Smartmontools: Hard Drive Monitoring
Introduction
Smartmontools is a tool for analyzing hard drives and their most critical physical characteristics. It consists of two parts: smartd daemon, which checks parameters every 30 minutes and writes the results to /var/log/syslog, and the smartctl command which requires root privileges and is used to display all the information.
Activation / Installation of smartmontools
Debian
Installation requires root privileges. The package name varies depending on your Debian version. The example below is for Sarge.
> aptitude install smartmontools
Lecture des listes de paquets... Fait
Construction de l'arbre des dependances... Fait
Les NOUVEAUX paquets suivants seront installes :
smartmontools
0 mis a jour, 1 nouvellement installes, 0 a enlever et 60 non mis a jour.
Il est necessaire de prendre 222ko dans les archives.
Apres depaquetage, 508ko d'espace disque supplementaires seront utilises.
Reception de : 1 http://ftp.fr.debian.org unstable/main smartmontools 5.32-3 [222kB]
222ko receptionnes en 0s (272ko/s)
Selection du paquet smartmontools precedemment deselectionne.
(Lecture de la base de données... 67466 fichiers et repertoires deja installes.)
Depaquetage de smartmontools (a partir de .../smartmontools_5.32-3_i386.deb) ...
Parametrage de smartmontools (5.32-3) ...
Not starting S.M.A.R.T. daemon smartd, disabled via /etc/default/smartmontools
As you can see, the daemon has not been started immediately. You need to edit /etc/default/smartmontools and uncomment the lines start_smartd=yes and smartd_opts="--interval=1800":
# Defaults for smartmontools initscript (/etc/init.d/smartmontools)
# This is a POSIX shell fragment
# list of devices you want to explicitly enable S.M.A.R.T. for
# not needed if the device is monitored by smartd
# enable_smart="/dev/hda /dev/hdb"
# uncomment to start smartd on system startup
start_smartd=yes
# uncomment to pass additional options to smartd on startup
smartd_opts="--interval=1800"
Once the changes are validated, start the daemon:
/etc/init.d/smartmontools start
Enabling S.M.A.R.T. for: /dev/hda /dev/hdb.
Starting S.M.A.R.T. daemon: smartd.
23:21 root@revolution /# smartctl -a /dev/hda
smartctl version 5.32 Copyright (C) 2002-4 Bruce Allen
The smartd daemon will now regularly check your disk information and record it in your logs:
cat /var/log/syslog | grep smartd
Mar 17 10:48:34 slut smartd[990]: Configuration file /etc/smartd.conf was parsed, found DEVICESCAN, scanning devices
And there you go, it’s ready.
FreeBSD
To install smartmontools:
pkg_add -r smartmontool
Then start it like this:
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/smartd start
Edit the /usr/local/etc/smartd.conf configuration and add this line (adapting to your email):
DEVICESCAN -a -m my@mail.com
Next, if we want smartd to start at every boot, add this line:
smartd_enable="YES"
Fine Tuning
Debian
To fine-tune the smartmontools configuration, edit the /etc/smartd.conf file and look for the DEVICESCAN line to add your own settings, as in this example:
DEVICESCAN -H -l error -l selftest -t -f -m admin@webank.fr -M exec /usr/bin/mail -s (S/../.././02|L/../../6/03)
The DEVICESCAN directive indicates that you want to apply this configuration to all hard disks detected as SMART compatible on the system. It can be replaced by the name of a device /dev/hdx or /dev/sdx.
/dev/hda -H -l error -l selftest -t -f -m admin@webank.fr -M exec /usr/bin/mail -s (S/../.././02|L/../../6/03)
/dev/hdc -H -l error -l selftest -t -f -m admin@webank.fr -M exec /usr/bin/mail -s (S/../.././02|L/../../6/03)
Adding this line to the configuration file allows sending an email to admin@domain.com using your system’s mail command. The -t option indicates that we want to be informed in case the “Pre-Fail” or “Old-age” attribute shows errors, if the health test (option -H) fails, or if the error and selftest logs evolve (-l). You can choose from a range of options to best adjust according to your needs. For example, you can deliberately ignore an attribute using the -I option. Adding the -I 194 option indicates that we want to receive an email in case of failure but ignoring attribute number 194 (temperature). The -s option allows you to define the periodicity of the tests to be performed (version >5.30 required). In this example, we perform a short test (S/) every day at 2 a.m., and a long test every Saturday at 3 a.m. It’s also possible to modify the email that will be sent by smartd in case of failure by creating a script that will be called instead of /bin/mail.
FreeBSD
To receive daily emails indicating the state of your disks, add this to the /etc/periodic.conf file:
daily_status_smart_devices="/dev/ad4 /dev/ad6 /dev/ad8 /dev/ad10 /dev/ad12"
Obviously, use your own devices.
Diagnostics and Troubleshooting
Since smartd writes to /var/log/syslog, it’s easy to search with a grep command as in the following example:
> grep smartd /var/log/syslog
Mar 17 10:48:34 slut smartd[990]: Configuration file /etc/smartd.conf was parsed, found DEVICESCAN, scanning devices
Mar 17 10:48:34 slut smartd[990]: Device: /dev/hda, opened
Mar 17 10:48:34 slut smartd[990]: Device: /dev/hda, found in smartd database.
Mar 17 10:48:35 slut smartd[990]: Device: /dev/hda, is SMART capable. Adding to "monitor" list.
Mar 17 10:48:35 slut smartd[990]: Device: /dev/hdb, opened
Mar 17 10:48:35 slut smartd[990]: Device: /dev/hdb, not ATA, no IDENTIFY DEVICE Structure
Mar 17 10:48:35 slut smartd[990]: Monitoring 1 ATA and 0 SCSI devices
Mar 17 10:48:35 slut smartd: Lancement smartd succeeded
Mar 17 10:48:35 slut smartd[2421]: smartd has fork()ed into background mode. New PID=2421.
Mar 17 13:48:35 slut smartd[2421]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 246 to 247
Mar 17 15:48:35 slut smartd[2421]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 247 to 246
Mar 17 17:18:35 slut smartd[2421]: Device: /dev/hda, SMART Prefailure Attribute: 8 Seek_Time_Performance changed from 246 to 247
How to interpret these lines? The drive shows a constant value that varies between 246 and 247. If the value suddenly changes from 247 to 500, this is abnormal behavior.
Using the smartctl command requires root privileges. Let’s look at the different attributes of the command.
smarctl -h
smartctl version 5.33 [i386-redhat-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-4 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/[1]
Usage: smartctl [options] device
h, --help, --usage
Display this help and exit
i, --info
Show identity information for device
a, --all
Show all SMART information for device
smartctl -i /dev/hda
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: Maxtor 6E040L0
Serial Number: E1KTPXFE
Firmware Version: NAR61590
User Capacity: 41,110,142,976 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 7
ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 0
Local Time is: Thu Mar 17 22:21:52 2005 CET
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
smartctl -a /dev/hda
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: (1021) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
No General Purpose Logging support.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 17) minutes.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 252 252 063 Pre-fail Always - 2463
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 253 253 000 Old_age Always - 18
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 253 253 063 Pre-fail Always - 0
6 Read_Channel_Margin 0x0001 253 253 100 Pre-fail Offline - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0027 247 238 187 Pre-fail Always - 46214
9 Power_On_Minutes 0x0032 241 241 000 Old_age Always - 950h+09m
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x002b 252 252 157 Pre-fail Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x002b 253 252 223 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 253 253 000 Old_age Always - 22
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 253 253 000 Old_age Always - 13
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 253 253 000 Old_age Always - 72
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0032 253 253 000 Old_age Always - 31
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 25095
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0008 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0008 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0008 199 199 000 Old_age Offline - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
201 Soft_Read_Error_Rate 0x000a 251 138 000 Old_age Always - 1746
202 TA_Increase_Count 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
203 Run_Out_Cancel 0x000b 253 252 180 Pre-fail Always - 137
204 Shock_Count_Write_Opern 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
205 Shock_Rate_Write_Opern 0x000a 253 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
207 Spin_High_Current 0x002a 252 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
208 Spin_Buzz 0x002a 252 252 000 Old_age Always - 0
209 Offline_Seek_Performnce 0x0024 187 183 000 Old_age Offline - 0
99 Unknown_Attribute 0x0004 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
100 Unknown_Attribute 0x0004 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
101 Unknown_Attribute 0x0004 253 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
Now we need to interpret the information such as disk uptime, temperature, and most importantly for us, errors. For this we mainly observe the last two columns: WHEN_FAILED and RAW_VALUE, and the section just below: SMART Error Log Version: 1 No Errors Logged.
An example:
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 016 016 063 Pre-fail Always FAILING_NOW 598
Here we see that sector reallocation has failed. You should therefore monitor this part. If the number indicated quickly increases to higher figures, take the necessary measures: back up your data and possibly contact support.
Conclusion
Smartmontools is simple to use and very comprehensive. Note, however, that such a tool does not replace the most important thing: regular backup of your data.
FAQ
Problems during updates
Sometimes during a package update, things may go wrong and you may not know why. The problem is actually quite simple. Just stop the service:
/etc/init.d/smartmontool stop
then restart the update.
The service won’t start
This problem can occur when SMART is simply not enabled. To enable it, just type this command:
smartctl -s on /dev/sda
Then try to start smartmontools:
/etc/init.d/smartmontools start
Resources
Last updated 14 Jan 2011, 20:24 +0200.