.\" the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
.\" (at your option) any later version.
.\" See file COPYING in distribution for details.
-.TH MDADM 8 "" v3.1
+.TH MDADM 8 "" v3.1.1
.SH NAME
mdadm \- manage MD devices
.I aka
.I mdadm
will be silent unless there is something really important to report.
-.TP
-.BR \-b ", " \-\-brief
-Be less verbose. This is used with
-.B \-\-detail
-and
-.BR \-\-examine .
-Using
-.B \-\-brief
-with
-.B \-\-verbose
-gives an intermediate level of verbosity.
-
.TP
.BR \-f ", " \-\-force
Be more forceful about certain operations. See the various modes for
.TP
.BR \-e ", " \-\-metadata=
Declare the style of RAID metadata (superblock) to be used. The
-default is 1.1 for
+default is 1.2 for
.BR \-\-create ,
and to guess for other operations.
The default can be overridden by setting the
The different sub-versions store the superblock at different locations
on the device, either at the end (for 1.0), at the start (for 1.1) or
4K from the start (for 1.2). '1' is equivalent to '1.0', 'default' is
-equivalent to '1.1'.
+equivalent to '1.2'.
.IP ddf
Use the "Industry Standard" DDF (Disk Data Format) format defined by
SNIA.
size that is at-least 4 and requires no more than 2^21 chunks.
When using an
.B internal
-bitmap, the chunksize is automatically determined to make best use of
-available space.
+bitmap, the chunksize defaults to 64Meg, or larger if necessary to
+fit the bitmap into the available space.
.TP
.BR \-W ", " \-\-write\-mostly
also be used when creating a RAID1 or RAID10 if you want to avoid the
initial resync, however this practice \(em while normally safe \(em is not
recommended. Use this only if you really know what you are doing.
+.IP
+When the devices that will be part of a new array were filled
+with zeros before creation the operator knows the array is
+actually clean. If that is the case, such as after running
+badblocks, this argument can be used to tell mdadm the
+facts the operator knows.
.TP
.BR \-\-backup\-file=
to determine the maximum usable amount of space on each device and
update the relevant field in the metadata.
-.ig XX
+.ig
.TP
.B \-\-auto\-update\-homehost
This flag is only meaningful with auto-assembly (see discussion below).
.I mdadm
will rescan for any arrays at all and will assemble them and update the
homehost to match the current host.
-.XX
+..
.SH For Manage mode:
.B /dev/md/
(the name will have any 'host' prefix stripped first).
-.ig XX
+.ig
If
.I mdadm
cannot find any array for the given host at all, and if
The reason for requiring arrays to be tagged with the homehost for
auto assembly is to guard against problems that can arise when moving
devices from one host to another.
-.XX
+..
.SH BUILD MODE
.B \-\-scan
causes all devices listed in the config file to be examined.
+.TP
+.BR \-b ", " \-\-brief
+Be less verbose. This is used with
+.B \-\-detail
+and
+.BR \-\-examine .
+Using
+.B \-\-brief
+with
+.B \-\-verbose
+gives an intermediate level of verbosity.
+
.SH MONITOR MODE
.HP 12
.I md
metadata is found, the device is rejected.
-.ig XX
+.ig
.IP +
Does the metadata match an expected array?
The metadata can match in two ways. Either there is an array listed
.I mdadm
is not able to positively identify the array as belonging to the
current host, the device will be rejected.
-.XX
+..
.I mdadm
keeps a list of arrays that it has partially assembled in