format.dat(4)
NAME
format.dat - disk drive configuration for the format command
DESCRIPTION
format.dat enables you to use your specific disk drives with
format(1M). On Solaris 2.3 and compatible systems, format
will automatically configure and label SCSI drives, so that
they need not be defined in format.dat. Three things can be
defined in the data file:
o search paths
o disk types
o partition tables.
Syntax
The following syntax rules apply to the data file:
o The pound # sign is the comment character. Any text
on a line after a pound sign is not interpreted by
format.
o Each definition in the format.dat file appears on a
single logical line. If the definition is more than
one line long, all but the last line of the definition
must end with a backslash (\).
o A definition consists of a series of assignments that
have an identifier on the left side and one or more
values on the right side. The assignment operator is
the equal sign (=). Assignments within a definition
must be separated by a colon (:).
o White space is ignored by format(1M). If you want an
assigned value to contain white space, enclose the
entire value in double quotes ("). This will cause the
white space within quotes to be preserved as part of
the assignment value.
o Some assignments can have multiple values on the right
hand side. Separate values by a comma (,).
Keywords
The data file contains disk definitions that are read in by
format(1M) when it starts up. Each definition starts with
one of the following keywords: search_path, disk_type, and
partition.
search_path
4.x: Tells format which disks it should search for
when it starts up. The list in the default data file
contains all the disks in the GENERIC configuration
file. If your system has disks that are not in the
GENERIC configuration file, add them to the
search_path definition in your data file. The data
file can contain only one search_path definition.
However, this single definition lets you specify all
the disks you have in your system.
5.x: By default, format(1M) understands all the logi-
cal devices that are of the form /dev/rdsk/cntndnsn;
hence search_path is not normally defined on a 5.x
system.
disk_type
Defines the controller and disk model. Each disk_type
definition contains information concerning the physi-
cal geometry of the disk. The default data file con-
tains definitions for the controllers and disks that
the Solaris operating environment supports. You need
to add a new disk_type only if you have an unsupported
disk. You can add as many disk_type definitions to
the data file as you want.
The following controller types are supported by
format(1M):
XY450 Xylogics 450 controller (SMD)
XD7053
Xylogics 7053 controller (SMD)
SCSI True SCSI (CCS or SCSI-2)
ISP-80
IPI panther controller
The keyword itself is assigned the name of the disk type.
This name appears in the disk's label and is used to iden-
tify the disk type whenever format(1M) is run. Enclose the
name in double quotes to preserve any white space in the
name.
Below are lists of identifiers for supported controllers.
Note that an asterisk ('*') indicates the identifier is man-
datory for that controller -- it is not part of the keyword
name.
The following identifiers are assigned values in all
disk_type definitions:
acyl*
alternate cylinders
asect alternate sectors per track
atrks alternate tracks
fmt_time
formatting time per cylinder
ncyl* number of logical cylinders
nhead*
number of logical heads
nsect*
number of logical sectors per track
pcyl* number of physical cylinders
phead number of physical heads
psect number of physical sectors per track
rpm* drive RPM
These identifiers are for SCSI and MD-21 Controllers
read_retries
page 1 byte 3 (read retries)
write_retries
page 1 byte 8 (write retries)
cyl_skew
page 3 bytes 18-19 (cylinder skew)
trk_skew
page 3 bytes 16-17 (track skew)
trks_zone
page 3 bytes 2-3 (tracks per zone)
cache page 38 byte 2 (cache parameter)
prefetch
page 38 byte 3 (prefetch parameter)
max_prefetch
page 38 byte 4 (minimum prefetch)
min_prefetch
page 38 byte 6 (maximum prefetch)
Note: The Page 38 values are device-specific. Refer the user
to the particular disk's manual for these values.
For SCSI disks, the following geometry specifiers may cause
a mode select on the byte(s) indicated:
asect
page 3 bytes 4-5 (alternate sectors per zone)
atrks page 3 bytes 8-9 (alt. tracks per logical unit)
phead page 4 byte 5 (number of heads)
psect page 3 bytes 10-11 (sectors per track)
And these identifiers are for SMD Controllers Only
bps* bytes per sector (SMD)
bpt* bytes per track (SMD)
Note: under SunOS 5.x, bpt is only required for SMD disks.
Under SunOS 4.x, bpt was required for all disk types, even
though it was only used for SMD disks.
And this identifier is for XY450 SMD Controllers Only
drive_type*
drive type (SMD) (just call this "xy450 drive
type")
partition
Defines a partition table for a specific disk type.
The partition table contains the partitioning informa-
tion, plus a name that lets you refer to it in
format(1M). The default data file contains default
partition definitions for several kinds of disk
drives. Add a partition definition if you reparti-
tioned any of the disks on your system. Add as many
partition definitions to the data file as you need.
Partition naming conventions differ in SunOS 4.x and
in SunOS 5.x.
4.x: the partitions are named as a, b, c, d, e, f, g,
h.
5.x: the partitions are referred to by numbers 0, 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: A sample disk_type and partition.
Following is a sample disk_type and partition definition in
format.dat file for SUN0535 disk device.
disk_type = "SUN0535" \
: ctlr = SCSI : fmt_time = 4 \
: ncyl = 1866 : acyl = 2 : pcyl = 2500 : nhead = 7 : nsect = 80 \
: rpm = 5400
partition = "SUN0535" \
: disk = "SUN0535" : ctlr = SCSI \
: 0 = 0, 64400 : 1 = 115, 103600 : 2 = 0, 1044960 : 6 = 300, 876960
FILES
/etc/format.dat
default data file if format -x is not specified, nor
is there a format.dat file in the current directory.
SEE ALSO
format(1M)
System Administration Guide: Basic Administration
Man(1) output converted with
man2html