path: root/sg_vpd.8

.TH SG_VPD "8" "October 2006" "sg3_utils-1.22" SG3_UTILS
.SH NAME
sg_vpd \- outputs information retrieved from a Vital Product Data (VPD)
page held by a SCSI device
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B sg_vpd
[\fI--enumerate\fR] [\fI--help\fR] [\fI--hex\fR] [\fI--ident\fR]
[\fI--long\fR] [\fI--page=<vpd_page>\fR] [\fI--quiet\fR] [\fI--raw\fR]
[\fI--verbose\fR] [\fI--version\fR] \fI<device>\fR
.SH DESCRIPTION
.\" Add any additional description here
.PP
This utility fetches a Vital Product Data page and decodes it or
outputs it in ASCII hexadecimal or binary. VPD pages are fetched
from SCSI devices by the INQUIRY command.
.PP
Probably the most important page is the Device Identification
VPD page (page number: 0x83). Since SPC-3, support for this page
has been flagged as mandatory. This page can be fetched by
using the '--ident' (or '-i') option.
.PP
When no options are given, other than a '<device>', then the "Supported
VPD pages" (0x0) VPD page is fetched and decoded.
.TP
--enumerate | -e
list the names of the known VPD pages, first the standard
pages, then the vendor specific pages. Each group is sorted
in abbreviation order. The '<device>' and other options
are ignored and this utility exits after listing the VPD page
names.
.TP
--help | -h
outputs the usage message summarizing command line options
then exits. Ignores <device> if given.
.TP
--hex | -H
outputs the requested VPD page in ASCII hexadecimal. Can be used multiple
times, see section on the ATA information vpd page.
.TP
--ident | -i
decode the device identification (0x83) VPD page. When used
once this option has the same effect as '--page=di'.
When use twice then the short form of the device identification
VPD page's logical unit designator is decoded. In the latter
case this option has the same effect as '--quiet --page=di_lu'.
.TP
--long | -l
when decoding some VPD pages, give a little more output.
For example the ATA Information VPD page only shows the
signature (in hex) and the IDENTIFY (PACKET) DEVICE (in hex)
when this option is given.
.TP
--page=<vpd_page> | -p <vpd_page>
specifies the VPD page to be decoded or output. The '<vpd_page>'
argument can either be an abbreviation, a number or a pair or
numbers separated by a comma. The VPD page abbreviations can be
seen by using the '--list' option. If a number is given it is
assumed to be decimal unless it has a hexadecimal indicator which
is either a leading '0x' or a trailing 'h'. If one number is given
then it is assumed to be a VPD page number. If two numbers are given
the second number indicates which vendor specific VPD page to
decode when several pages share the same VPD page number.
If this option is not given (nor '-i', '-l' or '-V') then the "Supported
VPD pages" (0x0) VPD page is fetched and decoded.
.TP
--quiet | -q
suppress the amount of decoding output.
.TP
--raw | -r
output requested VPD page in binary. The output should be piped to a
file or another utility when this option is used. The binary is
sent to stdout, and errors are sent to stderr.
.TP
--verbose | -v
increases the level or verbosity.
.TP
--version | -V
print out version string
.SH ATA INFORMATION VPD PAGE
This VPD page (0x89 or 'ai') is defined by the SCSI to ATA Translation
draft. It contains information about the SAT layer, the "signature" of
the ATA device and the response to the ATA IDENTIFY (PACKET) DEVICE
command. The latter part has 512 bytes of identity, capability and
settings data which the hdparm utility is capable of decoding (so this
utility doesn't decode it).
.PP
To unclutter the output for this page, the signature and the
IDENTIFY (PACKET) DEVICE response are not output unless the '--long'
option (or '--hex' or '--raw') are given. When the '--long' option
is given the IDENTIFY (PACKET) DEVICE response is output as
256 (16 bit) words as is the fashion for ATA devices. To see that
response as a string of bytes use the '-HH' option. To format the
output suitable for hdparm to decode use either the '-HHH' or '-rr'
option. For example if 'dev/sdb' is a SATA disk behind a SAT layer
then this command: 'sg_vpd -p ai -HHH /dev/sdb | hdparm --Istdin'
should decode the ATA IDENTIFY (PACKET) DEVICE response.
.SH NOTES
In the 2.4 series of Linux kernels the given device must be
a SCSI generic (sg) device. In the 2.6 series block devices (e.g. disks
and ATAPI DVDs) can also be specified. For example "sg_inq /dev/sda"
will work in the 2.6 series kernels. From lk 2.6.6 other SCSI "char"
device names may be used as well (e.g. "/dev/st0m").
.SH EXIT STATUS
The exit status of sg_vpd is 0 when it is successful. Otherwise see
the sg3_utils(8) man page.
.SH AUTHOR
Written by Doug Gilbert
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2006 Douglas Gilbert
.br
This software is distributed under a FreeBSD license. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.B sg_inq(sg3_utils), sdparm(sdparm), hdparm(hdparm)