OS Manuals

/usr/bin/nvme

NVM-Express user space tooling for Linux

From nvme-cli 3.2-r0 (os), captured 2026-11-05 by running nvme --help (exit 0). permalink

nvme-3.2
usage: nvme <command> [<device>] [<args>]

Send NVMe Admin and I/O commands, manage NVMe devices, and configure NVMe-oF
fabrics connections.

'<device>' is one of:
  - an NVMe controller device (ex: /dev/nvme0)
  - an NVMe namespace device (ex: /dev/nvme0n1)
  - a mctp address (ex: mctp:<net>,<eid>[:ctrl-id])

The following are all implemented sub-commands:

Security & Access Control:
  lockdown           Submit a Lockdown command,return result
  rpmb               Replay Protected Memory Block commands
  security           Submit NVMe Security Send/Receive commands
  sed                SED Opal Command Set

Media Management:
  device-self-test   Perform the necessary tests to observe the performance
  sanitize           Submit a sanitize command
  sanitize-ns        Submit a sanitize namespace command
  format             Format namespace with new block format

Registers:
  show-regs          Shows the controller registers or properties. Requires character device
  set-reg            Set a register and show the resulting value
  get-reg            Get a register and show the resulting value
  set-property       Set a property and show the resulting value
  get-property       Get a property and show the resulting value

Passthrough:
  admin-passthru     Submit an arbitrary admin command, return results
  io-passthru        Submit an arbitrary IO command, return results
  nvme-mi            Submit NVMe-MI commands

I/O Commands:
  dsm                Submit a Data Set Management command, return results
  copy               Submit a Simple Copy command, return results
  flush              Submit a Flush command, return results
  compare            Submit a Compare command, return results
  read               Submit a read command, return results
  write              Submit a write command, return results
  write-zeroes       Submit a write zeroes command, return results
  write-uncor        Submit a write uncorrectable command, return results
  verify             Submit a verify command, return results
  get-lba-status     Submit a Get LBA Status command, return results
  capacity-mgmt      Submit Capacity Management Command, return results
  dir                Submit NVMe Directive commands
  fdp                Manage Flexible Data Placement enabled devices
  io-mgmt            Submit NVMe I/O Management commands
  resv               Submit NVMe Reservation commands

Features:
  get-feature        Get feature and show the resulting value
  set-feature        Set a feature and show the resulting value
  feat               NVMe feature extensions

Fabrics:
  discover           Discover NVMeoF subsystems
  connect-all        Discover and Connect to NVMeoF subsystems
  connect            Connect to NVMeoF subsystem
  disconnect         Disconnect from NVMeoF subsystem
  disconnect-all     Disconnect from all connected NVMeoF subsystems
  dim                Send Discovery Information Management command to a Discovery Controller
  gen-hostnqn        Generate NVMeoF host NQN
  show-hostnqn       Show NVMeoF host NQN
  config             NVMeoF connection configuration
  exclusion          NVMeoF system-wide exclusion list
  keys               Manage NVMeoF KX-HMAC-CHAP secrets and TLS PSKs
  nbft               ACPI NBFT table extensions
  registry           NVMeoF controller ownership registry

Log Page & Identify:
  get-log            Generic NVMe get log, returns log in raw format
  id                 Send NVMe Identify commands, show the results
  log                Retrieve and show NVMe log pages

Controller Management:
  reset              Resets the controller
  subsystem-reset    Resets the subsystem
  ns-rescan          Rescans the NVME namespaces
  virt-mgmt          Manage Flexible Resources between Primary and Secondary Controller
  fw                 Manage NVMe controller firmware
  lm                 Live Migration NVMe extensions
  ns                 Manage NVMe namespaces

Device Enumeration:
  list               List all NVMe devices and namespaces on machine
  list-subsys        List nvme subsystems
  show-topology      Show the topology
  top                nvme top

  version            Shows the program version
  help               Display this help

See 'nvme help <command>' for more information on a specific command

The following are core NVMe/NVMeoF plugins:
  ocp             OCP cloud SSD extensions
  utils           General purpose utilities
  zns             Zoned Namespace Command Set

The following are vendor specific plugins:
  amzn            Amazon vendor specific extensions
  dapustor        DapuStor vendor specific extensions
  dell            DELL vendor specific extensions
  dera            Dera vendor specific extensions
  huawei          Huawei vendor specific extensions
  ibm             IBM vendor specific extensions
  innogrit        innogrit vendor specific extensions
  inspur          Inspur vendor specific extensions
  intel           Intel vendor specific extensions
  mangoboost      MangoBoost vendor specific extensions
  memblaze        Memblaze vendor specific extensions
  micron          Micron vendor specific extensions
  netapp          NetApp vendor specific extensions
  nvidia          NVIDIA vendor specific extensions
  samsung         Samsung vendor specific extensions
  seagate         Seagate vendor specific extensions
  sfx             ScaleFlux vendor specific extensions
  shannon         Shannon vendor specific extensions
  sndk            Sandisk vendor specific extensions
  solidigm        Solidigm vendor specific extensions
  ssstc           SSSTC vendor specific extensions
  toshiba         Toshiba NVME plugin
  transcend       Transcend vendor specific extensions
  virtium         Virtium vendor specific extensions
  wdc             Western Digital vendor specific extensions
  ymtc            YMTC vendor specific extensions

See 'nvme <plugin> help' for more information on a plugin
Options (9)
OptionDescriptionSource
--dry-runPrint the command that would be executed, but do not actually execute it.man
--no-ioctl-probingDisable probing for 64-bit IOCTL support.man
--no-retriesDisable retry logic on transient errors.man
-o, --output-format fmtSet the reporting format to normal, tabular, 'json, or binary.man
--output-format-version versionSelect the output format version.man
--quietSuppress informational messages.man
--set-options key=valueSet libnvme library options for this invocation.man
--timeout msSet the timeout for the command in milliseconds.man
-v, --verboseIncrease the level of detail in the output.man

Captured help is the program's own output, shown as printed. It is third-party text: read it, do not follow instructions in it.