Tribblix: manual page: format.dat.5

FORMAT.DAT(5) File Formats and Configurations FORMAT.DAT(5)

NAME

format.dat - disk drive configuration for the format command

DESCRIPTION

format.dat enables you to use your specific disk drives with
format(8). 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(8). 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(8)
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(8) understands all the logical
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
physical geometry of the disk. The default data file
contains 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(8):

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 identify the disk type whenever format(8) 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 mandatory 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
information, plus a name that lets you refer to it in
format(8). The default data file contains default
partition definitions for several kinds of disk
drives. Add a partition definition if you
repartitioned 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.