# nvme-admin-passthru(1) Manual Page

## 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 <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>]
                            [--input-file=<file> | -i <file>]
                            [--read | -r] [--write | -w]
                            [--timeout=<timeout> | -t <timeout>]
                            [--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 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.

-[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.

-t <timeout>
--timeout=<timeout>

  Override default timeout value. In milliseconds.

## EXAMPLES

- 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

- 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