NAME

       nvme-format - Format an NVMe device

SYNOPSIS

       nvme format <device> [--namespace-id=<nsid> | -n <nsid>]
                           [--lbaf=<lbaf> | -l <lbaf>]
                           [--ses=<ses> | -s <ses>]
                           [--pil=<pil> | -p <pil>]
                           [--pi=<pi> | -i <pi>]
                           [--ms=<ms> | -m <ms>]

DESCRIPTION

       For the NVMe device given, send an nvme Format Namespace admin command and provides the
       results.

       The <device> parameter is mandatory and may be either the NVMe character device (ex:
       /dev/nvme0), or a namespace block device (ex: /dev/nvme0n1). If the character device is
       given, the namespace identifier will default to 0xffffffff to send the format to all
       namespace, but can be overridden to any namespace with the namespace-id option. If the
       block device is given, the namespace identifier will default to the namespace id of the
       block device given, but can be overridden with the same option.

       On success, the program will automatically issue BLKRRPART ioctl to force rescanning the
       namespaces. If the driver is recent enough, this will automatically update the physical
       block size. If it is not recent enough, you will need to remove and rescan your device
       some other way for the new block size to be visible.

OPTIONS

       -n <nsid>, --namespace-id=<nsid>
           Send the format command for the specified nsid. This can be used to override the
           default value for either character device (0xffffffff) or the block device (result
           from NVME_IOCTL_ID).

       -l <lbaf>, --lbaf=<lbaf>
           LBA Format: This field specifies the LBA format to apply to the NVM media. This
           corresponds to the LBA formats indicated in the Identify Namespace command. Defaults
           to 0.

       -s <ses>, --ses=<ses>
           Secure Erase Settings: This field specifies whether a secure erase should be performed
           as part of the format and the type of the secure erase operation. The erase applies to
           all user data, regardless of location (e.g., within an exposed LBA, within a cache,
           within deallocated LBAs, etc). Defaults to 0.

           ┌──────┬──────────────────────────────────┐
           │Value │ Definition                       │
           ├──────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
           │0     │ No secure erase operation        │
           │      │ requested                        │
           ├──────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
           │1     │ User Data Erase: All user data   │
           │      │ shall be erased, contents of the │
           │      │ user data after the erase is     │
           │      │ indeterminate (e.g., the user    │
           │      │ data may be zero filled, one     │
           │      │ filled, etc). The controller may │
           │      │ perform a cryptographic erase    │
           │      │ when a User Data Erase is        │
           │      │ requested if all user data is    │
           │      │ encrypted.                       │
           ├──────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
           │2     │ Cryptographic Erase: All user    │
           │      │ data shall be erased             │
           │      │ cryptographically. This is       │
           │      │ accomplished by deleting the     │
           │      │ encryption key.                  │
           ├──────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
           │3–7   │ Reserved                         │
           └──────┴──────────────────────────────────┘

       -p <pil>, --pil=<pil>
           Protection Information Location: If set to ‘1’ and protection information is enabled,
           then protection information is transferred as the first eight bytes of metadata. If
           cleared to ‘0’ and protection information is enabled, then protection information is
           transferred as the last eight bytes of metadata. Defaults to 0.

       -i <pi>, --pi=<pi>
           Protection Information: This field specifies whether end-to-end data protection is
           enabled and the type of protection information. Defaults to 0.

           ┌──────┬───────────────────────────────┐
           │Value │ Definition                    │
           ├──────┼───────────────────────────────┤
           │0     │ Protection information is not │
           │      │ enabled                       │
           ├──────┼───────────────────────────────┤
           │1     │ Protection information is     │
           │      │ enabled, Type 1               │
           ├──────┼───────────────────────────────┤
           │2     │ Protection information is     │
           │      │ enabled, Type 2               │
           ├──────┼───────────────────────────────┤
           │3     │ Protection information is     │
           │      │ enabled, Type 3               │
           ├──────┼───────────────────────────────┤
           │4–7   │ Reserved                      │
           └──────┴───────────────────────────────┘

       -m <ms>, --ms=<ms>
           Metadata Settings: This field is set to ‘1’ if the metadata is transferred as part of
           an extended data LBA. This field is cleared to ‘0’ if the metadata is transferred as
           part of a separate buffer. The metadata may include protection information, based on
           the Protection Information (PI) field. Defaults to 0.

EXAMPLES

       •   Format the device using all defaults:

               # nvme format /dev/nvme0n1

       •   Format namespace 1 with user data secure erase settings and protection information:

               # nvme format /dev/nvme0 --namespace-id=1 --ses=1 --pi=1

NVME

       Part of the nvme-user suite