How to run smartctl with a 3ware controller?

[void]

The Windows version of smartctl doesn't support 3ware controllers, so I'm trying to use the KNOPPIX cd to run smartctl.

I tried to run the following command:

smartctl -a -d 3ware,1 /dev/sdb


but here's the output I got:

smartctl version 5.32 Copyright (C) 2002-4 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: [No Information Found]
Serial Number: [No Information Found]
Firmware Version: [No Information Found]
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: 1
ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is: Mon May 22 05:08:50 2006 EDT
SMART is only available in ATA Version 3 Revision 3 or greater.
We will try to proceed in spite of this.
SMART support is: Ambiguous - ATA IDENTIFY DEVICE words 82-83 don't show if SMART supported.
A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T permissive' options.


Is there something wrong with the command I'm using? Here's the output from dmesg, which makes me think /dev/sdb is the correct device to reference:

3ware Storage Controller device driver for Linux v1.26.02.001.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] enabled at IRQ 11
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:11.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
scsi1 : 3ware Storage Controller
3w-xxxx: scsi1: Found a 3ware Storage Controller at 0xd800, IRQ: 11.
Vendor: 3ware Model: Logical Disk 0 Rev: 1.2
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
SCSI device sdb: 234491008 512-byte hdwr sectors (120059 MB)
SCSI device sdb: drive cache: write back
SCSI device sdb: 234491008 512-byte hdwr sectors (120059 MB)
SCSI device sdb: drive cache: write back
sdb: sdb1 sdb2 < sdb5 >
Attached scsi disk sdb at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0

 

[Eric Gisin]

No, the 3ware drivers to not support SMART. You need to put drives on non-RAID IDE.

The Windows version of smartctl doesn't support 3ware controllers, so I'm trying to use the KNOPPIX
cd to run smartctl.

 

[void]

No, the 3ware drivers to not support SMART. You need to put drives on non-RAID IDE.

The Windows drivers don't support SMART, but the Linux drivers do. 3ware tech support told me that. Even the smartctl man pages say they support 3ware.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Eric Gisin wrote:

The Windows drivers don't support SMART, but the Linux drivers do.
3ware tech support told me that. Even the smartctl man pages say they
support 3ware.

"3ware controllers are currently ONLY supported under Linux
and FreeBSD."

However you may need to have the drivers in the kernel, either as module
or commpiled in. Not sure Knoppix has them. If not, you find them
under Drivers -> SCSI device support -> SCSI low-level drivers
in the kernel configuration, since Linux treats SATA as SCSI.

Arno

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

"3ware controllers are currently ONLY supported under Linux
and FreeBSD."

However you may need to have the drivers in the kernel, either as module
or commpiled in. Not sure Knoppix has them. If not, you find them
under Drivers -> SCSI device support -> SCSI low-level drivers
in the kernel configuration, since Linux treats SATA as SCSI.

In which case they obviously don't support SMART.
Nice one, Arnie.

 

[Michael Heiming]

RAID bus controller: 3ware Inc 7xxx/8xxx-series PATA/SATA-RAID (rev 01)

Whatever the man page says, from experience smartctl doesn't work
at all with my 3ware controller, you can be lucky if you don't
crash the whole system with it...

 

[Arno Wagner]

RAID bus controller: 3ware Inc 7xxx/8xxx-series PATA/SATA-RAID (rev 01)

Whatever the man page says, from experience smartctl doesn't work
at all with my 3ware controller, you can be lucky if you don't
crash the whole system with it...

Have you tried with a kernel >= 2.6.15? Before that there was no
SMART support for SATA, no matter what the controller. Unless you
count very old kernels, before libata was used for SATA.

Go away Folkert. Of course the Linux SCSI layer does not
support ATA SMART. But there is a standard by the SCSI comitee
for passing ATA commands through SCSI and that is how SMART
is supported for SATA. The parameter for smartctl is like
this: smartctl -a -d ata /dev/<scsi-device> and it works with
kernels >= 2/6/15.

If you had done minimal research, you would know this.

Incidentially I found out last weekend, that this also
works for PATA drives connected via the PATA->SATA
connverter I have. Nice.

Arno

 

[Bruce Allen]

However you may need to have the drivers in the kernel, either as module

Go away Folkert. Of course the Linux SCSI layer does not
support ATA SMART. But there is a standard by the SCSI comitee
for passing ATA commands through SCSI and that is how SMART
is supported for SATA. The parameter for smartctl is like
this: smartctl -a -d ata /dev/<scsi-device> and it works with
kernels >= 2/6/15.

If you had done minimal research, you would know this.

Incidentially I found out last weekend, that this also
works for PATA drives connected via the PATA->SATA
connverter I have. Nice.

On Linux, smartmontools supports SATA drives behind 3ware controllers,
and has supported them for several years. I think the problem
experienced by the person who started this thead can probably be fixed
by replacing the SCSI device /dev/sdb by the character device
/dev/twe0. More recent versions of smartmontools give better warnings
about this.

Hence something like:

smartctl -d 3ware,1 -a /dev/twe0

(You may need /dev/twa0 on some 3ware controllers. You change the '0'
to a different number to reference different controllers.)

 

[void]

On Linux, smartmontools supports SATA drives behind 3ware controllers,
and has supported them for several years.

My drives are PATA.

I think the problem
experienced by the person who started this thead can probably be fixed
by replacing the SCSI device /dev/sdb by the character device
/dev/twe0. More recent versions of smartmontools give better warnings
about this.

Hence something like:

smartctl -d 3ware,1 -a /dev/twe0

OK, I can try that. Although I must admit after reading Michael's post, I'm a little afraid to try anything again!

(You may need /dev/twa0 on some 3ware controllers. You change the '0'
to a different number to reference different controllers.)

The twe0 is for 6000, 7000, or 8000 series 3ware controllers, and the twa0 is for 9000 series controllers.

 

[dnoyeB]

The Windows version of smartctl doesn't support 3ware controllers, so I'm trying to use the KNOPPIX cd to run smartctl.

I tried to run the following command:

smartctl -a -d 3ware,1 /dev/sdb


but here's the output I got:

smartctl version 5.32 Copyright (C) 2002-4 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: [No Information Found]
Serial Number: [No Information Found]
Firmware Version: [No Information Found]
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: 1
ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is: Mon May 22 05:08:50 2006 EDT
SMART is only available in ATA Version 3 Revision 3 or greater.
We will try to proceed in spite of this.
SMART support is: Ambiguous - ATA IDENTIFY DEVICE words 82-83 don't show if SMART supported.
A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T permissive' options.


Is there something wrong with the command I'm using? Here's the output from dmesg, which makes me think /dev/sdb is the correct device to reference:

3ware Storage Controller device driver for Linux v1.26.02.001.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] enabled at IRQ 11
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:11.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
scsi1 : 3ware Storage Controller
3w-xxxx: scsi1: Found a 3ware Storage Controller at 0xd800, IRQ: 11.
Vendor: 3ware Model: Logical Disk 0 Rev: 1.2
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
SCSI device sdb: 234491008 512-byte hdwr sectors (120059 MB)
SCSI device sdb: drive cache: write back
SCSI device sdb: 234491008 512-byte hdwr sectors (120059 MB)
SCSI device sdb: drive cache: write back
sdb: sdb1 sdb2 < sdb5 >
Attached scsi disk sdb at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0

read the smartctl files. they give specific 3ware examples. for mine i
have (note: mine is sda)

/dev/twe0 -d 3ware,0 -a -s (S/../.././02|L/../../6/03) -m (e-mail address removed)
/dev/twe0 -d 3ware,1 -a -s (S/../.././02|L/../../6/03) -m (e-mail address removed)


you have to use this /dev/twe0 type of thing. There are examples all
through the smart files. I think even 3ware gives examples.

so you dont access it through /dev/sda or /dev/sdb

twe is the 2 port ide version.

--
Thank you,



"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16

 

[Michael Heiming]

Have you tried with a kernel >= 2.6.15? Before that there was no
SMART support for SATA, no matter what the controller. Unless you
count very old kernels, before libata was used for SATA.

Not that I'm aware off, perhaps I'll try it out just before
rebooting to 2.6.17. Seems I missed 2.6.16, still run 2.6.15,
which has only 63 days uptime. Simply can't be bothered to reboot
this frequently, this ain't no doze. ;-)

 

[void]

read the smartctl files. they give specific 3ware examples. for mine i have (note: mine is sda)

/dev/twe0 -d 3ware,0 -a -s (S/../.././02|L/../../6/03) -m (e-mail address removed)
/dev/twe0 -d 3ware,1 -a -s (S/../.././02|L/../../6/03) -m (e-mail address removed)


you have to use this /dev/twe0 type of thing. There are examples all through the smart files. I think even 3ware gives examples.

so you dont access it through /dev/sda or /dev/sdb

twe is the 2 port ide version.

It turns out that the Knoppix CD contains version 5.32 of smartctl, and that version does not support using the twe or twa devices (that was added in version 5.33).

So looks like I have to figure out why /dev/sdb didn't work.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Have you tried with a kernel >= 2.6.15? Before that there was no
SMART support for SATA, no matter what the controller. Unless you
count very old kernels, before libata was used for SATA.


Go away Folkert.

Ooh, I finally escaped from Arnie's killfile.

Of course the Linux SCSI layer does not support ATA SMART.
But there is a standard by the SCSI comitee for passing ATA
commands through SCSI

and that is how SMART is supported for SATA.

Not necessarily:

"In most environments where SCSI/ATA Translation is employed, there is a need to provide a
mechanism to issue ATA commands directly to the attached ATA device underlying the SCSI
device presented through the SATL*. In some environments (e.g. when the SATL is implemented
in an HBA with direct-attach ATA devices), the HBA may provide a vendor-specific interface
to permit direct access to the devices through ATA command/response protocol."
* SATL, SCSI to ATA Translation Layer

This is how it worked for IDE (S.M.A.R.T. driver interface to IDE drivers)
(well, in Windows anyway) and how it may still work for SATA too.

The parameter for smartctl is like this:
smartctl -a -d ata /dev/<scsi-device> and it works with kernels >= 2/6/15.

If you had done minimal research, you would know this.

Always resorting to the flight forward, aren't you, Arnie.
Actually, I was jesting the person (you) who on so many occasions has said that S.M.A.R.T. was
not supported on USB external storage devices because of USB using SCSI command protocol.

Incidentially I found out last weekend, that this also works for PATA
drives connected via the PATA->SATA connverter I have. Nice.

Like there is anything remotely SCSI going on on such a con(n)verter.

 

[dnoyeB]

It turns out that the Knoppix CD contains version 5.32 of smartctl, and that version does not support using the twe or twa devices (that was added in version 5.33).

So looks like I have to figure out why /dev/sdb didn't work.

Because it does not work. I don't have an 'option' to use /dev/sda or
twe, /dev/sda does not work.

i am using 5.36. I may have upgraded just for this.




--
Thank you,



"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16