.\"
.\" This file and its contents are supplied under the terms of the
.\" Common Development and Distribution License ("CDDL"), version 1.0.
.\" You may only use this file in accordance with the terms of version
.\" 1.0 of the CDDL.
.\"
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.\" source.  A copy of the CDDL is also available via the Internet at
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.\" Copyright 2014 Garrett D'Amore <garrett@damore.org>
.
.Dd "Jul 30, 2014"
.Dt BLKDEV 7D
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm blkdev
.Nd generic block device driver
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
driver supports generic block-oriented devices, such as non-volatile
memory storage devices. It provides a hardware independent layer
for such storage devices, allowing them to concentrate on the
hardware-specific details, while
.Nm
takes care of all the other details, such as
.Xr dkio 7I .
.Lp
The
.Nm
driver only supports block-oriented, random-access devices.  It does
not support traditional rotational media and does not support
SCSI commands.
.Lp
The most typical use case for
.Nm
devices is to be used to host a file system, such as
.Xr pcfs 7FS
or
.Xr zfs 7FS .
.
.Sh INTERFACE STABILITY
.Sy Uncommitted .
.
.Sh FILES
.
.Bl -tag -compact -width Pa
.It Pa /dev/dsk/cndnsn
Block device minor nodes.
.It Pa /dev/rdsk/cndnsn
Raw block device minor nodes.
.El
.Lp
In the above, the following substitutions may occur:
.Bl -tag -offset indent -width Va
.It Va cn
A controller number, typically one for each instance of
each underlying hardware dependent device driver (there can be multiple
such drivers in the system.)  Controller numbers are dynamically assigned
by the system.
.It Va dn
Generally, each instance of the underlying hardware will have a
logical unit number as well.
.It Va sn
This is the
.Em slice
number, representing a subset of the disk.  See
.Xr dkio 7I .
.El
.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr devinfo 1M ,
.Xr fdisk 1M ,
.Xr mount 1M ,
.Xr rmformat 1M ,
.Xr umount 1M ,
.Xr sd 7D ,
.Xr pcfs 7FS ,
.Xr zfs 7FS ,
.Xr dkio 7I