format.dat(4)							   File Formats 						     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 format(1M).  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(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 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(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 format(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 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(1M).  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 defini-
		       tions 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

SunOS 5.10							    19 Apr 2001 						     format.dat(4)