NVME-ADMIN-PASSTHR(1)             NVMe Manual            NVME-ADMIN-PASSTHR(1)

NAME
       nvme-admin-passthru - Submit an arbitrary admin command, return results

SYNOPSIS
       nvme-admin-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 <cdw4>]
                               [--cdw11=<cdw11> | -5 <cdw5>] [--cdw12=<cdw12> | -6 <cdw6>]
                               [--cdw13=<cdw13> | -7 <cdw7>] [--cdw14=<cdw14> | -8 <cdw8>]
                               [--cdw15=<cdw15> | -9 <cdw9>]
                               [--data-len=<data-len> | -l <data-len>]
                               [--metadata-len=<len> | -m <len>]
                               [--input-file=<file> | -i <file>]
                               [--read | -r] [--write | -w]
                               [--timeout=<to> | -t <to>]
                               [--show-command | -s]
                               [--dry-run | -d]
                               [--raw-binary | -b]
                               [--prefill=<prefill> | -p <prefill>]
                               [--latency | -T]
                               [--output-format=<fmt> | -o <fmt>] [--verbose | -v]

DESCRIPTION
       Submits an arbitrary NVMe admin command and returns the applicable
       results. This may be the simply the commands 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

       -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.

       -[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.

       -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 a
           structure.

       -p, --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 for a data-in command.

       -T, --latency
           Print out the latency the IOCTL took (in us).

       -o <fmt>, --output-format=<fmt>
           Set the reporting format to normal, json or binary. Only one output
           format can be used at a time.

       -v, --verbose
           Increase the information detail in the output.

EXAMPLES
       o   The following will run the admin command with opcode=6 and cdw10=1,
           which corresponds to an identify controller command. This example
           requires the data-len param be 4096, which is the size of the
           returned structure. The -r option is used because it is a data-in
           command

               # nvme admin-passthru /dev/nvme0 --opcode=06 --data-len=4096 --cdw10=1 -r

       o   Or if you want to save that structure to a file:

               # nvme admin-passthru /dev/nvme0 --opcode=06 --data-len=4096 --cdw10=1 -r -b > id_ns.raw

NVME
       Part of the nvme-user suite

NVMe                              02/16/2024             NVME-ADMIN-PASSTHR(1)