1format.dat(4) File Formats format.dat(4)
2
6 format.dat - disk drive configuration for the format command
7
9 format.dat enables you to use your specific disk drives with for‐
10 mat(1M). On Solaris 2.3 and compatible systems, format will automati‐
11 cally configure and label SCSI drives, so that they need not be defined
12 in format.dat. Three things can be defined in the data file:
13 o search paths
15 o disk types
17 o partition tables.
19 Syntax
21 The following syntax rules apply to the data file:
22 o The pound # sign is the comment character. Any text on a
24 line after a pound sign is not interpreted by format.
25 o Each definition in the format.dat file appears on a single
27 logical line. If the definition is more than one line long,
28 all but the last line of the definition must end with a
29 backslash (\).
30 o A definition consists of a series of assignments that have
32 an identifier on the left side and one or more values on the
33 right side. The assignment operator is the equal sign (=).
34 Assignments within a definition must be separated by a colon
35 (:).
36 o White space is ignored by format(1M). If you want an
38 assigned value to contain white space, enclose the entire
39 value in double quotes ("). This will cause the white space
40 within quotes to be preserved as part of the assignment
41 value.
42 o Some assignments can have multiple values on the right hand
44 side. Separate values by a comma (,).
45 Keywords
47 The data file contains disk definitions that are read in by format(1M)
48 when it starts up. Each definition starts with one of the following
49 keywords: search_path, disk_type, and partition.
50 search_path 4.x: Tells format which disks it should search for when
52 it starts up. The list in the default data file contains
53 all the disks in the GENERIC configuration file. If your
54 system has disks that are not in the GENERIC configura‐
55 tion file, add them to the search_path definition in
56 your data file. The data file can contain only one
57 search_path definition. However, this single definition
58 lets you specify all the disks you have in your system.
59 5.x: By default, format(1M) understands all the logical
61 devices that are of the form /dev/rdsk/cntndnsn; hence
62 search_path is not normally defined on a 5.x system.
63 disk_type Defines the controller and disk model. Each disk_type
66 definition contains information concerning the physical
67 geometry of the disk. The default data file contains
68 definitions for the controllers and disks that the
69 Solaris operating environment supports. You need to add
70 a new disk_type only if you have an unsupported disk.
71 You can add as many disk_type definitions to the data
72 file as you want.
73 The following controller types are supported by for‐
75 mat(1M):
76 XY450 Xylogics 450 controller (SMD)
78 XD7053 Xylogics 7053 controller (SMD)
81 SCSI True SCSI (CCS or SCSI-2)
84 ISP-80 IPI panther controller
87 The keyword itself is assigned the name of the disk
89 type. This name appears in the disk's label and is used
90 to identify the disk type whenever format(1M) is run.
91 Enclose the name in double quotes to preserve any white
92 space in the name.
93 Below are lists of identifiers for supported con‐
95 trollers. Note that an asterisk ('*') indicates the
96 identifier is mandatory for that controller -- it is not
97 part of the keyword name.
98 The following identifiers are assigned values in all
100 disk_type definitions:
101 acyl* alternate cylinders
103 asect alternate sectors per track
106 atrks alternate tracks
109 fmt_time formatting time per cylinder
112 ncyl* number of logical cylinders
115 nhead* number of logical heads
118 nsect* number of logical sectors per track
121 pcyl* number of physical cylinders
124 phead number of physical heads
127 psect number of physical sectors per track
130 rpm* drive RPM
133 These identifiers are for SCSI and MD-21 Controllers
135 read_retries page 1 byte 3 (read retries)
137 write_retries page 1 byte 8 (write retries)
140 cyl_skew page 3 bytes 18-19 (cylinder skew)
143 trk_skew page 3 bytes 16-17 (track skew)
146 trks_zone page 3 bytes 2-3 (tracks per zone)
149 cache page 38 byte 2 (cache parameter)
152 prefetch page 38 byte 3 (prefetch parameter)
155 max_prefetch page 38 byte 4 (minimum prefetch)
158 min_prefetch page 38 byte 6 (maximum prefetch)
161 Note: The Page 38 values are device-specific. Refer the
163 user to the particular disk's manual for these values.
164 For SCSI disks, the following geometry specifiers may
166 cause a mode select on the byte(s) indicated:
167 asect page 3 bytes 4-5 (alternate sectors per zone)
169 atrks page 3 bytes 8-9 (alt. tracks per logical unit)
172 phead page 4 byte 5 (number of heads)
175 psect page 3 bytes 10-11 (sectors per track)
178 And these identifiers are for SMD Controllers Only
180 bps* bytes per sector (SMD)
182 bpt* bytes per track (SMD)
185 Note: under SunOS 5.x, bpt is only required for SMD
187 disks. Under SunOS 4.x, bpt was required for all disk
188 types, even though it was only used for SMD disks.
189 And this identifier is for XY450 SMD Controllers Only
191 drive_type* drive type (SMD) (just call this "xy450
193 drive type")
194 partition Defines a partition table for a specific disk type. The
198 partition table contains the partitioning information,
199 plus a name that lets you refer to it in format(1M). The
200 default data file contains default partition definitions
201 for several kinds of disk drives. Add a partition defi‐
202 nition if you repartitioned any of the disks on your
203 system. Add as many partition definitions to the data
204 file as you need.
205 Partition naming conventions differ in SunOS 4.x and in
207 SunOS 5.x.
208 4.x: the partitions are named as a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h.
210 5.x: the partitions are referred to by numbers 0, 1, 2,
212 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
213
216 Example 1 A sample disk_type and partition.
217 Following is a sample disk_type and partition definition in format.dat
220 file for SUN0535 disk device.
221 disk_type = "SUN0535" \
224 : ctlr = SCSI : fmt_time = 4 \
225 : ncyl = 1866 : acyl = 2 : pcyl = 2500 : nhead = 7 : nsect = 80 \
226 : rpm = 5400
227 partition = "SUN0535" \
228 : disk = "SUN0535" : ctlr = SCSI \
229 : 0 = 0, 64400 : 1 = 115, 103600 : 2 = 0, 1044960 : 6 = 300, 876960
230
234 /etc/format.dat default data file if format -x is not specified, nor
235 is there a format.dat file in the current directory.
236
239 format(1M)
240 System Administration Guide: Basic Administration
243SunOS 5.11 19 Apr 2001 format.dat(4)