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 FORMAT.DAT 5 "Apr 19, 2001"
 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:




search paths






disk types






partition tables.



 "Syntax"

The following syntax rules apply to the data file:




The pound # sign is the comment character. Any text on a line after a
pound sign is not interpreted by format.






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 (\e).






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 (:).






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.






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" \e
 : ctlr = SCSI : fmt_time = 4 \e
 : ncyl = 1866 : acyl = 2 : pcyl = 2500 : nhead = 7 : nsect = 80 \e
 : rpm = 5400
partition = "SUN0535" \e
 : disk = "SUN0535" : ctlr = SCSI \e
 : 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 (8) 

System Administration Guide: Basic Administration