intro(7)
NAME
Intro, intro - introduction to special files
DESCRIPTION
This section describes various device and network interfaces
available on the system. The types of interfaces described
include character and block devices, STREAMS modules, net-
work protocols, file systems, and ioctl requests for driver
subsystems and classes.
This section contains the following major collections:
(7D) The system provides drivers for a variety of hardware
devices, such as disk, magnetic tapes, serial communi-
cation lines, mice, and frame buffers, as well as
virtual devices such as pseudo-terminals and windows.
This section describes special files that refer to
specific hardware peripherals and device drivers.
STREAMS device drivers are also described. Charac-
teristics of both the hardware device and the
corresponding device driver are discussed where appli-
cable.
An application accesses a device through that device's
special file. This section specifies the device spe-
cial file to be used to access the device as well as
application programming interface (API) information
relevant to the use of the device driver.
All device special files are located under the /dev-
ices directory. The /devices directory hierarchy
attempts to mirror the hierarchy of system busses,
controllers, and devices configured on the system.
Logical device names for special files in /devices are
located under the /dev directory. Although not every
special file under /devices will have a corresponding
logical entry under /dev, whenever possible, an
application should reference a device using the logi-
cal name for the device. Logical device names are
listed in the FILES section of the page for the dev-
ice in question.
This section also describes driver configuration where
applicable. Many device drivers have a driver confi-
guration file of the form driver_name.conf associated
with them (see driver.conf(4)). The configuration
information stored in the driver configuration file
is used to configure the driver and the device.
Driver configuration files are located in /kernel/drv
and /usr/kernel/drv. Driver configuration files for
platform dependent drivers are located in
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/drv where `uname -i` is
the output of the uname(1) command with the -i
option.
Some driver configuration files may contain user con-
figurable properties. Changes in a driver's confi-
guration file will not take effect until the system is
rebooted or the driver has been removed and re-added
(see rem_drv(1M) and add_drv(1M)).
(7FS) This section describes the programmatic interface for
several file systems supported by SunOS.
(7I) This section describes ioctl requests which apply to a
class of drivers or subsystems. For example, ioctl
requests which apply to most tape devices are dis-
cussed in mtio(7I). Ioctl requests relevant to only a
specific device are described on the man page for
that device. The page for the device in question
should still be examined for exceptions to the ioctls
listed in section 7I.
(7M) This section describes STREAMS modules. Note that
STREAMS drivers are discussed in section 7D.
streamio(7I) contains a list of ioctl requests used to
manipulate STREAMS modules and interface with the
STREAMS framework. Ioctl requests specific to a
STREAMS module will be discussed on the man page for
that module.
(7P) This section describes various network protocols
available in SunOS.
SunOS supports both socket-based and STREAMS-based
network communications. The Internet protocol family,
described in inet(7P), is the primary protocol family
supported by SunOS, although the system can support a
number of others. The raw interface provides low-
level services, such as packet fragmentation and
reassembly, routing, addressing, and basic transport
for socket-based implementations. Facilities for com-
municating using an Internet-family protocol are gen-
erally accessed by specifying the AF_INET address fam-
ily when binding a socket; see socket(3SOCKET) for
details.
Major protocols in the Internet family include:
o The Internet Protocol (IP) itself, which sup-
ports the universal datagram format, as
described in ip(7P). This is the default proto-
col for SOCK_RAW type sockets within the AF_INET
domain.
o The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP); see
tcp(7P). This is the default protocol for
SOCK_STREAM type sockets.
o The User Datagram Protocol (UDP); see udp(7P).
This is the default protocol for SOCK_DGRAM type
sockets.
o The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP); see
arp(7P).
o The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP);
see icmp(7P).
SEE ALSO
add_drv(1M), rem_drv(1M), intro(3), ioctl(2),
socket(3SOCKET), driver.conf(4), arp(7P), icmp(7P),
inet(7P), ip(7P), mtio(7I), st(7D), streamio(7I), tcp(7P),
udp(7P)
System Administration Guide: IP Services
STREAMS Programming Guide
Writing Device Drivers
LIST OF PAGES
Name Description
encraes(7M)
AES-CBC encryption algorithm for IPsec
AH(7P)
See ipsecah(7P)
ARP(7P)
See arp(7P)
ESP(7P)
See ipsecesp(7P)
FSS(7)
Fair share scheduler
ICMP(7P)
See icmp(7P)
IP(7P)
See ip(7P)
RARP(7P)
See rarp(7P)
TCP(7P)
See tcp(7P)
TUN(7M)
See tun(7M)
UDP(7P)
See udp(7P)
adp(7D)
Low-level module for controllers based on Adaptec
AIC-7870P and AIC-7880P SCSI chips
adpu320(7D)
Adaptec Ultra320 SCSI host bus adapter driver
afb(7d)
Elite3D graphics accelerator driver
allkmem(7D)
See mem(7D)
arp(7P)
Address Resolution Protocol
asy(7D)
asynchronous serial port driver
ata(7D)
AT attachment disk driver
audio(7I)
generic audio device interface
audio_support(7I)
audio driver support routines and interface
audiocs(7D)
Crystal Semiconductor 4231 Audio driver
audioens(7D)
Ensoniq 1371/1373 and Creative Labs 5880 driver sup-
port
audiots(7D)
Acer Laboratories Inc. M5451 audio processor interface
authmd5h(7M)
HMAC-MD5 Authentication Algorithm Module for IPsec
authsha1(7M)
HMAC-SHA-1 Authentication Algorithm Module for IPsec
av1394(7D)
1394 audio/video driver
bbc_beep(7D)
Platform-dependent Beep driver for BBC-based
hardware.
bd(7M)
SunButtons and SunDials STREAMS module
bge(7D)
SUNW,bge Gigabit Ethernet driver for Broadcom BCM5704
bpp(7D)
bi-directional parallel port driver
bscbus(7D)
See bscv(7D)
bscv(7D)
Blade support chip interface driver
bufmod(7M)
STREAMS Buffer Module
bwtwo(7D)
black and white memory frame buffer
cadp(7D)
Adaptec Ultra-2 SCSI host bus adapter driver
cadp160 (7D)
Adaptec Ultra160 SCSI host bus adapter driver
cdio(7I)
CD-ROM control operations
ce(7D)
Cassini Gigabit-Ethernet device driver
cgeight(7D)
24-bit color memory frame buffer
cgfour(7D)
P4-bus 8-bit color memory frame buffer
cgfourteen(7D)
24-bit color graphics device
cgsix(7D)
accelerated 8-bit color frame buffer
cgthree(7D)
8-bit color memory frame buffer
cgtwo(7D)
color graphics interface
chs(7D)
IBM ServeRAID PCI host adapter driver
cmdk(7D)
common disk driver
connld(7M)
line discipline for unique stream connections
console(7D)
STREAMS-based console interface
cpr(7)
Suspend and resume module
cvc(7D)
virtual console driver
cvcredir(7D)
virtual console redirection driver
dad(7D)
driver for IDE disk devices
dbri(7D)
Dual Basic Rate ISDN and audio Interface
devfs(7FS)
Devices file system
devinfo(7D)
device information driver
dkio(7I)
disk control operations
dlcosmk(7ipp)
Data Layer Class of Service Marker
dlpi(7P)
Data Link Provider Interface
dman(7D)
SUNW,dman Sun Fire 15K management network device
driver
dmfe(7D)
Davicom Fast Ethernet driver for Davicom DM9102A
dnet(7D)
Ethernet driver for DEC 21040, 21041, 21140 Ethernet
cards
dpt(7D)
DPT ServeRAID IV SCSI host bus adapter and RAID
adapter driver
dr(7d)
Sun Enterprise 10000 and Sun Fire high-end server
dynamic reconfiguration driver
drmach(7d)
See dr(7d)
dscpmk(7ipp)
Differentiated Services Code Point Marker
e1000g(7D)
Intel Gigabit, 82542, 82543, 82544, 82540 based net-
work interface controllers
ecpp(7D)
IEEE 1284 compliant parallel port driver
ehci(7D)
Enhanced host controller driver
elx(7D)
3COM EtherLink III Ethernet device driver
elxl(7D)
3Com Ethernet device driver
encr3des(7M)
Triple-DES-CBC Encryption Algorithm Module for IPSec
encrbfsh(7M)
Blowfish-CBC Encryption Algorithm Module for IPsec
encrdes(7M)
DES-CBC Encryption Algorithm Module for IPsec
eri(7D)
eri Fast-Ethernet device driver
esp(7D)
ESP SCSI Host Bus Adapter Driver
fas(7D)
FAS SCSI Host Bus Adapter Driver
fbio(7I)
frame buffer control operations
fcip(7D)
IP/ARP over Fibre Channel datagram encapsulation
driver
fcp(7D)
Fibre Channel protocol driver
fctl(7D)
Sun Fibre Channel transport library
fd(7D)
drivers for floppy disks and floppy disk controllers
fdc(7D)
See fd(7D)
fdio(7I)
floppy disk control operations
ffb(7D)
24-bit UPA color frame buffer and graphics accelerator
flowacct(7ipp)
Flow Accouting module
fp(7d)
Sun Fibre Channel port driver
ge(7D)
GEM Gigabit-Ethernet device driver
gld(7D)
Generic
glm(7D)
GLM SCSI Host Bus Adapter Driver
gpio_87317(7D)
General purpose I/O driver for SuperIO
grbeep(7d)
Platform-dependent beep driver for SMBus-based
hardware
hci1394(7D)
1394 OpenHCI host controller driver
hdio(7I)
SMD and IPI disk control operations
hid(7D)
Human interface device (HID) class driver
hme(7D)
SUNW,hme Fast-Ethernet device driver
hpfc(7D)
Agilent fibre channel host bus adapter
hsfs(7FS)
High Sierra [amp ] ISO 9660 CD-ROM file system
hubd(7D)
USB hub driver
i2bsc(7D)
See bscv(7D)
i2o_bs(7D)
Block Storage OSM for I2O
i2o_scsi(7D)
an I2O OS specific module that supports
icmp(7P)
Internet Control Message Protocol
icmp6(7P)
Internet Control Message Protocol for Internet Proto-
col Version 6
idn(7d)
inter-domain network device driver
ieef(7D)
Intel Ethernet device driver
if(7P)
See if_tcp(7P)
if_tcp(7P)
general properties of Internet Protocol network inter-
faces
ifb(7d)
24-bit PCI color frame buffer and graphics accelerator
driver
ifp(7D)
ISP2100 Family Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter Driver
inet(7P)
Internet protocol family
inet6(7P)
Internet protocol family for Internet Protocol version
6
ip(7P)
Internet Protocol
ip6(7P)
Internet Protocol Version 6
ipgpc(7ipp)
IP Generic Packet Classifier
ipqos(7ipp)
IP Quality of Service
iprb(7D)
Intel 82557, 82558, 82559[ndash ]controlled network
interface controllers
ipsec(7P)
Internet Protocol Security Architecture
ipsecah(7P)
IPsec Authentication Header
ipsecesp(7P)
IPsec Encapsulating Security Payload
isdnio(7I)
ISDN interfaces
isp(7D)
ISP SCSI Host Bus Adapter Driver
kb(7M)
keyboard STREAMS module
kdmouse(7D)
built-in mouse device interface
kmem(7D)
See mem(7D)
kstat(7D)
kernel statistics driver
ksyms(7D)
kernel symbols
ldterm(7M)
standard STREAMS terminal line discipline module
le(7D)
Am7990 (LANCE) Ethernet device driver
lebuffer(7D)
See le(7D)
ledma(7D)
See le(7D)
llc1(7D)
Logical Link Control Protocol Class 1 Driver
llc2(7D)
Class II logical link control driver
lockstat(7D)
kernel lock statistics driver
lofi(7D)
Loopback file driver
lofs(7FS)
loopback virtual file system
log(7D)
interface to STREAMS error logging and event tracing
logi(7D)
LOGITECH Bus Mouse device interface
lp(7D)
driver for parallel port
ltem(7D)
ANSI Layered Console Driver
m64(7D)
PGX, PGX24, and PGX64 frame buffers device driver
md(7D)
user configurable pseudo device driver
mediator(7D)
support for HA configurations consisting of two
strings of drives
mem(7D)
physical or virtual memory access
mhd(7i)
multihost disk control operations
mixer(7I)
audio mixer audio personality module interface
mpt(7D)
SCSI host bus adapter driver
msglog(7D)
message output collection from system startup or back-
ground applications
msm(7D)
Microsoft Bus Mouse device interface
mt(7D)
tape interface
mtio(7I)
general magnetic tape interface
ncrs(7D)
SCSI host bus adapter driver
ngdr(7d)
See dr(7d)
ngdrmach(7d)
See dr(7d)
null(7D)
the null file, also called the null device
ocf_escr1(7D)
Sun external serial smart card terminal driver
ocf_ibutton(7D)
iButton Smart Card terminal driver
ocf_iscr1(7D)
I2C smart card card terminal driver
ohci(7D)
OpenHCI host controller driver
openprom(7D)
PROM monitor configuration interface
pcata(7D)
PCMCIA ATA card device driver
pcelx(7D)
3COM EtherLink III PCMCIA Ethernet Adapter
pcfs(7FS)
DOS formatted file system
pcic(7D)
Intel i82365SL PC Card Interface Controller
pckt(7M)
STREAMS Packet Mode module
pcmem(7D)
PCMCIA memory card nexus driver
pcn(7D)
AMD PCnet Ethernet controller device driver
pcram(7D)
PCMCIA RAM memory card device driver
pcscsi(7D)
low-level module for the AMD PCscsi, PCscsi II,
PCnet-SCSI, and Qlogic QLA510 PCI-to-SCSI bus adapters
pcser(7D)
PCMCIA serial card device driver
pf_key(7P)
security association database
pfb(7D)
Sun XVR-100 Graphics Accelerator device driver
pfmod(7M)
STREAMS Packet Filter Module
pipemod(7M)
STREAMS pipe flushing module
pln(7D)
SPARCstorage Array SCSI Host Bus Adapter Driver
pm(7D)
Power Management driver
poll(7d)
driver for fast poll on many file descriptors
prnio(7I)
generic printer interface
ptem(7M)
STREAMS Pseudo Terminal Emulation module
ptm(7D)
STREAMS pseudo-tty master driver
pts(7D)
STREAMS pseudo-tty slave driver
pty(7D)
pseudo-terminal driver
qfe(7d)
SUNW,qfe Quad Fast-Ethernet device driver
qlc(7D)
ISP2200 Family Fibre Channel host bus adapter driver
quotactl(7I)
manipulate disk quotas
ramdisk(7D)
RAM disk device driver
random(7D)
Strong random number generator device
rarp(7P)
Reverse address resolution protocol
rns_smt(7D)
Rockwell Station Management driver
route(7P)
kernel packet forwarding database
routing(7P)
system support for packet network routing
sad(7D)
STREAMS Administrative Driver
sbpro(7D)
Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16, and Sound Blaster
AWE32 audio device driver
sc_nct(7D)
NetraCT-40/60 system management controller (SMC) I2C
nexus driver
scman(7D)
SUNW,scman Sun Fire high end server management network
device driver
scmi2c(7d)
Smart Transporter chip device driver
scsa2usb(7D)
SCSI to USB bridge driver
scsi_vhci(7D)
SCSI virtual host controller interconnect driver
sd(7D)
SCSI disk and ATAPI/SCSI CD-ROM device driver
se(7D)
Siemens 82532 ESCC serial communications driver
se_hdlc(7D)
on-board high-performance serial HDLC interface
ses(7D)
SCSI enclosure services device driver
sesio(7I)
enclosure services device driver interface
sf(7D)
SOC+ FC-AL FCP Driver
sgen(7D)
Generic SCSI device driver
sk98sol(7D)
SysKonnect Gigabit Ethernet SK-98xx device driver
skfp(7D)
SysKonnect FDDI PCI device driver
slp(7P)
Service Location Protocol
smbus(7D)
System Management Bus controller driver
soc(7D)
Serial Optical Controller (SOC) device driver
socal(7D)
Serial Optical Controller for Fibre Channel Arbitrated
Loop (SOC+) device driver
sockio(7I)
ioctls that operate directly on sockets
sppptun(7M)
PPP tunneling pseudo-driver
spwr(7D)
SMC EtherPower II 10/100 (9432) Ethernet device driver
ssd(7D)
driver for SPARCstorage Array and Fibre Channel Arbi-
trated Loop disk devices
st(7D)
driver for SCSI tape devices
stc(7D)
Serial Parallel Communications driver for SBus
stp4020(7D)
STP 4020 PCMCIA Adapter
streamio(7I)
STREAMS ioctl commands
su(7D)
asynchronous serial port driver
sxp(7D)
Rockwell 2200 SNAP Streams Driver
symhisl(7D)
symhisl SCSI Host Bus Adapter Driver
sysmsg(7D)
system message routing to console devices
tcp(7P)
Internet Transmission Control Protocol
tcx(7D)
24-bit SBus color memory frame buffer
termio(7I)
general terminal interface
termiox(7I)
extended general terminal interface
ticlts(7D)
loopback transport providers
ticots(7D)
See ticlts(7D)
ticotsord(7D)
See ticlts(7D)
timod(7M)
Transport Interface cooperating STREAMS module
tirdwr(7M)
Transport Interface read/write interface STREAMS
module
tmpfs(7FS)
memory based file system
tokenmt(7ipp)
Single and Two Rate Three Conformance Level Meter
tpf(7D)
Platform Specific Module (PSM) for Tricord Systems
Enterprise Server Models ES3000, ES4000 and ES5000.
tsalarm(7D)
Alarm device driver
tswtclmt(7ipp)
Time Sliding Window Three Conformance Level Meter
ttcompat(7M)
V7, 4BSD and XENIX STREAMS compatibility module
tty(7D)
controlling terminal interface
ttymux(7D)
Serial I/O multiplexing STREAMS device driver
tun(7M)
tunneling STREAMS module
uata(7D)
IDE Host Bus Adapter Driver
udfs(7FS)
universal disk format file system
udp(7P)
Internet User Datagram Protocol
ufs(7FS)
UFS file system
ugen(7D)
USB generic driver
uhci(7D)
host controller driver
urandom(7D)
See random(7D)
usb_ac(7D)
USB audio control driver
usb_ah(7M)
USB audio HID STREAMS module
usb_as(7D)
USB audio streaming driver
usb_mid(7D)
USB Multi Interface Driver
usba(7D)
Solaris USB Architecture (USBA)
usbkbm(7M)
keyboard STREAMS module for Sun USB Keyboard
usbms(7M)
USB mouse STREAMS module
usbprn(7D)
USB printer class driver
usbser_edge(7D)
Digi Edgeport USB to serial converter driver
uscsi(7I)
user SCSI command interface
usoc(7D)
universal serial optical controller for Fibre Channel
arbitrated loop (SOC+) device driver
visual_io(7I)
Solaris VISUAL I/O control operations
volfs(7FS)
Volume Management file system
vuid2ps2(7M)
See vuidmice(7M)
vuid3ps2(7M)
See vuidmice(7M)
vuidm3p(7M)
See vuidmice(7M)
vuidm4p(7M)
See vuidmice(7M)
vuidm5p(7M)
See vuidmice(7M)
vuidmice(7M)
converts mouse protocol to Firm Events
wrsm(7D)
WCI Remote Shared Memory (WRSM) device driver
wrsmd(7D)
WCI Remote Shared Memory (WRSM) DLPI driver
wscons(7D)
workstation console
xmemfs(7FS)
extended memory file system
zero(7D)
source of zeroes
zs(7D)
Zilog 8530 SCC serial communications driver
zsh(7D)
On-board serial HDLC/SDLC interface
zulu(7d)
Sun XVR-4000 Graphics Accelerator driver
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