Vmfs file system debugger
debugvmfs VOLUME... COMMAND [ OPTIONS ]
The debugvmfs program allows to display various informations about VMFS file systems, and to access data within the file systems.
The VOLUME to be opened can be either a block device or an image file. When the VMFS spreads accross several extents, all extents must be given.
Please note that most commands are still likely to change in future versions.
Some commands take a filespec as an argument. A filespec may take either of the following forms:
A path name, relative to the root of the filesystem if it starts with '/', or relative to the current working directory otherwise (interactive mode only).
An inode number, enclosed between angle brackets, e.g. '<4>', '<0x1400004>'
cat filespec [ ... ]
Outputs the content of the given files from the VMFS.
ls [ -l ] filespec
Lists files contained at the given location within the VMFS.
With -l, gives some more information, much like the output from ls(1) when given the -l option.
truncate filespec length
Truncate the file to the specified length. R/W support must be enabled.
chmod filespec mode
Change file permissions to the given mode.
df
Outputs information about file system size.
get_file_block filespec position
Get file block corresponding to position in the specified file.
check_vol_bitmaps
Checks volume bitmaps consistency.
show_heartbeats
Outputs active heartbeats on the file system.
read_block block_id [ ... ]
Outputs content within the specified block_id in binary
get_block_status block_id
Get status (allocated or free) of the specified block_id.
alloc_block_fixed block_id
Allocate the specified block_id. R/W support must be enabled.
alloc_block block_type
Allocate a block of the specified type. R/W support must be enabled.
Allowed block types are: 1 (File Block), 2 (Sub-Block), 3 (Pointer Block) and 4 (File Descriptor / Inode).
free_block block_id
Free the specified block_id. R/W support must be enabled.
Warning: can cause damage since no heartbeat is used at this time and a block used by a file can be freed.
show
Display value(s) of the given variable. See the VARIABLES section for more details. When no variable is given, it lists the top-level properties.
shell
Starts an interactive session. All of the above commands can be executed from within the interactive session.
The current working directory can be changed with the cd command, followed by a filespec.
The following output redirections are supported within the shell:
cmd > output
Puts the output of cmd in the output file.
cmd >> output
Appends the output of cmd to the output file.
cmd | external command
Sends the output of cmd to the input of external command. The external command itself can contain output redirection.
Examples:
read_block 0x00000681 | less
cat /.fdc.sf | hexdump -C
cat /.fdc.sf | hexdump -C > /tmp/fdc.hex
cat /.fdc.sf | hexdump -C | less
Variables in debugvmfs represent structures on the filesystem. The currently supported top-level variables are the following:
vol_version
version
label
mode
uuid
ctime
block_size
subblock_size
fdc_header_size
fdc_bitmap_count
fbb
fdc
pbc
sbc
fs
lvm
blkid[blk]
dirent["path"]
inode["filespec"]
The vol_version, version, label, mode, uuid, ctime, block_size, subblock_size, fdc_header_size, and fdc_bitmap_count properties are low-level information about the filesystem.
The fbb, fdc, pbc and sbc variables are bitmaps. Running them through the show command will display all the bitmaps header fields. Each of these fields can also be displayed individually:
bitmap.items_per_bitmap_entry
bitmap.bmp_entries_per_area
bitmap.hdr_size
bitmap.data_size
bitmap.area_size
bitmap.area_count
bitmap.total_items
bitmap.used_items
bitmap.free_items
bitmap.entry[n]
e.g. to display the data size of the fdc bitmap, type show fdc.data_size.
Each bitmap.entry[n] (where 0 ≤ n < bitmap.bmp_entries_per_area * bitmap.area_count) contains information about each entry in the bitmap. The available fields are:
bitmap.entry[n].id
bitmap.entry[n].total
bitmap.entry[n].free
bitmap.entry[n].ffree
bitmap.entry[n].mdh
bitmap.entry[n].item[m]
The bitmap.entry[n].mdh is a metadata header. See further below for more details about metadata headers.
Each bitmap.entry[n].item[m] (where 0 ≤ m < bitmap.items_per_bitmap_entry) contains information about a given item in the given entry. The available fields are:
bitmap.entry[n].item[m].used
bitmap.entry[n].item[m].dump
The pbc bitmap has an additional field:
pbc.entry[n].item[m].blocks
The lvm variable contains low-level information about the physical and logical volumes. The available fields are:
lvm.uuid
lvm.size
lvm.blocks
lvm.num_extents
lvm.extent[n]
Each lvm.extent[n] (where 0 ≤ n < lvm.num_extents) contains low-level information about the physical volumes. The available fields are:
lvm.extent[n].device
lvm.extent[n].uuid
lvm.extent[n].lun
lvm.extent[n].version
lvm.extent[n].name
lvm.extent[n].size
lvm.extent[n].num_segments
lvm.extent[n].first_segment
lvm.extent[n].last_segment
Each blkid[blk] (where blk is a block id) contains information on the given block id. The available fields are:
blkid[blk].item
blkid[blk].flags
Each dirent[path] (where path is a path relative to the current directory in the shell or / outside the shell) contains information on the directory entry corresponding to the given path. The available fields are:
dirent["path"].type
dirent["path"].block_id
dirent["path"].record_id
dirent["path"].name
Each inode[filespec] contains information on the inode corresponding to the given filespec. The available fields are:
inode["filespec"].id
inode["filespec"].id2
inode["filespec"].nlink
inode["filespec"].type
inode["filespec"].flags
inode["filespec"].size
inode["filespec"].blk_size
inode["filespec"].blk_count
inode["filespec"].uid
inode["filespec"].gid
inode["filespec"].mode
inode["filespec"].zla
inode["filespec"].tbz
inode["filespec"].cow
inode["filespec"].atime
inode["filespec"].mtime
inode["filespec"].ctime
inode["filespec"].rdm_id
inode["filespec"].mdh
inode["filespec"].blocks
Metadata headers are being used in several places, such as bitmap.entry[n].mdh and inode["filespec"].mdh. They mostly contain information about clustered accesses to metadata on the filesystem. The available fields are:
mdh.magic
mdh.pos
mdh.hb_pos
mdh.hb_lock
mdh.hb_uuid
mdh.hb_seq
mdh.obj_seq
mdh.mtime
Variable values can also be used in expressions using square brackets to use the variable value as an index. For example:
blkid[inode["filespec"].id]
Enclosing a variable name with parentheses will use that variable value as a variable name. For example:
(blkid[blk].item).status
Christophe Fillot <\m[blue][email protected]\m[]\s-2\u[1]\d\s+2>, Mike Hommey <\m[blue][email protected]\m[]\s-2\u[2]\d\s+2>
mailto:[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]