Provided by: nvme-cli_2.11-2_amd64 
NAME
nvme-connect - Connect to a Fabrics controller.
SYNOPSIS
nvme connect [--transport=<trtype> | -t <trtype>]
[--nqn=<subnqn> | -n <subnqn>]
[--traddr=<traddr> | -a <traddr>]
[--trsvcid=<trsvcid> | -s <trsvcid>]
[--host-traddr=<traddr> | -w <traddr>]
[--host-iface=<iface> | -f <iface>]
[--hostnqn=<hostnqn> | -q <hostnqn>]
[--hostid=<hostid> | -I <hostid>]
[--config=<filename> | -J <filename>]
[--dhchap-secret=<secret> | -S <secret>]
[--dhchap-ctrl-secret=<secret> | -C <secret>]
[--nr-io-queues=<#> | -i <#>]
[--nr-write-queues=<#> | -W <#>]
[--nr-poll-queues=<#> | -P <#>]
[--queue-size=<#> | -Q <#>]
[--keep-alive-tmo=<#> | -k <#>]
[--reconnect-delay=<#> | -c <#>]
[--ctrl-loss-tmo=<#> | -l <#>] [--tos=<#> | -T <#>]
[--keyring=<keyring>] [--tls-key=<tls-key>]
[--tls-key-identity=<identity>]
[--duplicate-connect | -D] [--disable-sqflow ]
[--hdr-digest | -g] [--data-digest | -G] [--tls]
[--concat] [--dump-config | -O] [--application=<id>]
[--output-format=<fmt> | -o <fmt>] [--verbose | -v]
DESCRIPTION
Create a transport connection to a remote system (specified by --traddr and --trsvcid) and create a NVMe
over Fabrics controller for the NVMe subsystem specified by the --nqn option.
OPTIONS
-t <trtype>, --transport=<trtype>
This field specifies the network fabric being used for a NVMe-over-Fabrics network. Current string
values include:
┌───────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Value │ Definition │
├───────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ rdma │ The network fabric is an rdma network │
│ │ (RoCE, iWARP, Infiniband, basic rdma, │
│ │ etc) │
├───────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ fc │ WIP The network fabric is a Fibre │
│ │ Channel network. │
├───────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ tcp │ The network fabric is a TCP/IP │
│ │ network. │
├───────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ loop │ Connect to a NVMe over Fabrics target │
│ │ on the local host │
└───────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘
-n <subnqn>, --nqn <subnqn>
This field specifies the name for the NVMe subsystem to connect to.
-a <traddr>, --traddr=<traddr>
This field specifies the network address of the Controller. For transports using IP addressing (e.g.
rdma) this should be an IP-based address (ex. IPv4).
-s <trsvcid>, --trsvcid=<trsvcid>
This field specifies the transport service id. For transports using IP addressing (e.g. rdma) this
field is the port number. By default, the IP port number for the RDMA transport is 4420.
-w <traddr>, --host-traddr=<traddr>
This field specifies the network address used on the host to connect to the Controller. For TCP, this
sets the source address on the socket.
-f <iface>, --host-iface=<iface>
This field specifies the network interface used on the host to connect to the Controller (e.g. IP
eth1, enp2s0, enx78e7d1ea46da). This forces the connection to be made on a specific interface instead
of letting the system decide.
-q <hostnqn>, --hostnqn=<hostnqn>
Overrides the default Host NQN that identifies the NVMe Host. If this option is not specified, the
default is read from /etc/nvme/hostnqn first. If that does not exist, the autogenerated NQN value
from the NVMe Host kernel module is used next. The Host NQN uniquely identifies the NVMe Host.
-I <hostid>, --hostid=<hostid>
UUID(Universally Unique Identifier) to be discovered which should be formatted.
-J <filename>, --config=<filename>
Use the specified JSON configuration file instead of the default /etc/nvme/config.json file or none
to not read in an existing configuration file. The JSON configuration file format is documented in
https://github.com/linux-nvme/libnvme/blob/master/doc/config-schema.json
-S <secret>, --dhchap-secret=<secret>
NVMe In-band authentication secret; needs to be in ASCII format as specified in NVMe 2.0 section
8.13.5.8 Secret representation.
-C <secret>, --dhchap-ctrl-secret=<secret>
NVMe In-band authentication controller secret for bi-directional authentication; needs to be in ASCII
format as specified in NVMe 2.0 section 8.13.5.8 Secret representation. If not present bi-directional
authentication is not attempted.
-i <#>, --nr-io-queues=<#>
Overrides the default number of I/O queues create by the driver.
-W <#>, --nr-write-queues=<#>
Adds additional queues that will be used for write I/O.
-P <#>, --nr-poll-queues=<#>
Adds additional queues that will be used for polling latency sensitive I/O.
-Q <#>, --queue-size=<#>
Overrides the default number of elements in the I/O queues created by the driver.
-k <#>, --keep-alive-tmo=<#>
Overrides the default keep alive timeout (in seconds).
-c <#>, --reconnect-delay=<#>
Overrides the default delay (in seconds) before reconnect is attempted after a connect loss.
-l <#>, --ctrl-loss-tmo=<#>
Overrides the default controller loss timeout period (in seconds). This is the maximum time the
kernel will retry a connection, where each retry will be issued after reconnect-delay seconds.
-T <#>, --tos=<#>
Type of service for the connection (TCP)
--keyring=<keyring>
Keyring for TLS key lookup, either the key id or the keyring name.
--tls-key=<tls-key>
TLS key for the connection (TCP), either the TLS key in interchange format or the key id. It’s
strongly recommended not to provide the TLS key via the comamnd line due to security concerns.
Instead in production situation, the key should be loaded into the keystore with nvme tls --import
and only the --tls options used. The kernel will select the matching key.
--tls-key-identity=<identity>
The identity used for the tls-key. If none is provided the tls-key provided via the comamnd line is
considered a configuration key and a derive key will be loaded into the keyring.
-D, --duplicate-connect
Allows duplicated connections between same transport host and subsystem port.
--disable-sqflow
Disables SQ flow control to omit head doorbell update for submission queues when sending nvme
completions.
-g, --hdr-digest
Generates/verifies header digest (TCP).
-G, --data-digest
Generates/verifies data digest (TCP).
--tls
Enable TLS encryption (TCP).
--concat
Enable secure concatenation (TCP).
-O, --dump-config
Print out resulting JSON configuration file to stdout.
--context <STR>
Set the execution context to <STR>. This allows to coordinate the management of the global resources.
-o <fmt>, --output-format=<fmt>
Set the reporting format to normal, json or binary. Only one output format can be used at a time.
-v, --verbose
Increase the information detail in the output.
EXAMPLES
• Connect to a subsystem named nqn.2014-08.com.example:nvme:nvm-subsystem-sn-d78432 on the IP4 address
192.168.1.3. Port 4420 is used by default:
# nvme connect --transport=rdma --traddr=192.168.1.3 \
--nqn=nqn.2014-08.com.example:nvme:nvm-subsystem-sn-d78432
SEE ALSO
nvme-discover(1) nvme-connect-all(1)
AUTHORS
This was co-written by Jay Freyensee[1] and Christoph Hellwig[2]
NVME
Part of the nvme-user suite
NOTES
1. Jay Freyensee
mailto:james.p.freyensee@intel.com
2. Christoph Hellwig
mailto:hch@lst.de
NVMe 02/16/2025 NVME-CONNECT(1)