NVMe / PCIe / EXT4 Fedora Linux Drive Management Cheat Sheet

NVMe.md

NVMe / PCIe / EXT4 Fedora Linux Drive Management Cheat Sheet

Disk Partitioning and Filesystem Creation

Before you can use a drive in Linux, you need to partition it and create a filesystem on it.

Command	Explanation
sudo fdisk -l	List all drives and their partitions.
sudo parted /dev/nvme1n1 mklabel gpt	Create a new GPT partition table on the drive.
sudo parted -a optimal /dev/nvme1n1 mkpart primary ext4 0% 100%	Create a single ext4 partition covering the whole drive.
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme1n1p1	Format the new partition with the ext4 filesystem.

Mounting and Unmounting Drives

Once you have a filesystem on your drive, you can mount it to access its contents.

Command	Explanation
sudo mount /dev/nvme1n1p1 /mnt/mydrive	Mount the drive at the specified location.
sudo umount /dev/nvme1n1p1	Unmount the drive.
sudo nano /etc/fstab	Edit the fstab file to configure drives to mount at boot.

Checking and Repairing Filesystems

To check a filesystem for errors and potentially repair it, you can use the e2fsck tool.

Command	Explanation
sudo e2fsck /dev/nvme1n1p1	Check the ext4 filesystem for errors.
sudo e2fsck -p /dev/nvme1n1p1	Automatically fix any filesystem errors that are found.

S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring and Self-Tests

You can use the smartmontools package to monitor your drive's S.M.A.R.T. status and perform self-tests.

Command	Explanation
sudo smartctl -a /dev/nvme1n1	Check the drive's S.M.A.R.T. status.
sudo smartctl -t long /dev/nvme1n1	Start a long self-test on the drive.
sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/nvme1n1	View the results of the last self-test.

NVMe Specific Commands

The nvme-cli package provides some NVMe specific commands.

Command	Explanation
sudo nvme list	List all NVMe devices and their status.
sudo nvme smart-log /dev/nvme1n1	Check the drive's S.M.A.R.T. status.
sudo nvme self-test /dev/nvme1n1 --short	Start a short self-test on the drive.
sudo nvme self-test-log /dev/nvme1n1	View the results of the last self-test.

Troubleshooting

For troubleshooting a variety of issues, here are some general suggestions and commands to start with.

Issue	Solution
Drive not recognized	Check physical connection. Try different PCIe slot or cable. Check dmesg for error messages.
Filesystem errors	Unmount the filesystem and run sudo e2fsck /dev/nvme1n1p1. Try mounting it again after.
Performance issues	Check iostat or similar tool for drive activity. Run smartctl or nvme self-tests to check drive health.

Advanced Features and Tuning

For advanced users who want to tune their system, here are some additional options and commands.

Command	Explanation
sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf	Edit the sysctl configuration file to tune various kernel parameters.
cat /sys/module/nvme_core/parameters/default_ps_max_latency_us	Check the NVMe power saving setting.
`echo 0	sudo tee /sys/module/nvme_core/parameters/default_ps_max_latency_us`

Please note, the above suggestions are provided as general guidance and may not work for all specific cases. Always test changes in a controlled environment before deploying them in a production environment.

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