# xfs_metadump - man(8) - [phpMan] [_xfs_metadump_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsmetadump/8/markdown) System Manager's Manual [_xfs_metadump_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsmetadump/8/markdown) ## NAME xfs_metadump - copy XFS filesystem metadata to a file ## SYNOPSIS **xfs_metadump **[ **-aefFgow **] [ **-m _**max_extents_ ] [ **-l _**logdev_ ] [ **-v _**version_ ] _source_ _target_ ### xfs_metadump -V ## DESCRIPTION **xfs_metadump **is a debugging tool that copies the metadata from an XFS filesystem to a file. The _source_ argument must be the pathname of the device or file containing the XFS filesystem and the _target_ argument specifies the destination file name. If _target_ is -, then the output is sent to stdout. This allows the output to be redirected to another program such as a com‐ pression application. **xfs_metadump **may only be used to copy unmounted filesystems, or read-only mounted filesys‐ tems. **xfs_metadump **does not alter the source filesystem in any way. The _target_ image is a contigu‐ ous (non-sparse) file containing all the filesystem's metadata and indexes to where the blocks were copied from. By default, **xfs_metadump **obfuscates most file (regular file, directory and symbolic link) names and extended attribute names to allow the dumps to be sent without revealing confiden‐ tial information. Extended attribute values are zeroed and no data is copied. The only excep‐ tions are file or attribute names that are 4 or less characters in length. Also file names that span extents (this can only occur with the [**mkfs.xfs**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mkfs.xfs/8/markdown) options where **-n _**size_ > **-b _**size_) are not obfuscated. Names between 5 and 8 characters in length inclusively are partially ob‐ fuscated. **xfs_metadump **cannot obfuscate metadata in the filesystem log. Log recovery of an obfuscated metadump image may expose clear-text metadata and/or cause filesystem corruption in the re‐ stored image. It is recommended that the source filesystem first be mounted and unmounted, if possible, to ensure that the log is clean. A subsequent invocation of **xfs_metadump **will capture a clean log and obfuscate all metadata correctly. If a metadump must be produced from a filesystem with a dirty log, it is recommended that ob‐ fuscation be turned off with -o option, if metadata such as filenames is not considered sen‐ sitive. If obfuscation is required on a metadump with a dirty log, please inform the recipi‐ ent of the metadump image about this situation. The contents of an external log device can be dumped only when using the v2 format. Metadump in v2 format can be generated by passing the "-v 2" option. Metadump in v2 format is gener‐ ated by default if the filesystem has an external log and the metadump version to use is not explicitly mentioned. **xfs_metadump **should not be used for any purposes other than for debugging and reporting filesystem problems. The most common usage scenario for this tool is when [**xfs_repair**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsrepair/8/markdown) fails to repair a filesystem and a metadump image can be sent for analysis. The file generated by **xfs_metadump **can be restored to filesystem image (minus the data) using the [**xfs_mdrestore**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsmdrestore/8/markdown) tool. ## OPTIONS ### -a terspersed with in-use metadata. Use this option to copy full metadata blocks, to provide more debugging information for a corrupted filesystem. Note that the extra data will be unobfuscated. ### -e metadata that is accessible. ### -f the **mkfs.xfs -d **file option). This can also happen if an image copy of a filesystem has been made into an ordinary file with [**xfs_copy**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfscopy/8/markdown). ### -F the source is truly not an XFS filesystem, the resulting image will be useless, and xfs_metadump may crash. ### -g the _target_ is stdout. ### -l _ For filesystems which use an external log, this specifies the device where the exter‐ nal log resides. If the v2 metadump format is selected, the contents of the external log will be copied to the metadump. The v2 metadump format will be selected automati‐ cally if this option is specified. ### -m are likely to be corrupt, and will be skipped if they exceed this value. The default size is 2097151 blocks. ### -o ### -v fault metadump format is 1. ### -w copied. ### -V ## DIAGNOSTICS **xfs_metadump **returns an exit code of 0 if all readable metadata is successfully copied or 1 if a write error occurs or a read error occurs and the **-e **option used. ## NOTES As **xfs_metadump **copies metadata only, it does not matter if the _source_ filesystem has a real‐ time section or not. If the filesystem has an external log, it is not copied. Internal logs are copied and any outstanding log transactions are not obfuscated if they contain names. **xfs_metadump **is a shell wrapper around the [**xfs_db**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsdb/8/markdown) **metadump **command. ## SEE ALSO [**xfs_repair**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsrepair/8/markdown), [**xfs_mdrestore**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsmdrestore/8/markdown), [**xfs_freeze**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsfreeze/8/markdown), [**xfs_db**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsdb/8/markdown), [**xfs_copy**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfscopy/8/markdown), [**xfs**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfs/5/markdown) ## BUGS Email bug reports to ****. [_xfs_metadump_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xfsmetadump/8/markdown)