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GRAID(8)		     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.	 Depend-
     ing on RAID BIOS type and its metadata format, different subsets of config-
     urations  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 "In-
	      tel".  The label argument specifies the label of the created  vol-
	      ume.   The  level argument specifies the RAID level of the created
	      volume, such as: "RAID0", "RAID1", etc.  The subsequent list  enu-
	      merates  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  offi-
			cially 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 compo-
	      nents, 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  im-
	    plementations  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.	Respect-
	    ing  that, it may support different number of disks per volume, vol-
	    umes per array, partitions per disk, etc.  The following  configura-
	    tions  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  ar-
	    ray.   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  vol-
	    ume  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 multi-
	    ple 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  lev-
     els  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)	variables 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 ven-
	     dor 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 pur-
	     poses.

     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)

HISTORY
     The graid utility appeared in FreeBSD 9.0.

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

FreeBSD ports 15.1		January 23, 2025			GRAID(8)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=graid&manpath=FreeBSD+15.1-RELEASE+and+Ports>

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