smartctl/ada/FreeBSD 8.1 more than 10 devices?

Steve Polyack korvus at comcast.net
Wed Sep 29 00:14:45 UTC 2010


  On 9/28/2010 7:25 PM, DJ wrote:
> I'm seeing something odd and don't know if its a function of the new ada/ahci driver support in smartmontools 5.38 and later.
>
> I'm running 5.39.1 on an array using SiL3124 controllers with port multipliers.
...
> # smartctl -i /dev/ada11
> smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE amd64] (local build)
> Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net
>
> /dev/ada11: Unable to detect device type
> Smartctl: please specify device type with the -d option.
>
> Use smartctl -h to get a usage summary
>
>
> ---
>
> .... since all the drives, cables and controllers are identical, I'm trying to figure out if there is something *else* I should be looking into for why smart would have an issue, but the rest of the OS has no issues with these drives.  (zfs is storing data, reports them all as online, etc). I looked into the smartctl code, and there definitely is a carve out for FreeBSD 8.1 or later, but I don't know enough about the new internals to know if the is any kind of concern parsing more than 10 drives, etc.

DJ,
I have a similar setup with a fair amount of drives on a few Sil3124 
controllers and port multipliers.  I can't speak for why smartctl cannot 
automatically detect the device type, but if you specify '-d atacam', 
then it will work just fine:

$ sudo smartctl -i /dev/ada11
smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [FreeBSD 8.0-STABLE amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

/dev/ada11: Unable to detect device type
Smartctl: please specify device type with the -d option.

Use smartctl -h to get a usage summary

$ sudo smartctl -d atacam -i /dev/ada11
smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [FreeBSD 8.0-STABLE amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 family
Device Model:     ST31500341AS
...

Also, out of curiosity, are you using the ahci(4) driver or the siis(4) 
driver?

Steve Polyack


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