disksetup(1M)

disksetup -- disk set up utility

Synopsis

Install primary disk

/usr/sbin/disksetup -I[e] -B [-d defaults-file] -b boot-file raw-device [-s]

Install additional disk

/usr/sbin/disksetup -I[e] [-d defaults-file] raw-device [-s]

Write boot code to disk

/usr/sbin/disksetup -b boot-file raw-device [-s]

Description

disksetup performs the low level activities required to install the primary drive or additional drives. The tasks required for disk setup include surface analysis, assisting you to create the layout of slices (either through a set of defaults or by asking you for details), writing the pdinfo, VTOC and alternates tables out to the drive, issuing needed mkfs calls, creating mount points, mounting filesystems, and updating the /etc/vfstab file.

The disksetup command cannot be used to enable large file support. If you need to enable large file support for files greater than 2GB on a vxfs filesystem, use fsadm_vxfs(1M).

-I[e]: Directs the raw-device to be installed, performing the surface analysis, creation/writing the pdinfo, VTOC, and alternates tables (for non-SCSI drives). When e is specified, more than 16 slices can be created; the maximum number of slices is 184.
-B: Denotes that the raw-device will be the system boot device.
-d defaults-file: Passes in a default layout for the raw-device. The information from the defaults file is used to generate the default slices for the UNIX System partition. The layout of the file is described later in this manual page.
-s: Denotes that the disksetup command should operate without returning any queries, information, or error messages (silent mode). This option can be useful for automatic installation.
-b boot-file: Write the boot code found in the boot file into the boot slice of the UNIX System partition. The boot code can be in either ELF or COFF format. Only the required sections/segments will be loaded. The boot file provided with the system is /etc/boot.
raw-device: The required raw-device argument is the character special device for the accessed disk drive. It should use the slice 0 device to represent the entire device (for example, /dev/rdsk/0s0 or /dev/rdsk/c0b0t0d0s0).

Files

/dev/dsk/1s?
/dev/dsk/cCbBtTdDsSS
/dev/dsk/cCbBtTdDpP
/dev/rdsk/1s*
/dev/rdsk/cCbCtCdCs0
/dev/rdsk/cCbCtCdCp0
/etc/vfstab

Usage

If you do not specify a defaults-file, you are asked first which slices you want to create, and then what size you want them to be (you must ultimately confirm these choices, and you can repeat the above steps if you are unsatisfied with your selections.) If you provide a defaults-file, a default layout of slices will be created, based on the defaults-file. If you select the default layout, a VTOC representing the default layout is written to the drive. If you do not select the default layout, you are then given the opportunity to specify the sizes for slices defined in the defaults-file.

Here is a sample layout of slices:

slice # slicename FStype FSblksz slicesize minsz

1 / s5 1024 35M 12

2 /dev/swap - - 2m 8

3 /home ufs 4096 60W 26

5 /home2 ufs 4096 40W 3

10 /stand bfs 512 5M * 5

13 /dev/volpublic - - 20M 0

14 /dev/volprivate - - 256K 128

slice #	slicename	FStype	FSblksz	slicesize	minsz
1	/	s5	1024	35M	12
2	/dev/swap	-	-	2m	8
3	/home	ufs	4096	60W	26
5	/home2	ufs	4096	40W	3
10	/stand	bfs	512	5M *	5
13	/dev/volpublic	-	-	20M	0
14	/dev/volprivate	-	-	256K	128

*: The /stand slice cannot exceed 128 MB in size.

Use the -d defaults-file option to specify your own default layout in defaults-file. Each entry in the defaults-file defines a slice, and must contain the following tab-separated fields:

slice #
slicename
File System type
File System blocksize
slicesize
slicesize specification
minimum slicesize
Required flag (optional)

The slicesize is an integer value greater than zero. It must be immediately followed by the slicesize specification. The minsz denotes the minimum slicesize. It can be immediately followed by the optional character R to denote a required slice.

Either the M, m, W or K are required in the slicesize specification. The slice number is the entry in VTOC where the slice will be located.

Slice name is the mount point if the slice is a filesystem or descriptive name if no file system is to be created. FStype is the file system type for the slice, where s5, ufs, and bfs denote that particular type of mkfs command is to be issued; a dash in the FStype field instructs disksetup to issue no mkfs command for this slice. FSblksz is the primary block size for the specified file system.

The M size specifier character denotes a size in megabytes (MB), so for example, 35M specifies a 35 MB slice size. The K size specifier works much the same way, but denotes a size in kilobytes (KB). The K specifier can only be used in the slicesize parameter. If the K size specifier follows the slicesize parameter, the unit for minsz must be specified in kilobytes, otherwise, the unit for minsz is in megabytes. The m size specifier defines a file system size in terms of the amount of memory in the system, with m defining a multiple of memory. For example, given a system with 4 MB of memory, 2m specifies an 8 MB slice size.

The W size specifier character requests a weighted proportion. To calculate a weighted proportion of xW, x is divided by the sum of the W requests, and then that value is multiplied with the remaining disk space (after all M and m type requests are handled) to define the slice size. For a system with a 100 MB disk and 4 MB of memory, the example defaults file provided here would yield:

   slice 1 35M = 35 MB size
   slice 2 2m = (2 * 4MB) = 8 MB size
   slice 3 60W = (60/100 * 52 MB) = 31 MB size
   slice 5 40W = (40/100 * 52 MB) = 21 MB size
   slice 10 5M = 5 MB size

Warnings

If you install a hard disk using incorrect disk hardware description parameters (for example, in system CMOS), in many cases, system diagnostics will not inform you that you have made a mistake. In addition, system installation will not be affected, and the system will appear to function normally. However, several commands will be affected; specifically, any command that deals with the physical space values on the disk will report incorrect values.

To correct this situation, you must not only correct the CMOS or firmware setting, but you should also perform a low level format of the affected partition, and then reinstall the system. If you cannot perform the low level format, you should move the UNIX partition up a cylinder and then reinstall the system.

References

disk(7), diskadd(1M), fdisk(1M), mkdir(1) mkfs(1M), mount(1M), sd01(7), swap(1M), vtoc(7)

Notices

If you use disksetup to add a drive, and request a surface analysis, normally the surface analysis is performed a track at a time. However, on some SCSI drives, including IBM models, the SCSI Mode Sense command fails, preventing disksetup from obtaining the track size parameters. If this happens, disksetup will provide you the options of performing the disk surface analysis, but do so one sector at a time, or to skip the surface analysis entirely.