TODO

   1 TODO list for smartmontools:
   2
   3 $Id: TODO,v 1.60 2006/06/05 17:36:03 chrfranke Exp $
   4
   5 SATA devices under Linux
   6 ------------------------
   7 These work OK if you use the standard IDe drivers in drivers/ide.
   8
   9 The situation is more complicated if you use libata.
  10
  11 Prior to Linux kernel version 2.6.15-rc1, libata does not support the
  12 HDIO_DRIVE_TASK, HDIO_DRIVE_CMD, and HDIO_DRIVE_TASKFILE ioctl()s that
  13 are needed by smartmontools.  Support for HDIO_DRIVE_TASK and
  14 HDIO_DRIVE_CMD was added into libata by Jeff Garzik starting with
  15 Linux kernel version 2.6.15-rc1.  Starting with this version, you can
  16 use all the smartmontools commands apart from initiating selective
  17 self-tests (which also requires HDIO_DRIVE_TASKFILE).  A typical
  18 command line might look like this:
  19   smartctl -a -d ata /dev/sda
  20 The '-d ata' is required, since otherwise smartmontools will assume
  21 that the device is SCSI, not ATA/SATA.  Similar syntax will work with
  22 smartd.
  23
  24 You may be able to patch earlier versions of libata. Please search the
  25 Linux Kernel Mailing list to find this patch, or look at the thread:
  26 http://groups.google.de/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=2yYBY-4HB-55%40gated-at.bofh.it&rnum=3&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dsmartmontools%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26scoring%3Dd%26selm%3D2yYBY-4HB-55%2540gated-at.bofh.it%26rnum%3D3
  27 To use this, just use (for example) 'smartctl -a -d ata /dev/sda'.
  28
  29 Since this looks like this patch will become standard, we need to add something
  30 to smartmontools to automatically recognize the libata, and add the '-d ata'
  31 automatically.
  32
  33 SATA devices
  34 ------------
  35 The ATA PASS THROUGH SCSI command (12 and 16 byte cdb) as defined in
  36 SAT: http://www.t10.org/ftp/t10/drafts/sat/sat-r07.pdf (section 12.2)
  37 provides a general way to pass ATA SMART commands through to SATA
  38 devices.
  39
  40 Doug Gilbert will in the future add a '-d sat' type (note, this is not
  41 a typo, we do not mean '-d sata') which will instruct the generic
  42 smartmontools code to assume an ATA device but use those ATA PASS
  43 THROUGH commands.
  44
  45 This should provide additional support for SATA devices under most or
  46 all operating systems.
  47
  48 USB devices under Linux
  49 -----------------------
  50 Some USB devices can hang smartctl or smartd.  This is because these
  51 devices fail to comply with SCSI specifications for their packet
  52 command sets.  Work on improving the detection and bail-out procedures
  53 for these flawed devices, so that the user sees an informative error
  54 message and smartd/smartctl don't hang.
  55
  56 ATA-4 (no kidding!)
  57 -------------------
  58 smartctl: add another -t TESTTYPE option to accomodate old-style ATA-4
  59 IBM disks (ATA-4 has no self-test commands). See IBM S25L-2426-02 OEM
  60 HARD DISK DRIVE SPECIFICATIONS for DBCA-203240/204860/206480 2.5-Inch
  61 Hard Disk Drive with ATA Interface Revision (1.0)
  62 http://www.hgst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/85256AB8006A31E587256A7D00642A1D/$file/dbca_sp.pdf
  63 section 12.30.1.5 for details.  These disks offer no self-test option,
  64 and the -t offline command only tests a small part of the disk (a
  65 'segment').  We need a -t multioffline that:
  66  (1) issues auto offline immediate command (tests ONE segment)
  67  (2) waits until estimated completion time
  68  (3) tests if off-line data collection status is set to 0x02 (all
  69      segments completed)
  70  (4) if not, return to (1)
  71
  72 ATA-6/7
  73 -------
  74 Support extended error logs
  75 Support extended self-test logs
  76
  77 smartctl/smartd
  78 ---------------
  79 Add additional -v options (corresponding to comments in
  80 atacmds.c:ataPrintSmartAttribName().
  81
  82 Add interface to Megaraid ATA RAID controllers (Erik)
  83
  84 smartctl:
  85 ---------
  86 Add command line option to issue SMART SAVE ATTRIBUTE VALUES command
  87 Feature Register value ATA_SMART_SAVE 0xd3
  88
  89 Perhaps modify the -q option (quiet mode) so that it only warns of ATA
  90 errors if they have (say) taken place in the last 168 hours (week).
  91
  92 Parse and print additional Attribute flag meanings (IBM ones, eg
  93 performance etc).  These are now documented in atacmds.h -- we just
  94 need to modify the format of the Attribute table.
  95
  96 Modify the SMART self-test log table printing so that we ALSO print
  97 the value of the self-test failure checkpoint byte, if it's one of the
  98 recognized values.  See routine SelfTestFailureCodeName and
  99 documentation in atacmds.h.
 100
 101 smartd:
 102 -------
 103 Perhaps change <nomailer> special argument to -m to have also
 104 <nomailer_fork> which would actually work with -M exec to run the
 105 executable/script in the background rather than in the foreground.
 106 But let's wait for someone to request this. At that point we should
 107 probably use fork/exec rather than system().
 108
 109 Perhaps change smartd to look in /proc/ide and /proc/scsi to see what
 110 exists? If something doesn't exit then don't try to open it?  This
 111 should probably be the default option if there is no configuration
 112 file.
 113
 114 Add ability to monitor "worst" value from attributes (sometimes it
 115 gets larger!) and to monitor the threshold value (sometimes it
 116 changes!).
 117
 118 Add command line option that scans devices then WRITES
 119 /etc/smartd.conf, perhaps as /etc/smartd.conf.output, just for devices
 120 that can be monitored.
 121
 122 FreeBSD
 123 -------
 124
 125 Add support for 3ware 9000 series SATA controllers.
 126
 127 Cygwin and Windows
 128 ------------------
 129 Add IDE/ATA selective self test.
 130
 131 Access SCSI devices via IOCTL_SCSI_PASS_THROUGH on 2000/XP
 132 to support systems with missing ASPI driver.
 133
 134 Packaging
 135 ---------
 136 Under freebsd and solaris, the following are wrong:
 137 smartd.conf: has linux device paths
 138 smart*.in  : man pages have (mostly) linux device paths