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FORMAT.DAT(4)							 FORMAT.DAT(4)

NAME
       format.dat - disk drive configuration for the format command

DESCRIPTION
       format.dat  enables  you	 to  use  your	specific disk drives with for‐
       mat(1M). On Solaris 2.3 and compatible systems, format  will  automati‐
       cally 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(1M).  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(1M)
       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  configura‐
		      tion  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(1M) 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 for‐
		      mat(1M):

		      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(1M)  is  run.
		      Enclose  the name in double quotes to preserve any white
		      space in the name.

		      Below  are  lists	 of  identifiers  for  supported  con‐
		      trollers.	 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(1M). The
		      default data file contains default partition definitions
		      for  several kinds of disk drives. Add a partition defi‐
		      nition 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.

SEE ALSO
       format(1M)

       System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

				 Apr 19, 2001			 FORMAT.DAT(4)
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