dmzadm(8)

💖 dmzadm(8) — the girlies' guide to zoned block devices 💖

okay so. bestie. you have a zoned block device and you want it to vibe with the dm-zoned device mapper target. this is the manual page for dmzadm, from the System Manager's Manual section 8 (that's the admin commands girlies, iykyk). let's get into it, no cap. ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

dmzadm — manage zoned block device format for use with the dm-zoned device mapper target

like, it formats, checks and fixes your devices so the dm-zoned target can actually do its thing. periodt.

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

dmzadm -h | --help

dmzadm --version

dmzadm operation [ regular-block-device ] zoned-block-device-0 [
zoned-block-device-1 [...]  ] [ options ]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so dmzadm is your girl for formatting, checking and repairing block devices that get used with the dm-zoned device mapper. and zoned-block-device-0? that's the device node of the zoned block device you're working with, like /dev/sdX. simple as. 💅

regular-block-device is optional, and it's a device node for a regular block device that gets used together with the zoned block device — it stores metadata and acts as the conventional zone storage space for the zoned device. it's giving "backup bestie" energy fr fr.

when you do use regular-block-device, you can actually specify more than one zoned block device (zoned-block-device-1 and so on). but heads up: if you list multiple zoned block devices, all of them must have the same zone size. no mixing and matching, that's the rule. 🙅

operation is literally just the action you want taken on the device.

and dmzadm returns 0 on success and 1 on failure. classic.

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✨ OPERATIONS ✨

dmzadm defines these operations, and they're all iconic in their own way:

• -h, --help — prints a short usage description of dmzadm. your little map when you're lost. 🗺️
• --version — prints the current version number and then exits dmzadm. short and sweet, she doesn't linger.
• --format — writes dm-zoned metadata to the zoned block device(s) and the optional regular block device. ⚠️ bestie this one wipes clean ALL the data that was stored on the device(s). like, gone gone. be so serious before you run this one.
• --check — checks the device(s) metadata consistency. no repair action is taken, so metadata corruptions are NOT corrected with this operation. if you actually want to fix incorrect metadata, you have to use the --repair operation. she's just here to look, not to touch. 👀
• --repair — checks the consistency of the device(s) metadata and tries to repair any error it detects. the fixer upper. 🛠️
• --relabel — changes the label (that's the DM device name) of a formatted dm-zoned device. glow-up for your device's name basically.
• --start — loads the metadata information from the block device(s) and activates the dm-zoned device. wake up babe, we're live. 🔥
• --stop — deactivates the dm-zoned device associated with the block device(s). nap time. 😴

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💜 COMMON OPTIONS 💜

these ones work with all the operations, they're universal like that:

• --verbose — verbose output detailing actions taken. she's chatty.
• --vverbose — very detailed output of actions taken. she's EXTRA chatty. 😭

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🌈 FORMAT OPERATION OPTIONS 🌈

these are the ones you can use when you've picked the --format operation:

• --seq=num — specify the number of sequential zones to be reserved for reclaim (default: 16 per zoned block device).
• --label=str — define the label of the device-mapper device. if you don't specify it, the label defaults to dmz-serial, where serial is the serial number of the block device storing the metadata (that's the first block device specified). and if the serial number for the metadata block device isn't available, the label defaults to dmz-bdevname where bdevname is the name of the metadata block device. she'll always find herself a name bestie, don't worry. 💖

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⭐ RELABEL OPERATION OPTIONS ⭐

these are the ones you can use when you've picked the --relabel operation:

• --label=str — define the new label of the device-mapper device. if you don't specify it, the new label defaults to dmz-serial, where serial is the serial number of the block device storing the metadata (the first block device specified). and if the serial number for the metadata block device isn't available, the label defaults to dmz-bdevname where bdevname is the name of the metadata block device. same energy, new name. 💅

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🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

this version of dmzadm was written by Damien Le Moal <damien.lemoal@wdc.com> and Albert H. Chen <albert.chen@wdc.com> with contributions from Hannes Reinecke <hare@suse.de>. absolute legends, all three. 👑

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💀 COPYRIGHT 💀

GNU General Public Licence version 3 or later

(c) 2016-2020 Western Digital Corportation and its affiliates

manual written by Damien Le Moal <damien.lemoal@wdc.com and by Tj <ubuntu@iam.tj> for Debian and Ubuntu.

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🌸 AVAILABILITY 🌸

dmzadm is available from the dm-zoned-tools project hosted on github at https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/dm-zoned-tools — go get her bestie, she's free. 🧚

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• dmsetup(8)

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that's the whole page, start to finish, no notes. 💖

and for the cute sign-off: this page is dated May 20 2020, so yeah, vintage but still slaying. stay zoned, stay iconic, and always --check before you --format. mwah. 🎀✨🦋