Re: "nvmecontrol: format request returned error"message for "nvmecontrol format -f 3 nvme1" on a still-new Optane DC P4800X 1.5T : info and questions

Sorry for top posting...

The problem is that the timeout is taking longer to timeout than our
default timeout, so
we're aborting. Since we don't send an abort to the drive by default, the
command will
eventually complete. A reboot will see the new format, as weill a
nvmecontrol reset followed
by a camcontrol rescan of the b:t that the nda lives at.

In current, I've fixed this with the following changes.

commit b4c9e0f5d0e5ad896e6ad211a1a3c1b2fc49011c (HEAD -> main)
Author: Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>
Date:   Sun Sep 13 13:42:51 2026 -0600

    nvme: Notify namespaces on reset sometimes

    When we're resetting after a controller failure, and we fix the failure,
    and we've not resetting as part of initialization, notify the all the
    children devices of new namespaces. When we failed the controller
    before, we removed all the namespaces.

    Sponsored by:           Netflix

commit 8477839c7ed07078613591fd22e0fc2a231e230e
Author: Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>
Date:   Sun Sep 13 13:41:12 2026 -0600

    nvme: Refactor namespace notifications for additions

    When we add a namespace, we have the code inline to do the
    notifications. Refactor ahead or reuse.

    Sponsored by:           Netflix

commit ee66f8ddb69f8d675d993cb9eb783a30b5b4d437
Author: Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>
Date:   Sat Sep 12 13:38:22 2026 -0600

    nvme: honor Linux passthrough command timeouts

commit 6a14e1e4d353365516b8c139ccca25a5b480982b
Author: Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>
Date:   Sat Sep 12 13:26:06 2026 -0600

    nvme: support per-request timeouts

commit 1cd7985c9beeb1665b9ede23a9c008823c35a96b
Author: Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>
Date:   Sat Sep 12 13:23:26 2026 -0600

    nvme: add a timeout for Format NVM commands

I just hit this doing developing some automated drive reformatting software
because our current settings are so bad we need to reformat!

Warner

On Thu, Sep 17, 2026 at 11:56 PM Mark Millard <marklmi@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On 7/21/26 11:37, Mark Millard wrote:
> > Adding Warner to the To list in order to be sure that he sees it.
> >
> > So far as I can tell, Warner seems to be likely to be the only one
> > likely to answer on if there is more that I should do for formatting the
> > Optane DC P4800X 1.5T based on the below information. So long as he is
> > aware of the question, there is no reason for him to elevate the
> > priority for when to potentially answer.
> >
> > On 7/17/26 13:19, Mark Millard wrote:
> >> My attempt to change from (in smartctl output form):
> >>
> >> Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
> >> Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
> >>  0 +     512       0         2
> >> . . .
> >>
> >> to:
> >>
> >> Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
> >> Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
> >> . . .
> >>  3 -    4096       0         0
> >> . . .
> >>
> >> reported:
> >>
> >> # nvmecontrol format -f 3 nvme1
> >> nvmecontrol: format request returned error
> >>
> >> but afterwards shows:
> >>
> >> Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
> >> Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
> >> . . .
> >>  3 +    4096       0         0
> >> . . .
> >>
> >> It also shows:
> >>
> >> Media and Data Integrity Errors:    0
> >> Error Information Log Entries:      0
> >>
> >> Error Information (NVMe Log 0x01, 16 of 64 entries)
> >> No Errors Logged
> >>
> >> dmesg -a shows:
> >>
> >> # dmesg -a | tail -7
> >> nvme1: Resetting controller due to a timeout.
> >> nvme1: event="start"
> >> nvme1: event="success"
> >> nvme1: aborting outstanding admin command
> >> nvme1: FORMAT_NVM (80) sqid:0 cid:15 nsid:ffffffff cdw10:00000003
> >> cdw11:00000000
> >> nvme1: ABORTED_BY_REQUEST (00/07) crd:0 m:0 dnr:1 p:0 sqid:0 cid:15
> cdw0:0
> >> nvme1: done aborting outstanding admin
>
> I was able to do the low level format via a Dell Ubuntu 22.04 LTS based
> Precision P5490 laptop --over one of its USB4/Thunderbolt/PCIe ports--
> using the nmve format command with a command line specified large
> timeout value. I had to configure the P5490 to not sleep or the like as
> well. The formatting took considerable time.
>
> On FreeBSD, "nvmecontrol format -f 3 nvme1" did not seem to have a
> variant that could wait for a longer time than the default timeout
> appeared to be.
>
> >>
> >>
> >> Is this a problem for use of the media? Did it likely finish what it was
> >> doing? If it did not finish, what may I do about it?
>
> As I understand it now, the FreeBSD error message did indicate that the
> formatting was messed up (by being incomplete due to timing out).
>
> >>
> >>
> >> For reference (after the attempt):
> >>
> >> === START OF SMART DATA SECTION ===
> >> SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
> >>
> >> SMART/Health Information (NVMe Log 0x02, NSID 0xffffffff)
> >> Critical Warning:                   0x00
> >> Temperature:                        45 Celsius
> >> Available Spare:                    100%
> >> Available Spare Threshold:          0%
> >> Percentage Used:                    0%
> >> Data Units Read:                    22 [11.2 MB]
> >> Data Units Written:                 33 [16.8 MB]
> >> Host Read Commands:                 862
> >> Host Write Commands:                210
> >> Controller Busy Time:               0
> >> Power Cycles:                       5
> >> Power On Hours:                     1
> >> Unsafe Shutdowns:                   1
> >> Media and Data Integrity Errors:    0
> >> Error Information Log Entries:      0
> >>
> >> and:
> >>
> >> # nvmecontrol identify -n 1 nvme1
> >> Size:                        366284646 blocks
> >> Capacity:                    366284646 blocks
> >> Utilization:                 366284646 blocks
> >> Thin Provisioning:           Not Supported
> >> Number of LBA Formats:       7
> >> Current LBA Format:          LBA Format #03
> >> Metadata Capabilities
> >>   Extended:                  Supported
> >>   Separate:                  Not Supported
> >> Data Protection Caps:        Last Bytes, Type 1
> >> Data Protection Settings:    Not Enabled
> >> Multi-Path I/O Capabilities: Not Supported
> >> Reservation Capabilities:    Not Supported
> >> Format Progress Indicator:   Not Supported
> >> Deallocate Logical Block:    Read Not Reported
> >> Optimal I/O Boundary:        0 blocks
> >> NVM Capacity:                0 bytes
> >> Globally Unique Identifier:  00000000000000000000000000000000
> >> IEEE EUI64:                  5cd2e496b5ea0100
> >> LBA Format #00: Data Size:   512  Metadata Size:     0  Performance:
> Good
> >> LBA Format #01: Data Size:   512  Metadata Size:     8  Performance:
> Good
> >> LBA Format #02: Data Size:   512  Metadata Size:    16  Performance:
> Good
> >> LBA Format #03: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:     0  Performance:
> Best
> >> LBA Format #04: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:     8  Performance:
> Best
> >> LBA Format #05: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:    64  Performance:
> Best
> >> LBA Format #06: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:   128  Performance:
> Best
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> ===
> Mark Millard
> marklmi at yahoo.com
>