messages
to read:
...;daemon.info;... /var/adm/messages
Alternatively, you can use a local facility to log messages: please
see the smartd '-l' command-line option described above.

LOG TIMESTAMP TIMEZONE

When smartd makes log entries, these are time-stamped. The time
stamps are in the computer's local time zone, which is generally set
using either the environment variable 'TZ' or using a time-zone file
such as /etc/localtime. You may wish to change the timezone while
smartd is running (for example, if you carry a laptop to a new time-
zone and don't reboot it). Due to a bug in the tzset(3) function of
many unix standard C libraries, the time-zone stamps of smartd might
not change. For some systems, smartd will work around this problem
if the time-zone is set using /etc/localtime. The work-around fails
if the time-zone is set using the 'TZ' variable (or a file that it
points to).

EXIT STATUS

The exit status (return value) of smartd can have the following
values:

0: Daemon startup successful, or smartd was killed by a SIGTERM
(or in debug mode, a SIGQUIT).

1: Commandline did not parse.

2: There was a syntax error in the config file.

3: Forking the daemon failed.

4: Couldn't create PID file.

5: Config file does not exist (only returned in conjunction with
the '-c' option).

6: Config file exists, but cannot be read.

8: smartd ran out of memory during startup.

10: An inconsistency was found in smartd's internal data
structures. This should never happen. It must be due to
either a coding or compiler bug. Please report such failures
to smartmontools developers, see REPORTING BUGS below.

16: A device explicitly listed in /etc/smartd.conf can't be
monitored.

17: smartd didn't find any devices to monitor.
[NEW EXPERIMENTAL SMARTD 7.3 FEATURE] This could be changed to
0 (success) with one of the '-q *nodev0*' options, see above.

254: When in daemon mode, smartd received a SIGINT or SIGQUIT.
(Note that in debug mode, SIGINT has the same effect as
SIGHUP, and makes smartd reload its configuration file.
SIGQUIT has the same effect as SIGTERM and causes smartd to
exit with zero exit status.

132 and above
smartd was killed by a signal that is not explicitly listed
above. The exit status is then 128 plus the signal number.
For example if smartd is killed by SIGKILL (signal 9) then the
exit status is 137.

FILES

/usr/sbin/smartd
full path of this executable.

/etc/smartd.conf
configuration file (see smartd.conf(5) man page).

/etc/smartd_warning.sh
script run on warnings (see '-w' option above and '-M exec'
directive on smartd.conf(5) man page).

/etc/smartd_warning.d/
plugin directory for smartd warning script (see '-m' directive
on smartd.conf(5) man page).

/usr/share/smartmontools/drivedb.h
drive database (see '-B' option).

/etc/smart_drivedb.h
optional local drive database (see '-B' option).

AUTHORS

Bruce Allen (project initiator),
Christian Franke (project manager, Windows port and all sort of
things),
Douglas Gilbert (SCSI subsystem),
Volker Kuhlmann (moderator of support and database mailing list),
Gabriele Pohl (wiki & development team support),
Alex Samorukov (FreeBSD port and more, new Trac wiki).

Many other individuals have made contributions and corrections, see
AUTHORS, ChangeLog and repository files.

The first smartmontools code was derived from the smartsuite package,
written by Michael Cornwell and Andre Hedrick.

REPORTING BUGS

To submit a bug report, create a ticket in smartmontools wiki:
<https://www.smartmontools.org/>.
Alternatively send the info to the smartmontools support mailing
list:
<https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/smartmontools-support>.

SEE ALSO

smartd.conf(5), smartctl(8).
update-smart-drivedb(8).

REFERENCES

Please see the following web site for more info:
<https://www.smartmontools.org/>

An introductory article about smartmontools is Monitoring Hard Disks
with SMART, by Bruce Allen, Linux Journal, January 2004, pages 74-77.
See <https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6983>.

If you would like to understand better how SMART works, and what it
does, a good place to start is with Sections 4.8 and 6.54 of the
first volume of the 'AT Attachment with Packet Interface-7'
(ATA/ATAPI-7) specification Revision 4b. This documents the SMART
functionality which the smartmontools utilities provide access to.

The functioning of SMART was originally defined by the SFF-8035i
revision 2 and the SFF-8055i revision 1.4 specifications. These are
publications of the Small Form Factors (SFF) Committee.

Links to these and other documents may be found on the Links page of
the smartmontools Wiki at <https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/Links>.

PACKAGE VERSION

smartmontools-7.4 2023-08-01 r5530
$Id: smartd.8.in 5521 2023-07-24 16:44:49Z chrfranke $

smartmontools-7.4 2023-08-01 SMARTD(8)