RE: [smartmontools-support]smartctl return value

[Bruce A. <ba...@gr...>]

Hi Hugh,

> Sorry for asking this again but I'm a bit confused with the return value
> of the smart command line. 

You mean 'the smartctl command line'?

From the man page:

RETURN VALUES
       The return values of smartctl are defined by a bit-
       mask.   If  all  is  well with the disk, the return
       value (exit status) of  smartctl  is  0  (all  bits
       turned  off).   If  a  problem occurs, or an error,
       potential error, or fault is detected, then a  non-
       zero  status  is returned.  In this case, the eight
       different bits in the return value have the follow-
       ing meanings:

       Bit 0: Command line did not parse.

       Bit 1: Device open failed, or device did not return
              an IDENTIFY DEVICE structure.

       Bit 2: Some SMART command to the  disk  failed,  or
              there  was  a checksum error in a SMART data
              structure (see '-b' option above).

       Bit 3: SMART status check returned "DISK  FAILING".

       Bit 4: SMART status check returned "DISK OK" but we
              found prefail Attributes <= threshold.

       Bit 5: SMART status check returned "DISK OK" but we
              found   that   some   (usage   or   prefail)
              Attributes have been <=  threshold  at  some
              time in the past.

       Bit 6: The  device  error  log  contains records of
              errors.

       Bit 7: The device self-test log contains records of
              errors.

              To  test within the shell for whether or not
              the different bits are turned on or off, you
              can  use  the following type of construction
              (this is bash syntax):
              smartstat=$(($? & 8))
              This looks at only at bit 3 of the exit sta-
              tus  $?   (since 8=2^3).  The shell variable
              $smartstat will be nonzero if  SMART  status
              check  returned "disk failing" and zero oth-
              erwise.


> I'm getting the following return values when I use the command line with
> the  like this system "/usr/sbin/smartctl -q silent -a -d 3ware,$j
> /dev/sd$k";
> 
> I get the following return codes:
> 
> 0 -> everything is ok with the $j connected to the 3ware controller card
> 2 -> Device open failed, or device did not return an IDENTIFY DEVICE
> structure.
> 4 -> Some SMART command to the disk failed, or there was a checksum
> error in  a  SMART
>      data structure
> 64 -> The device error log contains records of errors.
> 
> 
> Is my understanding of the return code correct???

Yes!

 > How can I determine what was the command to the disk that failed??? My
> 3ware controller driver for Redhat is the version 1.02.00.036.

You'll have to turn off the --quiet option of smartctl to see what command
failed.

(Unfortunately the exit status of smartctl is only 8 bits, so it's
impossible to get very much detailed information into it.)

Cheers,
	Bruce

Bruce


> Hi,
> 
> 
> Can I then ask you shouldn't the bit 4 or 5 of the return value be set
> in the case of everything is OK??? Meaning that the return value should
> be 16 (bit 4 on 2^4) or 32 (bit 5 on 
> 2^5) ???
> 
> 
>  Bit 4: SMART  status  check  returned  "DISK  OK"  but  we  found
> prefail
>               Attributes <= threshold.
> 
>  Bit 5: SMART status check returned "DISK OK" but we found that some
> (usage
>               or  prefail)  Attributes have been <= threshold at some
> time in the
>               past.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't use the daemon since we a uniform monitoring tool that call
> sensors ( in this case a script that calls smart command line) for
> monitoring certain quntitites in the machines
> 
> Thank you very much 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruce Allen [mailto:ba...@gr...] 
> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 4:09 PM
> To: Hugo Cacote
> Cc: sma...@li...
> Subject: Re: [smartmontools-support]smartctl return value
> 
> 
> > I'm trying to return information from disks behind a 3ware card. For
> > this I have a script that issues the following command:
> >  
> > system "/usr/sbin/smartctl -q silent -a -d 3ware,0 /dev/sda";
> > Afterwards I check the exit status to see if the disk is failing or is
> 
> > OK. But I'm always receiving as exit code 0 (= 00000000), what does
> > this mean ?
> >  
> > The driver of the 3ware card is 1.02.00.031 running in a Red-Hat 7.1
> 
> Exit code 0 means everything is OK.
> 
> [You might consider using smartd to monitor the disk, instead of doing
> it your self with your own script.]
> 
> Bruce
> 
> 
> 
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