Viewing: lfs.1
.TH LFS 1 2026-03-06 Lustre "Lustre User Utilities"
.SH NAME
lfs \- Lustre client utility for file layouts and space usage
.SH SYNOPSIS
.SY lfs
.I COMMAND
.RI [ ARGS ]
.SY lfs
.YS
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B lfs
is used by all users to create new files with a specific layout pattern,
show the layout (geomety and OST objects) for a specific file or directory,
show the space and inode usage of filesystem targets, and more.
It can be invoked non-interactivly to execute the specified
.BR COMMAND ,
or it can be run interactively without arguments to execute multiple commands.
.PP
The most common commands are:
.BR df ,
.BR find ,
.BR getstripe ,
.BR setstripe ,
.BR migrate ,
.BR mirror ,
and
.BR project .
Most commands are described in separate man pages of the form
.BI lfs- COMMAND
as listed in the
.B SEE ALSO
section at the end.
Some sub-commands do not have their own detailed man page are listed below.
.SH OPTIONS
The following options can be used to invoke
.BR lfs .
.TP
.BI help " COMMAND"
To get basic help on the meaning and syntax of a command.
.TP
.BR --ignore_errors ", " ignore_errors
Ignore errors during script processing.
.TP
.B --list-commands
Output a list of the commands supported by the lctl utility.
.TP
.BR -V ", " --version
Output the build version of the utility itself.
.TP
.BR exit ", " quit
Quit an interactive session.
.SH BASH COMPLETION
The
.B lfs
command supports
.BR bash-completion (1)
for tab completion of sub-command names and their options,
with proper package installation and supporing shell usage.
This can greatly simplify finding available commands,
their options, and in many cases option arguments.
.PP
To list commands, type
.RB ' lfs\ TAB ',
or after partially completing a command name.
To list long options (more descriptive and easily understood) type
.RI ' COMMAND
.BR --TAB ',
and to list short options type
.RI ' COMMAND
.BR -TAB '.
Some commands also allow context-specific completion of arguments to the
command-line option, for example generating a list of mountpoints for the
.B df
command, or a list of OST pools for the
.B --pool
option.
.SH COMMANDS
.TP
.BR check " {" mgts | mdts | osts | all "} [" \fIPATH ]
Display the status of the MGTs, MDTs or OSTs (as specified in the command)
or all the servers (MGTs, MDTs and OSTs). If
.I PATH
is provided, display the status of the lustre file system mounted at specified
.I PATH
only. This command will make an RPC to all the servers in scope to discover
the server status. NOTE:
.B lfs osts
may be preferable for some use cases.
.TP
.BR data_version
Show the last modified version code for a file. See
.BR lfs-data_version (1).
.TP
.B flushctx
Flush security context of a user. See
.BR lfs-flushctx (1).
.TP
.B migrate
Migrate a file to new OST(s), or directory to new MDTs. See
.BR lfs-migrate (1).
.TP
.BR mkdir | setdirstripe
Create a directory with a specific layout or MDTs. See
.BR lfs-mkdir (1).
.TP
.BR mdts " [" PATH ]
List all the MDTs for all mounted filesystems. If a
.I PATH
is provided that is located on a lustre mounted file system
then only the MDTs belonging to that filesystem are displayed.
.TP
.BR osts " [" PATH ]
List all the OSTs for all mounted filesystems. If a
.I PATH
is provided that is located on a lustre mounted file system
then only the OSTs belonging to that filesystem are displayed. This command will
use a cached value for the OST status and will not make a RPC to discover
status. The cached value will be updated by the client during the
course of normal operations and would typically be less than 30 seconds old.
NOTE:
.B lfs check osts
may be preferable for some use cases.
.TP
.BR pool_list " {" \fIFILESYSTEM }[ .\fIPOOLNAME "] | {" \fIPATHNAME }
List the pools in
.I FILESYSTEM
or
.IR PATHNAME ,
or the OSTs in
.IR FILESYSTEM.POOL .
.TP
.BR project
Shows or sets the PROJECT ID of a file or directory. See
.BR lfs-project (1).
.TP
.BR rm_entry " | " rmentry
Remove the name entry of a remote directory. This command will only delete
the name entry, making the remote directory inaccessible. This can only be
done by the administrator.
.TP
.BI swap_layouts "FILENAME1 FILENAME2"
Swap the data (layout and OST objects) of two regular files. The
two files have to be in the same filesystem, owned by the same user,
reside on the same MDT and writable by the user.
.P
Swapping the layout of two directories is not permitted.
.TP
.B setstripe
Set the layout on a new file, or default on a directory. See
.BR lfs-setstripe (1).
.TP
.B unlink_foreign
Remove the foreign files/dirs that are prevented to be using
regular unlink/rmdir commands/syscalls. Works also for regular files/dirs.
.SH EXAMPLES
Check the status of all servers (MGT, MDT, OST):
.RS
.EX
.B # lfs check all
.EE
.RE
.PP
List all the OSTs:
.RS
.EX
.B # lfs osts
.EE
.RE
.PP
List all the MDTs:
.RS
.EX
.B # lfs mdts
.EE
.RE
.SH AVAILABILITY
The
.B lfs
command is part of the
.BR lustre (7)
filesystem package since release 0.10.0
.\" Added in commit 0.9.1
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR lfs-changelog (1),
.BR lfs-changelog_clear (1),
.BR lfs-data_version (1),
.BR lfs-df (1),
.BR lfs-fid2path (1),
.BR lfs-find (1),
.BR lfs-flushctx (1),
.BR lfs-getdirstripe (1),
.BR lfs-getname (1),
.BR lfs-getsom (1),
.BR lfs-getstripe (1),
.BR lfs-heat_get (1),
.BR lfs-heat_set (1),
.BR lfs-hsm (1),
.BR lfs-ladvise (1),
.BR lfs-migrate (1),
.BR lfs_migrate (1),
.BR lfs-mirror (1),
.BR lfs-mkdir (1),
.BR lfs-path2fid (1),
.BR lfs-pcc (1),
.BR lfs-project (1),
.BR lfs-quota (1),
.BR lfs-rm_entry (8),
.BR lfs-rmfid (1),
.BR lfs-setdirstripe (1),
.BR lfs-setquota (1),
.BR lfs-setstripe (1),
.BR lfs-somsync (1),
.BR lfs-swap_layouts (1),
.BR lfs-unlink_foreign (1),
.BR lustre (7),
.BR lctl (8)
