Provided by: sg3-utils_1.46-3ubuntu2.1_amd64 bug

NAME

       sg_inq - issue SCSI INQUIRY command and/or decode its response

SYNOPSIS

       sg_inq  [--ata]  [--block=0|1] [--cmddt] [--descriptors] [--export] [--extended] [--force]
       [--help]  [--hex]  [--id]  [--inhex=FN]  [--len=LEN]   [--long]  [--maxlen=LEN]   [--only]
       [--page=PG] [--raw] [--vendor] [--verbose] [--version] [--vpd] DEVICE

       sg_inq  [-36]  [-a]  [-A]  [-b] [--B=0|1] [-c] [-cl] [-d] [-e] [-f] [-h] [-H] [-i] [-I=FN]
       [-l=LEN] [-L] [-m] [-M] [-o] [-p=VPD_PG] [-P] [-r] [-s] [-u] [-v]  [-V]  [-x]  [-36]  [-?]
       DEVICE

DESCRIPTION

       This  utility,  when  DEVICE is given, sends a SCSI INQUIRY command to it then outputs the
       response. All SCSI devices are meant to respond to a "standard" INQUIRY  command  with  at
       least  a  36 byte response (in SCSI 2 and higher). An INQUIRY is termed as "standard" when
       both the EVPD and CmdDt (now obsolete) bits are clear.

       Alternatively the --inhex=FN option can be given. In this case FN is assumed to be a  file
       name ('-' for stdin) containing ASCII hexadecimal representing an INQUIRY response.

       This  utility  supports two command line syntaxes. The preferred one is shown first in the
       synopsis and is described in the main  OPTIONS  section.  A  later  section  titled  OLDER
       COMMAND LINE OPTIONS describes the second group of options.

       An  important  "non-standard" INQUIRY page is the Device Identification Vital Product Data
       (VPD) page [0x83]. Since SPC-3, support for  this  page  is  mandatory.  The  --id  option
       decodes  this  page. New VPD page information is no longer being added to this utility. To
       get information on new VPD pages see the sg_vpd(8) or sdparm(8) utilities.

       In Linux, if the DEVICE exists and the SCSI INQUIRY fails (e.g. because the SG_IO ioctl is
       not  supported)  then an ATA IDENTIFY (PACKET) DEVICE is tried. If it succeeds then device
       identification strings are output. The --raw and --hex options can be used  to  manipulate
       the  output.   If the --ata option is given then the SCSI INQUIRY is not performed and the
       DEVICE is assumed to be ATA (or ATAPI). For more information see the ATA  DEVICES  section
       below.

       In  some  operating  systems a NVMe device (e.g. SSD) may be given as the DEVICE. For more
       information see the NVME DEVICES section below.

       The reference document used for interpreting an INQUIRY is T10/BSR INCITS 502 Revision  19
       which is draft SPC-5 revision 19, 14 February 2018). It can be found at http://www.t10.org
       . Obsolete and reserved items in the standard INQUIRY response  output  are  displayed  in
       square brackets.

OPTIONS

       Arguments  to  long  options  are  mandatory  for  short options as well.  The options are
       arranged in alphabetical order based on the long option name.

       -a, --ata
              Assume given DEVICE is an ATA or ATAPI device which can receive ATA  commands  from
              the  host  operating  system.  Skip the SCSI INQUIRY command and use either the ATA
              IDENTIFY DEVICE command (for non-packet devices) or the ATA IDENTIFY PACKET  DEVICE
              command. To show the response in hex, add a '--verbose' option. This option is only
              available in Linux.

       -B, --block=0|1
              this option controls how the file handle to the DEVICE is opened. If this  argument
              is 0 then the open is non-blocking. If the argument is 1 then the open is blocking.
              In Unix a non-blocking open is indicated by a O_NONBLOCK flag while a blocking open
              is  indicated  by  the  absence  of  that  flag.  The  default value depends on the
              operating system and the type of DEVICE node. For Linux pass-throughs (i.e. the  sg
              and bsg drivers) the default is 0.

       -c, --cmddt
              set  the  Command  Support  Data  (CmdDt)  bit  (defaults  to  clear(0)).  Used  in
              conjunction with the --page=PG option where PG specifies the SCSI command opcode to
              query.  When  used twice (e.g. '-cc') this utility forms a list by looping over all
              256 opcodes (0 to 255 inclusive) only outputting  a  line  for  commands  that  are
              found.  The CmdDt bit is now obsolete; it has been replaced by the REPORT SUPPORTED
              OPERATION CODES command, see the sg_opcodes(8) utility.

       -d, --descriptors
              decodes and prints the version descriptors found in a  standard  INQUIRY  response.
              There are up to 8 of them. Version descriptors indicate which versions of standards
              and/or drafts the DEVICE complies with. The normal components of a standard INQUIRY
              are  output  (typically  from  the  first 36 bytes of the response) followed by the
              version descriptors if any.

       -e     see entry below for --vpd.

       -f, --force
              As a sanity check, the normal action when fetching VPD pages other  than  page  0x0
              (the  "Supported  VPD  pages" VPD page), is to first fetch page 0x0 and only if the
              requested page is one of the supported pages, to go ahead and fetch  the  requested
              page.
              When  this  option  is  given,  skip  checking of VPD page 0x0 before accessing the
              requested VPD page. The prior check of VPD page 0x0 is known to crash  certain  USB
              devices, so use with care.

       -u, --export
              prints  out  information  obtained  from  the device. The output can be modified by
              selecting a VPD page with PG (from --page=PG). If  the  device  identification  VPD
              page    0x83    is    given    it    prints    out   information   in   the   form:
              "SCSI_IDENT_<assoc>_<type>=<ident>" to stdout. If the device serial number VPD page
              0x80  is  given it prints out information in the form: "SCSI_SERIAL=<ident>". Other
              VPD pages are not supported. If no VPD page is given it prints out  information  in
              the  form: "SCSI_VENDOR=<vendor>", "SCSI_MODEL=<model>", and "SCSI_REVISION=<rev>",
              taken from the standard inquiry. This may be  useful  for  tools  like  udev(7)  in
              Linux.

       -E, -x, --extended
              prints the extended INQUIRY VPD page [0x86].

       -h, --help
              print  out  the  usage message then exit. When used twice, after the usage message,
              there is a list of available abbreviations than  can  be  given  to  the  --page=PG
              option.

       -H, --hex
              rather than decode a standard INQUIRY response, a VPD page or command support data;
              print out the response in hex and send the output to stdout.   Error  messages  and
              warnings  are  typically output to stderr. When used twice with the ATA Information
              VPD page [0x89] decodes the start of the response then  outputs  the  ATA  IDENTIFY
              (PACKET)  DEVICE  response in hexadecimal bytes (not 16 bit words). When used three
              times with the ATA Information VPD page [0x89] or the --ata  option,  this  utility
              outputs the ATA IDENTIFY (PACKET) DEVICE response in hexadecimal words suitable for
              input to 'hdparm --Istdin'.  See note below.
              To generate output suitable for placing in a file that  can  be  used  by  a  later
              invocation  with  the --inhex=FN option, use the '-HHHH' option (e.g. 'sg_inq -p di
              -HHHH /dev/sg3 > dev_id.hex').

       -i, --id
              prints the device identification VPD page [0x83].

       -I, --inhex=FN
              FN is expected to  be  a  file  name  (or  '-'  for  stdin)  which  contains  ASCII
              hexadecimal  or  binary representing an INQUIRY (including VPD page) response. This
              utility will then decode that  response.  It  is  preferable  to  also  supply  the
              --page=PG  option,  if  not  this  utility will attempt to guess which VPD page (or
              standard INQUIRY) that the response is associated with. The hexadecimal  should  be
              arranged  as 1 or 2 digits representing a byte each of which is whitespace or comma
              separated. Anything from and including a hash mark to the end of a line is ignored.
              If the --raw option is also given then FN is treated as binary.

       -l, --len=LEN
              the  number  LEN  is the "allocation length" field in the INQUIRY cdb.  This is the
              (maximum) length of the response returned by the device. The default value  of  LEN
              is  0  which  is  interpreted  as:  first  request is for 36 bytes and if necessary
              execute another INQUIRY if the "additional length" field in the response  indicates
              that more than 36 bytes is available.
              If  LEN  is  greater than 0 then only one INQUIRY command is performed.  This means
              that the Serial Number (obtained from the Serial Number VPD  pgae  (0x80))  is  not
              fetched  and  therefore  not  printed.   See the NOTES section below about "36 byte
              INQUIRYs".

       -L, --long
              this option causes more information to be decoded from the Identify command sent to
              a NVMe DEVICE.

       -m, --maxlen=LEN
              this  option  has  the same action as the --len=LEN option above. It has been added
              for compatibility with the sg_vpd, sg_modes and sg_logs utilities.

       -O, --old
              Switch to older style options. Please use as first option on the command line.

       -o, --only
              Do not attempt to additionally retrieve  the  serial  number  VPD  page  (0x80)  to
              enhance  the output of a standard INQUIRY. So with this option given and no others,
              this utility will send a standard INQUIRY SCSI command and decode its response.  No
              other  SCSI commands will be sent to the DEVICE.  Without this option an additional
              SCSI command is sent: a (non-standard) SCSI INQUIRY to fetch the Serial Number  VPD
              page.  However  the  Serial  Number  VPD  page  is  not mandatory (while the Device
              Identification page is mandatory but a billion USB keys ignore that) and may  cause
              nuisance error reports.
              For  NVMe  devices  only  the  Identify controller is performed, even if the DEVICE
              includes a namespace identifier. For  example  in  FreeBSD  given  a  DEVICE  named
              /dev/nvme0ns1 then an Identify controller is sent to /dev/nvme0 and nothing is sent
              to its "ns1" (first namespace).

       -p, --page=PG
              the PG argument can be either a number of  an  abbreviation  for  a  VPD  page.  To
              enumerate the available abbreviations for VPD pages use '-hh' or a bad abbreviation
              (e.g, '--page=xxx'). When the --cmddt option is given (once) then PG is interpreted
              as an opcode number (so VPD page abbreviations make little sense).
              If  PG is a negative number, then a standard INQUIRY is performed. This can be used
              to override some guessing logic associated with the --inhex=FN option.
              If PG is not found in the 'Supported  VPD  pages'  VPD  page  (0x0)  then  EDOM  is
              returned. To bypass this check use the --force option.

       -r, --raw
              in  the  absence  of  --inhex=FN then the output response is 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.
              If used with --inhex=FN then the contents of FN is treated as binary.

       -s, --vendor
              output a standard INQUIRY response's vendor specific fields from offset 36 to 55 in
              ASCII. When used twice (i.e. '-ss') also output  the  vendor  specific  field  from
              offset 96 in ASCII. This is only done if the data passes some simple sanity checks.

       -v, --verbose
              increase level of verbosity. Can be used multiple times.

       -V, --version
              print out version string then exit.

       -e, --vpd
              set  the  Enable  Vital  Product  Data  (EVPD)  bit (defaults to clear(0)). Used in
              conjunction with the --page=PG option where PG specifies the  VPD  page  number  to
              query.  If  the  --page=PG  is  not  given  then  PG  defaults to zero which is the
              "Supported VPD pages" VPD page. A more up to date decoding  of  VPD  pages  can  be
              found in the sg_vpd(8) utility.

NOTES

       Some devices with weak SCSI command set implementations lock up when they receive commands
       they don't understand (and some lock up if they receive response lengths that  they  don't
       expect).  Such  devices  need  to be treated carefully, use the '--len=36' option. Without
       this option this utility will issue an initial standard INQUIRY  requesting  36  bytes  of
       response  data.  If  the  device  indicates it could have supplied more data then a second
       INQUIRY is issued to fetch the longer response. That second command  may  lock  up  faulty
       devices.

       ATA or ATAPI devices that use a SCSI to ATA Translation layer (see SAT at www.t10.org) may
       support the SCSI ATA INFORMATION VPD page.  This  returns  the  IDENTIFY  (PACKET)  DEVICE
       response  amongst  other  things.   The  ATA  Information  VPD  page  can  be fetched with
       '--page=ai'.

       In the INQUIRY standard response there is a 'MultiP' flag which is set when the device has
       2  or  more  ports.  Some vendors use the preceding vendor specific ('VS') bit to indicate
       which port is being accessed by the INQUIRY command (0 -> relative port 1 (port "a"), 1 ->
       relative  port 2 (port "b")). When the 'MultiP' flag is set, the preceding vendor specific
       bit is shown in parentheses. SPC-3 compliant devices should use the device  identification
       VPD  page  (0x83)  to show which port is being used for access and the SCSI ports VPD page
       (0x88) to show all available ports on the device.

       In the 2.4 series of Linux kernels the DEVICE must be a SCSI generic (sg) device.  In  the
       2.6 series and later 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").

       The number of bytes output by --hex and --raw is 36 bytes or the number given to --len=LEN
       (or --maxlen=LEN). That number is reduced if the "resid" returned  by  the  HBA  indicates
       less bytes were sent back from DEVICE.

       The DEVICE is opened with a read-only flag (e.g. in Unix with the O_RDONLY flag).

ATA DEVICES

       There  are  two major types of ATA devices: non-packet devices (e.g. ATA disks) and packet
       devices (ATAPI). The majority of ATAPI devices are CD/DVD/BD drives  in  which  the  ATAPI
       transport  carries  the  MMC  set  (i.e.   a SCSI command set). Further, both types of ATA
       devices can be connected to a host computer via a "SCSI" (or some other)  transport.  When
       an  ATA  disk  is  controlled  via  a  SCSI (or non-ATA) transport then two approaches are
       commonly used: tunnelling (e.g. STP in Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)) or by emulating a  SCSI
       device (e.g. with a SCSI to ATA translation layer, see SAT at www.t10.org ). Even when the
       physical transport to the host computer is ATA  (especially  in  the  case  of  SATA)  the
       operating  system  may  choose  to  put  a SAT layer in the driver "stack" (e.g. libata in
       Linux).

       The main identifying command for any SCSI device is an INQUIRY. The corresponding  command
       for  an  ATA  non-packet  device  is  IDENTIFY DEVICE while for an ATA packet device it is
       IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE.

       When this utility is invoked for an ATAPI device (e.g.  a  CD/DVD/BD  drive  with  "sg_inq
       /dev/hdc")  then a SCSI INQUIRY is sent to the device and if it responds then the response
       to decoded and output and this utility exits. To see the  response  for  an  ATA  IDENTIFY
       PACKET DEVICE command add the --ata option (e.g. "sg_inq --ata /dev/hdc).

       This  utility  doesn't  decode  the  response  to an ATA IDENTIFY (PACKET) DEVICE command,
       hdparm does a good job at that. The '-HHH' option has been added for use with  either  the
       '--ata'  or  '--page=ai'  option  to produce a format acceptable to "hdparm --Istdin".  An
       example: 'sg_inq --ata -HHH /dev/hdc | hdparm --Istdin'. See hdparm.

NVME DEVICES

       Currently these device are typically SSDs (Solid State Disks) directly connected to a PCIe
       connector  or  via a specialized connector such as a M2 connector. Linux and FreeBSD treat
       NVMe storage devices as separate from SCSI storage with device names like /dev/nvme0n1 (in
       Linux)  and  /dev/nvme0ns1  (in FreeBSD). The NVM Express group has a document titled "NVM
       Express: SCSI Translation Reference" which defines a partial  "SCSI  to  NVMe  Translation
       Layer" often known by its acronym: SNTL.

       On  operating systems where it is supported by this package, this utility will detect NVMe
       storage devices directly connected and send an Identify controller NVMe Admin command  and
       decode its response. A NVMe controller is architecturally similar to a SCSI target device.
       If the NVMe DEVICE indicates a namespace then an Identify namespace NVMe Admin command  is
       sent  to  that namespace and its response is decoded. Namespaces are numbered sequentially
       starting from 1. Namespaces are similar  to  SCSI  Logical  Units  and  their  identifiers
       (nsid_s)  can  be  thought  of as SCSI LUNs. In the Linux and FreeBSD example device names
       above the "n1" and the "ns1" parts indicate nsid 1 . If  no  namespace  is  given  in  the
       DEVICE  then  all  namespaces found in the controller are sent Identify namespace commands
       and the responses are decoded.

       To get more details in the response use the --long option. To only  get  the  controller's
       Identify decoded use the --only option.

       It  is  possible  that even though the DEVICE presents as a NVMe device, it has a SNTL and
       accepts SCSI commands. In this case to send a SCSI INQUIRY  command  (and  fetch  its  VPD
       pages) use 'sg_vpd -p sinq <dev>' (or to get VPD pages: 'sg_vpd -p <vpd_page> <dev>').

EXIT STATUS

       The  exit  status of sg_inq is 0 when it is successful. Otherwise see the sg3_utils(8) man
       page.

OLDER COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

       The options in this section were the only ones available prior to sg3_utils version 1.23 .
       Since then this utility defaults to the newer command line options which can be overridden
       by using --old (or -O) as the first option. See  the  ENVIRONMENT  VARIABLES  section  for
       another way to force the use of these older command line options.

       -36    only  requests  36  bytes  of response data for an INQUIRY. Furthermore even if the
              device indicates in its response it can supply more data, a second (longer) INQUIRY
              is  not  performed.  This  is  a paranoid setting.  Equivalent to '--len=36' in the
              OPTIONS section.

       -a     fetch the ATA Information VPD page [0x89]. Equivalent to '--page=ai' in the OPTIONS
              section. This page is defined in SAT (see at www.t10.org).

       -A     Assume  given DEVICE is an ATA or ATAPI device.  Equivalent to --ata in the OPTIONS
              section.

       -b     decodes the Block Limits VPD page [0xb0].  Equivalent to '--page=bl' in the OPTIONS
              section. This page is defined in SBC-2 (see www.t10.org) and later.

       -B=0|1 equivalent to --block=0|1 in OPTIONS section.

       -c     set  the  Command  Support  Data  (CmdDt)  bit  (defaults  to  clear(0)).  Used  in
              conjunction with the -p=VPD_PG option to specify the SCSI command opcode to  query.
              Equivalent to --cmddt in the OPTIONS section.

       -cl    lists the command data for all supported commands (followed by the command name) by
              looping through all 256 opcodes. This option  uses  the  CmdDt  bit  which  is  now
              obsolete.  See  the  sg_opcodes(8) utility.  Equivalent to '--cmddt --cmddt' in the
              OPTIONS section.

       -d     decodes depending on context. If -e option is given, or any option that implies  -e
              (e.g.  '-i'  or  '-p=80'),  then  this utility attempts to decode the indicated VPD
              page.  Otherwise the version descriptors (if any) are listed following  a  standard
              INQUIRY  response. In the version descriptors sense, equivalent to --descriptors in
              the OPTIONS section.

       -e     enable (i.e. sets) the Vital Product Data (EVPD) bit (defaults to clear(0)).   Used
              in  conjunction  with  the  -p=VPD_PG  option  to specify the VPD page to fetch. If
              -p=VPD_PG is not given then VPD page 0 (list supported VPD pages) is assumed.

       -f     Equivalent to --force in the OPTIONS section.

       -h     outputs INQUIRY response in hex rather than trying to  decode  it.   Equivalent  to
              --hex in the OPTIONS section.

       -H     same action as -h.  Equivalent to --hex in the OPTIONS section.

       -i     decodes  the  Device  Identification  VPD  page  [0x83].  Equivalent to --id in the
              OPTIONS section. This page is made up of several "designation descriptors".  If  -h
              is given then each descriptor header is decoded and the identifier itself is output
              in hex. To see the whole VPD 0x83 page response in hex use '-p=83 -h'.

       -I=FN  equivalent to --inhex=FN in the OPTIONS section.

       -l=LEN equivalent to --len=LEN in the OPTIONS section.

       -L     equivalent to --long in the OPTIONS section.

       -m     decodes  the  Management  network  addresses  VPD  page   [0x85].   Equivalent   to
              '--page=mna' in the OPTIONS section.

       -M     decodes  the  Mode  page policy VPD page [0x87].  Equivalent to '--page=mpp' in the
              OPTIONS section.

       -N, --new
              Switch to the newer style options.

       -o     equivalent to --only in the OPTIONS section.

       -p=VPD_PG
              used in conjunction with the -e or -c option. If neither given then the  -e  option
              assumed.  When  the  -e option is also given (or assumed) then the argument to this
              option is the VPD page number.  The argument is interpreted as hexadecimal  and  is
              expected  to  be  in the range 0 to ff inclusive. Only VPD page 0 is decoded and it
              lists supported VPD pages and their names  (if  known).  To  decode  the  mandatory
              device  identification  page (0x83) use the -i option. A now obsolete usage is when
              the -c option is given in which case the argument to this option is assumed to be a
              command  opcode  number.  Recent SCSI draft standards have moved this facility to a
              separate command (see sg_opcodes(8)). Defaults to 0 so if -e is given without  this
              option then VPD page 0 is output.

       -P     decodes  the Unit Path Report VPD page [0xc0] which is EMC specific.  Equivalent to
              '--page=upr' in the OPTIONS section.

       -r     outputs the response in binary to stdout.   Equivalent  to  --raw  in  the  OPTIONS
              section.   Can  be used twice (i.e. '-rr' (and '-HHH' has same effect)) and if used
              with  the  -A  or  -a  option  yields  output  with  the  same   format   as   "cat
              /proc/ide/hd<x>/identify" so that it can then be piped to "hdparm --Istdin".

       -s     decodes  the  SCSI Ports VPD page [0x88].  Equivalent to '--page=sp' in the OPTIONS
              section.

       -u     equivalent to '--export' in the OPTIONS section.

       -v     increase level of verbosity. Can be used multiple times.

       -V     print out version string then exit.

       -x     decodes the Extended INQUIRY data VPD [0x86] page.  Equivalent  to  '--page=ei'  in
              the OPTIONS section.

       -?     output usage message and exit. Ignore all other parameters.

EXAMPLES

       The  examples  in  this  page  use  Linux device names. For suitable device names in other
       supported Operating Systems see the sg3_utils(8) man page.

       To view the standard inquiry response use without options:

          sg_inq /dev/sda

       Some SCSI devices include version descriptors indicating the various  SCSI  standards  and
       drafts they support. They can be viewed with:

          sg_inq -d /dev/sda

       Modern  SCSI  devices  include  Vital Product Data (VPD)pages which can be viewed with the
       SCSI INQUIRY command. To list the supported VPD pages (but not their contents) try:

          sg_inq -e /dev/sda

       Some VPD pages can be read with the sg_inq utility  but  a  newer  utility  called  sg_vpd
       specializes  in  showing  their  contents. The sdparm utility can also be used to show the
       contents of VPD pages.

       Further  examples  of  sg_inq  together  with  some  typical  output  can  be   found   on
       http://sg.danny.cz/sg/sg3_utils.html web page.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       Since  sg3_utils  version  1.23  the environment variable SG3_UTILS_OLD_OPTS can be given.
       When it is present this utility will  expect  the  older  command  line  options.  So  the
       presence  of  this  environment variable is equivalent to using --old (or -O) as the first
       command line option.

AUTHOR

       Written by Douglas Gilbert

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2001-2021 Douglas Gilbert
       This software is distributed under the GPL version 2. There is NO warranty; not  even  for
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO

       sg_opcodes(8),     sg_vpd(8),     sg_logs(8),     sg_modes(8),    sdparm(8),    hdparm(8),
       sgdiag(scsirastools)