Admin CLI Workflow to Connect NVMe-oF Enclosures

Connect an NVMe-oF enclosure to a DSX node by using the Admin CLI on the Anvil, the Hammerspace metadata and management node.

Find the name of the DSX node that will own the enclosure:

Command:
```
node-list
```
In the output, the DSX nodes show Product node type: DSX.

Read the DSX node’s host NQN, and add it to the array’s host access configuration so that the array presents the intended namespaces to that node. The host NQN identifies the DSX node to the array. It is not a password.

Command:

node-list --name <dsx-node-name>

The host NQN is on the line NVMe-oF host NQN:. In the Management GUI, it is the Host NQN field on the NVMe-oF Config tab that opens when you edit the DSX node on the Storage Systems tab of the Infrastructure page.

Expected output (trimmed):

Name:                          dsx1.example.com
Type:                          Hammerspace
Product node type:             DSX
Internal ID:                   1073741839
ID:                            7887b279-adb3-57d2-a8ca-341eca2c5ca1
HW state:                      OK
Node state:                    MANAGED
Node mode:                     ONLINE
Management IP:                 192.0.2.21/20
SW version:                    5.3.1-1209
S3 auth signing type:          Default
Vendor:                        VMware, Inc.
Product name:                  VMware Virtual Platform
Serial number:                 1ad8256be53e
Firmware version:              None
NVMe-oF host NQN:              nqn.2014-08.org.nvmexpress:uuid:0fb02d42-2c53-41ad-3fcf-1ad8256be53e
Created:                       2026-09-27 18:25:22 UTC
Modified:                      2026-09-27 23:40:40 UTC
Components:
                         Type:                    Nic
                         ID:                      892631b6-4d15-577b-96fd-c6bd2bca5b02
                         State:                   OK

                         Type:                    Hdd
<Additional output removed for brevity>

Add the enclosure to the DSX node, with the array’s discovery address as the target. To connect all of the subsystems that the DSX node discovers at the same time, add --connect-all:

Command:

nvmeof-config --enclosure-add --dsx-name <dsx-node-name> --target <target-address> --connect-all

Give every address that the array presents the subsystems on, by repeating --target for each one, when you add the enclosure. Each address becomes a path to each subsystem found there, and multipathing is enabled when a subsystem has more than one. An address that you add to the enclosure later is not connected to subsystems that are already connected; see NVMe-oF Limitations and Operating Guidance. A target is identified by its address; giving the same address again with a different port does not add a target.

You can use --dsx-id <dsx-node-id> instead of --dsx-name. Leave out --connect-all to add the enclosure without connecting anything yet. The command discovers and connects before it returns, which can take a few minutes; its output shows every subsystem found, with State: CONNECTED on each address that was connected.

Expected output (two subsystems, two targets, trimmed):

Type:                    Nvme-of Enclosure
ID:                      5f2f3932-2c3b-45cd-a27e-f93e8c4f472d
Name:                    dsx1.example.com::nvmeof-5f2f3932-2c3b-45cd-a27e-f93e8c4f472d
Node:                    dsx1.example.com
Node host NQN:           nqn.2014-08.org.nvmexpress:uuid:0fb02d42-2c53-41ad-3fcf-1ad8256be53e
NVMe-oF config:          Queue depth:             64
                         IO queue pairs:          64
                         I/O policy:              QUEUE_DEPTH
                         Transport:               TCP
                         Target port:             8009
                         Controller loss timeout: -1
Discovery targets:
                         Address:                 192.0.2.32
                         Port:                    8009
                         Transport:               TCP

                         Address:                 192.0.2.31
                         Port:                    8009
                         Transport:               TCP
Subsystems:
                         Type:                    Nvme-of Subsystem
                         ID:                      7c4b48fa-ce56-5ff2-936f-e68170bb6966
                         Subsystem NQN:           nqn.2026-09.com.example:docs-subsys2
                         Namespaces:
                                                  [Namespace: nvme0n1, Namespace ID: 2, Size: 4.2GB, Sector size: 4096, Model: Docs Lab NVMe Target, Serial: DOCSLAB00000002, Namespace unique ID: bef19a80-60dd-b2bd-30a3-4965b79d3e20, Connected: true]
                                                  [Namespace: nvme0n2, Namespace ID: 1, Size: 4.2GB, Sector size: 4096, Model: Docs Lab NVMe Target, Serial: DOCSLAB00000002, Namespace unique ID: bef19a80-60dd-b2bd-30a3-4965b79d3e20-2, Connected: true]
                         Transport addresses:
                                                  [Address: 192.0.2.32, Port: 8009, Transport: TCP, State: CONNECTED]
                                                  [Address: 192.0.2.31, Port: 8009, Transport: TCP, State: CONNECTED]

                         Type:                    Nvme-of Subsystem
                         ID:                      9d588e3f-d951-5d41-b918-d2e557bf8edc
                         Subsystem NQN:           nqn.2026-09.com.example:docs-subsys1
                         Namespaces:
                                                  [Namespace: nvme2n1, Namespace ID: 2, Size: 4.2GB, Sector size: 4096, Model: Docs Lab NVMe Target, Serial: DOCSLAB00000001, Namespace unique ID: c9eedb06-110b-552b-beaa-1cd7e38ae394, Connected: true]
                                                  [Namespace: nvme2n2, Namespace ID: 1, Size: 4.2GB, Sector size: 4096, Model: Docs Lab NVMe Target, Serial: DOCSLAB00000001, Namespace unique ID: c9eedb06-110b-552b-beaa-1cd7e38ae394-2, Connected: true]
                         Transport addresses:
                                                  [Address: 192.0.2.31, Port: 8009, Transport: TCP, State: CONNECTED]
                                                  [Address: 192.0.2.32, Port: 8009, Transport: TCP, State: CONNECTED]

Find the enclosure’s name. An enclosure added from the Admin CLI is named after the DSX node, followed by ::nvmeof- and a unique ID. This is so even if you give --enclosure-name with --enclosure-add: the name you give is ignored.

Command:

nvmeof-config --list

Expected output:

total 1
Type:                    Nvme-of Enclosure
ID:                      5f2f3932-2c3b-45cd-a27e-f93e8c4f472d
Name:                    dsx1.example.com::nvmeof-5f2f3932-2c3b-45cd-a27e-f93e8c4f472d
Node:                    dsx1.example.com
Node host NQN:           nqn.2014-08.org.nvmexpress:uuid:0fb02d42-2c53-41ad-3fcf-1ad8256be53e

If you did not use --connect-all, connect the subsystems you want:

Command:
```
nvmeof-config --enclosure-name <enclosure-name> --connect-nqn <subsystem-nqn>
```
Connecting a subsystem that the DSX node did not discover succeeds but connects nothing.

Run this command after the enclosure has been added. If you give --connect-nqn with --enclosure-add instead, and another enclosure on the DSX node already uses the same target address, the subsystem is discovered but not connected (State: DISCOVERED); run this command to connect it.

Find the device path of each connected namespace. The DSX node’s drive list shows every connected namespace as an Nvme-of Drive with its device path.

Command:

drive-list --node-name <dsx-node-name>

Expected output (trimmed to the NVMe-oF drives):

total 10
Type:                    Nvme-of Drive
ID:                      77620eed-1e30-5c4f-891a-aa4d3dc9718d
Name:                    /dev/nvme2n2
State:                   OK
Capacity:                4.2GB
Serial number:           77620eed-1e30-5c4f-891a-aa4d3dc9718d

Type:                    Nvme-of Drive
ID:                      a3874636-842f-5503-8f81-a6bfdb7f6458
Name:                    /dev/nvme2n1
State:                   OK
Capacity:                4.2GB
Serial number:           a3874636-842f-5503-8f81-a6bfdb7f6458

Type:                    Nvme-of Drive
ID:                      23770f46-3435-554d-9288-fbfeaeb498c6
Name:                    /dev/nvme0n1
State:                   OK
Capacity:                4.2GB
Serial number:           23770f46-3435-554d-9288-fbfeaeb498c6

Type:                    Nvme-of Drive
ID:                      fb91b1e9-8a1b-5eb8-9f44-7c7908708621
Name:                    /dev/nvme0n2
State:                   OK
Capacity:                4.2GB
Serial number:           fb91b1e9-8a1b-5eb8-9f44-7c7908708621

Type:                    Hdd
ID:                      2dcbd93d-9bb6-4263-af16-436a3fcc16d7
Name:                    /dev/dm-2
State:                   OK

Type:                    Hdd
ID:                      1c92fad9-da28-4e99-b77f-e8dd28824329
Name:                    /dev/dm-1
State:                   OK

Type:                    Hdd
ID:                      aac8ac10-17fa-4cda-988b-23f65485801f
Name:                    /dev/dm-0
State:                   OK

Type:                    Hdd
ID:                      fd780ea7-e109-4184-947a-bd24b3943920
Name:                    /dev/sdc
State:                   OK

Type:                    Hdd
ID:                      a8fa53db-dd9a-4e9e-9ae4-6125f4e4b530
Name:                    /dev/sdb
State:                   OK

Type:                    Hdd
ID:                      a10ebcbf-2130-44ea-a8d8-c231a801a6bb
Name:                    /dev/sda
State:                   OK

Read the device path right before you use it. Device paths such as /dev/nvme0n1 are assigned by the DSX node’s kernel and can change when a subsystem is disconnected and reconnected.

Create a logical volume on a namespace, and then add it to Hammerspace as a storage volume. The logical volume’s name is in the output of the first command.

Command:

logical-volume-create --node-name <dsx-node-name> --device-path <device-path>

Expected output:

Type:                    Logical Volume
ID:                      2b53f6f1-1d21-49f3-aede-637f8ddd806c
Name:                    /hsvol2
Exported path:           /hsvol2
Addresses:
                         [IP: 192.0.2.21/20, Port: 3049, NetId: tcp, NodeNum: 0]
Node:                    dsx1.example.com
Usage:                   DS
Reserved:                false
Filesystem type:         XFS
Capacity:                [Total: 4.2GB]
Hardware:
                         [Type: Nvme-of Drive, ID: 77620eed-1e30-5c4f-891a-aa4d3dc9718d, Name: /dev/nvme2n2, State: OK]

volume-add --node-name <dsx-node-name> --logical-volume-name <logical-volume-name> --name <volume-name>

The Management GUI does both in one flow; see Adding an NVMe-oF Enclosure and Subsystems.

To remove the namespaces of a disconnected or removed subsystem from the DSX node’s inventory, refresh the node:

Command:
```
node-refresh --name <dsx-node-name> --reconcile-components
```