nvme-io-passthru(1)

# nvme-io-passthru(1) Manual Page

## NAME

nvme-io-passthru - Submit an arbitrary io command, return results

## SYNOPSIS

    nvme [<global-options>] io-passthru <device>
                            [--opcode=<opcode> | -O <opcode>]
                            [--flags=<flags> | -f <flags>]
                            [-rsvd=<rsvd> | -R <rsvd>]
                            [--namespace-id=<nsid> | -n <nsid>]
                            [--cdw2=<cdw2> | -2 <cdw2>]
                            [--cdw3=<cdw3> | -3 <cdw3>]
                            [--cdw10=<cdw10> | -4 <cdw10>]
                            [--cdw11=<cdw11> | -5 <cdw11>]
                            [--cdw12=<cdw12> | -6 <cdw12>]
                            [--cdw13=<cdw13> | -7 <cdw13>]
                            [--cdw14=<cdw14> | -8 <cdw14>]
                            [--cdw15=<cdw15> | -9 <cdw15>]
                            [--data-len=<data-len> | -l <data-len>]
                            [--metadata-len=<len> | -m <len>]
                            [--read | -r] [--write | -w]
                            [--input-file=<file> | -i <file>]
                            [--metadata=<file> | -M <file>]
                            [--show-command | -s]
                            [--dry-run | -d] [--raw-binary | -b]
                            [--prefill=<prefill> | -p <prefill>]
                            [--latency | -T]

## DESCRIPTION

Submits an arbitrary NVMe IO command and returns the applicable results. This may be the simply the command’s result and status, or may also include a buffer if the command returns one. This command does no interpretation of the opcodes or options.

The <device> parameter is mandatory and may be either the NVMe character device (ex: /dev/nvme0), or a namespace block device (ex: /dev/nvme0n1).

On success, the returned structure (if applicable) may be returned in one of several ways depending on the option flags; the structure may printed by the program as a hex dump, or may be returned as a raw buffer printed to stdout for another program to parse.

## OPTIONS

-O <opcode>
--opcode=<opcode>

  The NVMe opcode to send to the device in the command Required argument as this param is mandatory.

-f <flags>
--flags=<flags>

  The NVMe command flags to send to the device in the command

-R <rsvd>
--rsvd=<rsvd>

  The value for the reserved field in the command.

-n <nsid>
--namespace-id=<nsid>

  The value for the ns-id in the command. Defaults to 0.

-[2-9] <cdw>
--cdw[2-3,10-15]=<cdw>

  Specifies the command dword value for that specified entry in the command

-r
--read
-w
--write

  Used for the data-direction for the command and required for commands sending/receiving data. Don’t use both read and write at the same time.

-i <file>
--input-file=<file>

  If the command is a data-out (write) command, use this file to fill the buffer sent to the device. If no file is given, assumed to use STDIN. If the command is a data-in (read) command, the data returned from the device will be saved here.

-M <file>
--metadata=<file>

  If the command is a data-out (write) command, use this file to fill the metadata buffer sent to the device. If no file is given, assumed to use STDIN. If the command is a data-in (read) command, the metadata returned from the device will be saved here.

-l <data-len>
--data-len=<data-len>

  The data length for the buffer used for this command.

-m <data-len>
--metadata-len=<data-len>

  The metadata length for the buffer used for this command.

-s
--show-cmd

  Print out the command to be sent.

-d
--dry-run

  Do not actually send the command. If want to use --dry-run option, --show-cmd option must be set. Otherwise --dry-run option will be ignored.

-b
--raw-binary

  Print the raw returned buffer to stdout if the command returns data or a structure.

-p <prefill>
--prefill <prefill>

  Prefill the buffer with a predetermined byte value. Defaults to 0. This may be useful if the data you are writing is shorter than the required buffer, and you need to pad it with a known value. It may also be useful if you need to confirm if a device is overwriting a buffer on a data-in command.

-T
--latency

  Print out the latency the IOCTL took (in us).

## GLOBAL OPTIONS

The following options are defined at the top-level `nvme` command and are available to this subcommand:

--dry-run

  Print the command that would be executed, but do not actually execute it.

--no-ioctl-probing

  Disable probing for 64-bit IOCTL support.

--no-retries

  Disable retry logic on transient errors.

-o <fmt>
--output-format=<fmt>

  Set the reporting format to normal, tabular, 'json, or binary. Only one output format may be used at a time.

--output-format-version=<version>

  Select the output format version. Version 1 uses the original field naming, while version 2 (default) provides more consistent and script-friendly field names.

--timeout=<ms>

  Set the timeout for the command in milliseconds.

-v
--verbose

  Increase the level of detail in the output. May be specified multiple times to further increase verbosity.

These options can also be set as machine-wide defaults in nvme-cli.conf(5). A command-line flag always overrides the file.

## EXAMPLES

nvme io-passthru /dev/nvme0n1 --opcode=2 --namespace-id=1 --data-len=4096 --read --cdw10=0 --cdw11=0 --cdw12=0x70000 --raw-binary

## NVME

Part of the nvme-user suite