.I mdadm
to look for assembled CONTAINER arrays and included them as a source
for assembling further arrays.
-.PP
+
The word
.I partitions
will cause
.br
DEV /dev/sd*
.br
-DEVICE /dev/discs/disc*/disc
+DEVICE /dev/disk/by-path/pci*
.br
DEVICE partitions
If no device name is given,
.I mdadm
will use various heuristics to determine an appropriate name.
-.PP
+
Subsequent words identify the array, or identify the array as a member
of a group. If multiple identities are given,
then a component device must match ALL identities to be considered a
match. Each identity word has a tag, and equals sign, and some value.
The tags are:
-
.RS 4
.TP
.B uuid=
.TP
.B spares=
The value is a number of spare devices to expect the array to have.
+The sole use of this keyword and value is as follows:
.B mdadm \-\-monitor
will report an array if it is found to have fewer than this number of
spares when
.TP
.B auto=
-This option declares to
+This option is rarely needed with mdadm-3.0, particularly if use with
+the Linux kernel v2.6.28 or later.
+It tells
.I mdadm
-that it should try to create the device file of the array if it
-doesn't already exist, or exists but with the wrong device number.
+whether to use partitionable array or non-partitionable arrays and,
+in the absence of
+.IR udev ,
+how many partition devices to create. From 2.6.28 all md array
+devices are partitionable, hence this option is not needed.
The value of this option can be "yes" or "md" to indicate that a
traditional, non-partitionable md array should be created, or "mdp",
value given can be either a path name in /dev, or a UUID of the
container array.
-.IP
+.TP
.B member=
Specify that this array is a member array of some container. Each
type of container has some way to enumerate member arrays, often a
simple sequence number. The value identifies which member of a
-container the array is. It will usually accompany a 'container=' word.
+container the array is. It will usually accompany a "container=" word.
.RE
.TP
.B homehost
line gives a default value for the
.B --homehost=
-option to mdadm. There should be exactly one other word on the line.
+option to mdadm. There should normally be only one other word on the line.
It should either be a host name, or one of the special words
.B <system>
and
If
.B <ignore>
is given, then a flag is set so that when arrays are being
-auto-assemble the checking of the recorded
+auto-assembled the checking of the recorded
.I homehost
is disabled.
+If
+.B <ignore>
+is given it is also possible to give an explicit name which will be
+used when creating arrays. This is the only case when there can be
+more that one other word on the
+.B HOMEHOST
+line.
When arrays are created, this host name will be stored in the
metadata. When arrays are assembled using auto-assembly, arrays which
do not record the correct homehost name in their metadata will be
-assembled using a 'foreign' name. A 'foreign' name alway ends with a
-digit string (possibly preceded by an underscore) to differentiate it
+assembled using a "foreign" name. A "foreign" name alway ends with a
+digit string preceded by an underscore to differentiate it
from any possible local name. e.g.
.B /dev/md/1_1
or
-.BR /dev/md/home0 .
+.BR /dev/md/home_0 .
.TP
.B AUTO
A list of names of metadata format can be given, each preceded by a