Sun Microsystems System Administration Guide, Volume 1 (2000)

Examples of device identification during each phase are provided below. Device

output varies based on your system configuration.

IA: Menus Displayed During the Device

Identification Phase

Several menus are displayed as the Configuration Assistant attempts to identify

devices on the system.

IA: Configuration Assistant Screen

This screen appears each time you boot the Configuration Assistant and access the

menus. The Configuration Assistant runs every time the system is booted, although

the autoboot process bypasses the menus.

Solaris Device Configuration Assistant

The Solaris(TM) (Intel Platform Edition) Device Configuration Assistant

scans to identify system hardware, lists identified devices, and can

boot the Solaris software from a specified device. This program must be

used to install the Solaris operating environment, add a driver,

or change the hardware on the system.

> To perform a full scan to identify all system hardware, choose Continue.

> To diagnose possible full scan failures, choose Specific Scan.

> To add new or updated device drivers, choose Add Driver.

About navigation...

- The mouse cannot be used.

- If the keyboard does not have function keys or they do not respond,

press ESC. The legend at the bottom of the screen will change to

show the ESC keys to use for navigation.

- The F2 key performs the default action.

F2_Continue F3_Specific Scan F4_Add Driver F6_Help

IA: Bus Enumeration Screen

The Bus Enumeration screen appears briefly while the Configuration Assistant

gathers hardware configuration data for devices that can be detected automatically.

The Boot Process (Reference)

167

Bus Enumeration

Determining bus types and gathering hardware configuration data ...

Please wait ...

IA: Scanning Devices Screen

The Scanning Devices screen appears while the Configuration Assistant manually

scans for devices that can only be detected with special drivers.

Scanning Devices

The system is being scanned to identify system hardware.

If the scanning stalls, press the system’s reset button. When the

system reboots, choose Specific Scan or Help.

Scanning: Floppy disk controller

#######################

100

Please wait ...

IA: Identified Devices Screen

The Identified Devices screen displays which devices have been identified on the

system. From here, you can continue to the Boot Solaris menu or perform optional

tasks, such as set a keyboard configuration, view and edit devices, set up a serial

console, and save and delete configurations.

Identified Devices

The following devices have been identified on this system. To identify

devices not on this list or to modify device characteristics, such as

keyboard configuration, choose Device Tasks. Platform types may be

included in this list.

ISA: Floppy disk controller

ISA: Motherboard

ISA: PnP bios: 16550-compatible serial controller

ISA: PnP bios: Mouse controller

ISA: PnP bios: Parallel port

ISA: System keyboard (US-English)

PCI: Bus Mastering IDE controller

(continued)

168

(Continuation)

PCI: Universal Serial Bus

PCI: VGA compatible display adapter

F2_Continue

F3_Back

F4_Device Tasks

F6_Help

IA: Menus Displayed During the Boot Phase

During this phase, you can determine the way in which the system is booted.

IA: Boot Solaris Menu

The Boot Solaris menu allows you to select the device from which to boot the Solaris

release. You can also perform optional tasks, such as view and edit autoboot and

property settings. Once a boot device is selected and you choose Continue, the

Solaris kernel will begin to boot.

Boot Solaris

Select one of the identified devices to boot the Solaris kernel and

choose Continue.

To perform optional features, such as modifying the autoboot and property

settings, choose Boot Tasks.

An asterisk (*) indicates the current default boot device.

> To make a selection use the arrow keys, and press Enter to mark it [X].

[X] DISK: (*) Target 0:QUANTUM FIREBALL1280A

on Bus Mastering IDE controller on Board PCI at Dev 7, Func 1

[ ] DISK: Target 1:ST5660A

on Bus Mastering IDE controller on Board PCI at Dev 7, Func 1

[ ] DISK: Target 0:Maxtor 9 0680D4

on Bus Mastering IDE controller on Board PCI at Dev 7, Func 1

[ ] CD

: Target 1:TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-5602B

1546

on Bus Mastering IDE controller on Board PCI at Dev 7, Func 1

F2_Continue

F3_Back

F4_Boot Tasks

F6_Help

IA: Current Boot Parameters Menu

This menu appears each time you boot Solaris from the local disk. Let the five-second

timeout elapse if you want to boot the default Solaris kernel. If you want to boot with

different options, select an appropriate option before the timeout period elapses.

The Boot Process (Reference)

169

<<< Current Boot Parameters >>>

Boot path: /pci@0,0/pci-ide@7,1/ide@0/cmdk@0,0:a

Boot args:

Type

b [file-name] [boot-flags] <ENTER>

to boot with options

i <ENTER>

to enter boot interpreter

<ENTER>

to boot with defaults

<<< timeout in 5 seconds >>>

Select (b)oot or (i)nterpreter:

IA: The Boot Process

The following table describes the boot process.

TABLE 12-3

Description of the Boot Process

Boot Phase

Description

BIOS

1. When the system is turned on, the PC BIOS runs self-test

diagnostics to verify the system’s hardware and memory. The system

begins to boot automatically if no errors are found. If errors are found,

error messages are displayed describing recovery options.

Additional hardware devices’ BIOS are run at this time.

2. The BIOS boot program tries to read the first physical sector from

the boot device. This first disk sector on the boot device contains the

master boot record mboot, which is loaded and executed. If no mboot

file is found, an error message is displayed.

Boot Programs

3. mboot, which contains disk information needed to find the active

partition and the location of the Solaris boot program, pboot, loads

and executes pboot.

4. pboot loads bootblk, the primary boot program, whose purpose

is to load the secondary boot program located in the ufs file system.

5. If there is more than one bootable partition, bootblk reads the

fdisk table to locate the default boot partition, and builds and

displays a menu of available partitions. You have a 30-second interval

to select an alternate partition from which to boot. This step only

occurs if there is more than one bootable partition present on the

system.

170

TABLE 12-3

Description of the Boot Process

(continued)

Boot Phase

Description

6. bootblk finds and executes the secondary boot program,

boot.bin or ufsboot, in the root file system. You have a 5-second

interval to interrupt the autoboot to start the Configuration Assistant.

7. The secondary boot program, boot.bin or ufsboot, starts a

command interpreter that executes the /etc/bootrc script, which

provides a menu of choices for booting the system. The default action

is to load and execute the kernel. You have a 5-second interval to

specify a boot option or start the boot interpreter.

Kernel

8. The kernel initializes itself and begins loading modules, using the

Initialization

secondary boot program (boot.bin or ufsboot) to read the files.

When the kernel has loaded enough modules to mount the root file

system, it unmaps the secondary boot program and continues, using

its own resources.

9. The kernel creates a user process and starts the /sbin/init

process, which starts other processes by reading the /etc/inittab

file.

init

10. The /sbin/init process starts the run control (rc) scripts, which

execute a series of other scripts. These scripts (/sbin/rc*) check and

mount file systems, start various processes, and perform system

maintenance tasks.

The Boot Process (Reference)

171

CHAPTER

Managing Removable Media Topics

This section provides instructions for using removable media in the Solaris

environment. This section contains these chapters.

Provides general information about using CDs and

Chapter 14

diskettes, including a comparison of automatic and

manual mounting.

Provides step-by-step instructions for using CDs from the

Chapter 15

command line, plus instructions for starting and stopping

Volume Management.

Provides step-by-step instructions for formatting and

Chapter 16

using diskettes from the command line.

Provides step-by-step instructions for formatting and

Chapter 17

using PCMCIA memory cards from the command line.

Provides a high-level description of how the Solaris

Chapter 18

environment creates special mount points and symbolic

links to provide easy access to diskettes and CDs.

173

CHAPTER

Guidelines for Using CDs and Diskettes

(Overview)

This chapter provides general guidelines for using diskettes and CDs in the Solaris

environment.

This is a list of overview information in this chapter.

“Where to Find Managing Removable Media Tasks” on page 175

“Removable Media Features and Benefits” on page 176

“Comparison of Automatic and Manual Mounting” on page 176

“What You Can Do With Diskettes and CDs” on page 177

Where to Find Managing Removable

Media Tasks

Use these references to find step-by-step instructions for managing removable media.

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

For information on using removable media with File Manager in the Common

Desktop Environment, see Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User’s Guide.

175

Removable Media Features and Benefits

The Solaris environment gives users and software developers a standard interface for

dealing with diskettes and CDs. Referred to as Volume Management, this interface

provides three major benefits:

By automatically mounting diskettes and CDs, it simplifies their use. (For a

comparison between manual and automatic mounting, see Table 14-1.)

It enables you to access diskettes and CDs without having to become superuser.

It allows you to give other systems on the network automatic access to any

diskettes and CDs you insert into your system (see Chapter 15 and Chapter 16).

Comparison of Automatic and Manual

Mounting

The table below compares the steps involved in manual mounting (without Volume

Management) and automatic mounting (with Volume Management).

TABLE 14-1

Comparison of Manual and Automatic Mounting

Steps

Manual Mounting

Automatic Mounting

Insert media.

Become superuser.

For diskettes, use the volcheck

command.

Determine the location of the media

Volume Management automatically

device.

performs many of the tasks previously

required to manually mount and work

with CDs and diskettes.

Create a mount point.

Make sure you are not in the mount

point directory.

Mount the device using the proper

mount options.

176

TABLE 14-1

Comparison of Manual and Automatic Mounting

(continued)

Steps

Manual Mounting

Automatic Mounting

Exit the superuser account.

Work with files on media.

Become superuser.

Unmount the media device.

Eject media.

Exit the superuser account.

What You Can Do With Diskettes and

CDs

Essentially, Volume Management enables you to access diskettes and CDs just as

manual mounting does, but more easily and without the need for superuser access.

To make diskettes and CDs easier to work with, they are mounted in

easy-to-remember locations.

TABLE 14-2

How to Access Data on Diskettes and CDs

To Access ...

Insert ...

And Find the Files In ...

Files on a diskette

The diskette and enter

/vol/dev/aliases/floppy0

volcheck

Raw data on a

The diskette and enter

/vol/dev/aliases/floppy0

diskette

volcheck

Files on a CD

The CD and wait for a few

/cdrom/cdrom0

seconds

If your system has more than one diskette or CD-ROM drive, see the table below for

their access points.

Guidelines for Using CDs and Diskettes (Overview)

177

CHAPTER

Using CDs From the Command Line

(Tasks)

This chapter describes all the tasks required to use CDs in the Solaris environment

from the command line. This is a list of the step-by-step instructions in this chapter.

“How to Load a CD” on page 181

“How to Examine the Contents of a CD” on page 181

“How to Copy Information From a CD” on page 181

“How to Find Out If a CD Is Still in Use” on page 182

“How to Eject a CD” on page 183

“How to Access CDs on Other Systems” on page 184

“How to Make Local CDs Available to Other Systems” on page 185

“How to Configure a System to Play Musical CDs” on page 188

“How to Prepare a System for a New CD-ROM Drive” on page 189

“How to Stop Volume Management” on page 190

“How to Restart Volume Management” on page 190

Using CDs Task Map

179

TABLE 15-1

Using CDs Task Map

Task

Description

For Instructions, Go To ...

1. Load the CD

Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive.

“How to Load a CD” on page

181

2. Examine Its Contents

Optional. To examine the contents of the CD,

“How to Examine the Contents

look in the appropriate directory under /

of a CD” on page 181

cdrom.

3. Copy Files or Directories

Optional. Copy files or directories from the

“How to Copy Information

CD as you would from any other location in

From a CD” on page 181

the file system.

4. Is CD Still in Use?

Optional. Before ejecting the CD, find out if it

“How to Find Out If a CD Is

is still in use.

Still in Use” on page 182

5. Eject the CD

When you finish, eject the CD from the

“How to Eject a CD” on page

CD-ROM drive.

183

Using CD Names

When working with CDs, you can identify them by name or with a designator from

the table below. For brevity, task descriptions use cdrom0, but you can replace this

with either the CD name or a different designator.

TABLE 15-2

How to Identify CDs

Alternate Name

First CD-ROM drive

cdrom0

Second CD-ROM drive

cdrom1

Third CD-ROM drive

cdrom2

180

How to Load a CD

Insert the CD. Shortly after the light stops flashing (about five to ten seconds), the

CD is mounted to /cdrom. To verify that the CD is mounted, perform the task “How

to Examine the Contents of a CD” on page 181.

Note - Most CDs are formatted to the ISO 9660 standard, which is portable, so most

CDs can be mounted by Volume Management. However, as described in Chapter 18,

UFS CDs are not portable between architectures, so they must be used on the

architecture for which they were designed. If you are having trouble mounting a CD,

particularly if it is an installation CD, make sure its UFS file system is appropriate

for your system’s architecture (check the label on the CD).

How to Examine the Contents of a CD

Use the ls -L command to view the contents of /cdrom directory.

$ ls -L [-l] /cdrom/cdrom0

Includes symbolic links in the output.

−L

Long format. Includes permissions and owners in the output.

−l

Example—Examining the Contents of a CD

The following example lists the contents of the CD loaded into the first CD-ROM

directory, /cdrom/cdrom0.

$ ls -L -l /cdrom/cdrom0

total 166

drwxr-xr-x

4 root

root

2048 Jul 21 05:18 MU

drwxr-xr-x

4 root

root

2048 Jul 21 05:18 Solaris_7_MU3

-rwxr-xr-x

1 root

root

30952 Jul 21 05:18 backout_mu

-rwxr-xr-x

1 root

root

49604 Jul 21 05:18 install_mu

How to Copy Information From a CD

You can access a CD’s files and directories just like any other file system. The only

significant restrictions are ownership and permissions. For instance, if you copy a file

from a CD into your file system, you’ll be the owner, but you won’t have write

permissions (because the file never had them on the CD); you’ll have to change the

permissions yourself.

Using CDs From the Command Line (Tasks)

181

1. Make sure the CD is mounted.

$ ls /cdrom

The ls command displays the contents of a mounted CD. If no contents are

displayed, see “How to Load a CD” on page 181.

2. Copy the files or directories.

To Copy ...

Use ...

A file

A directory

cp -r

Example—Copying Information From a CD

The following example uses cp to copy a single file from the

/cdrom/solstice_sysmgt_2_3 directory into the system’s working directory

(denoted by the “.”).

$ cp /cdrom/solstice_sysmgt_2_3/README .

$ ls -l

-r--r--r--

1 pmorph

users

4618 May

9 08:09 README

Note that when a file or directory is copied from a CD into your file system, you

become its owner, but it retains the permissions it had on the CD:

-r--r--r--

To overwrite it, you’ll need to change the permissions with the chmod command. See

“Securing Files (Tasks)” in System Administration Guide, Volume

2 for more

information on using the chmod command.

How to Find Out If a CD Is Still in Use

1. Become superuser.

2. Identify the processes accessing the CD.

The fuser(1M) command lists the processes that are currently accessing the CD

that you specify.

# fuser -u [-k] /cdrom/cdrom0

182

Displays the user of the CD.

−u

Kills the process accessing the CD.

−k

The fuser command might not always identify all the killed processes. To be sure,

run it again with the −u option.

Example—Finding Out If a CD Is Still in Use

In the following example, the processes 6400c and 6399c are accessing the

/cdrom/cdrom0 directory, and the process owners are root and smith,

respectively.

# fuser -u /cdrom/cdrom0

/cdrom/cdrom0: 6400c(root)

6399c(smith)

You can kill the processes individually (as superuser), or you can use the fuser

command with the −k option, which kills all the processes accessing that file system,

as shown in the following example.

# fuser -u -k /cdrom/cdrom0

/cdrom/cdrom0: 6400c(root)Killed

6399c(smith)Killed

How to Eject a CD

1. Make sure the CD is not being used.

Remember, a CD is “being used” if a shell or an application is accessing any of its

files or directories. If you are not sure whether you have found all users of a CD

(a shell hidden behind a desktop tool might be accessing it), use the fuser

command, as described in “How to Find Out If a CD Is Still in Use” on page 182.

2. Eject the CD.

# eject cdrom0

Using CDs From the Command Line (Tasks)

183

How to Access CDs on Other Systems

You can access a CD on another system by mounting it manually into your file

system—provided the other system has shared its CD-ROM according to the

instructions in “How to Make Local CDs Available to Other Systems” on page 185.

1. Select an existing directory to serve as the mount point or create one.

$ mkdir directory

directory

The name of the directory that you create to serve as a

mount point for the other system’s CD.

2. Find the name of the CD you want to mount.

$ showmount -e system-name

export list for system-name:

/cdrom/sol_8_sparc (everyone)

3. As superuser, mount the CD.

# mount -F nfs -o ro system-name:/cdrom/cd-name local-mount-point

The name of the system whose CD you will mount.

system-name

The name of the CD you want to mount.

cd-name

local-mount-point

The local directory onto which you will mount the

remote CD.

4. Log out as superuser.

5. Verify that the CD is mounted by using the ls command to list the contents of

the mount point.

$ ls /cdrom

184

Example—Accessing CDs on Other Systems

This example mounts the CD named sol_8_sparc from the remote system mars

onto the /cdrom directory of the local system.

$ showmount -e starbug

export list for starbug:

/cdrom/sol_8_sparc (everyone)

$ su

Password: password

# mount -F nfs -o ro starbug:/cdrom/sol_8_sparc /cdrom

# exit

$ ls /cdrom

cdrom0

sol_8_sparc

How to Make Local CDs Available to Other

Systems

You can configure your system to share its CD-ROM drives; in other words, make

any CDs in those drives available to other systems. (This does not apply to musical

CDs.) Once your CD-ROM drives are shared, other systems can access the CDs they

contain simply by mounting them, as described in “How to Access CDs on Other

Systems” on page 184.

1. Become superuser.

2. Find out whether the NFS daemon (nfsd) is running.

# ps -ef | grep nfsd

root 14533

1 17 10:46:55 ?

0:00 /usr/lib/nfs/nfsd -a 16

root 14656

289

7 14:06:02 pts/3 0:00 grep nfsd

If the daemon is running, a line for /usr/lib/nfs/nfsd will appear, as shown

above. If the daemon is not running, only the grep nfsd line will appear.

3. Select an option from the following table.

Using CDs From the Command Line (Tasks)

185

If ...

Then ...

nfsd is running

Go to Step 8 on page 186

nfsd is not running

Continue with Step 4 on page 186

4. Create a dummy directory for nfsd to share.

# mkdir / dummy-dir

Can be any directory name; for example, dummy. This

dummy-dir

directory will not contain any files. Its only purpose is

to “wake up” the NFS daemon so that it notices your

shared CD-ROM.

5. Add the following entry into the /etc/dfs/dfstab file.

share -F nfs -o ro [-d comment] /dummy-dir

When you start the NFS daemon, it will see this entry, “wake up,” and notice the

shared CD-ROM drive. Note that the comment (preceded by −d) is optional.

6. Start the NFS daemon.

# /etc/init.d/nfs.server start

7. Verify that the NFS daemon is indeed running.

# ps -ef | grep nfsd

root 14533

1 17 10:46:55 ?

0:00 /usr/lib/nfs/nfsd -a 16

root 14656

289

7 14:06:02 pts/3 0:00 /grep nfsd

8. Eject any CD currently in the drive.

# eject cdrom0

186

9. Assign root write permissions to the /etc/rmmount.conf file.

# chmod 644 /etc/rmmount.conf

10. Add the following lines to the /etc/rmmount.conf file.

# File System Sharing

share cdrom*

These lines share any CD loaded into your system’s CD-ROM drive. You can,

however, limit sharing to a particular CD or series of CDs, as described in

share(1M).

11. Remove write permissions from the /etc/rmmount.conf file.

# chmod 444 /etc/rmmount.conf

This step returns the file to its default permissions.

12. Load a CD.

The CD you now load, and all subsequent CDs, will be available to other

systems. Remember to wait until the light on the drive stops blinking before you

verify this task.

To access the CD, the remote user must mount it by name, according to the

instructions in “How to Access CDs on Other Systems” on page 184.

13. Verify that the CD is indeed available to other systems by using the share

command.

If the CD is available, its share configuration will be displayed. (The shared

dummy directory will also be displayed.)

# share

/dummy ro "dummy dir to wake up NFS daemon"

/sol_7_sparc ro ""

Using CDs From the Command Line (Tasks)

187

Example—Making Local CDs Available to Other Systems

The following example makes any CD loaded into the local system’s CD-ROM drive

available to other systems on the network.

# ps -ef | grep nfsd

root 10127

9986

0 08:25:01 pts/2

0:00 grep nfsd

root 10118

0 08:24:39 ?

0:00 /usr/lib/nfs/nfsd -a

# mkdir /dummy

# vi /etc/dfs/dfstab

(Add the following line:)

share -F nfs -o ro

/dummy

# eject cdrom0

# chmod 644 /etc/rmmount.conf

# vi /etc/rmmount

(Add the following line to the File System Sharing section:)

share cdrom*

# chmod 444 /etc/rmmount.conf

(Load a CD.)

# share

/dummy

/cdrom/sol_7_sparc/s5

/cdrom/sol_7_sparc/s4

/cdrom/sol_7_sparc/s3

/cdrom/sol_7_sparc/s2

/cdrom/sol_7_sparc/s1

/cdrom/sol_7_sparc/s0

How to Configure a System to Play Musical CDs

You can play musical CDs from a CD-ROM attached to your Solaris system. You’ll

need to access Workman, which is public domain software, and you must attach

external speakers or headphones independently to the CD-ROM drive; speakers

attached to the system hardware will not work.

Once you configure your system, you can play a musical CD simply by inserting it

into the CD-ROM drive. The Workman control panel is automatically displayed on

your desktop.

1. Become superuser.

2. Edit /etc/rmmount.conf.

Add the following line under # Actions, before the cdrom action, as shown in

the example below.

188

# Actions

action cdrom action_workman.so path/workman workman-options

path

The directory in which you have placed the Workman

software.

The options allowed by the Workman software.

workman-options

Example—Configuring a System to Play Musical CDs

This example shows an /etc/rmmount.conf file modified to support the Workman

software.

# @(#)rmmount.conf 1.3

96/05/10 SMI

# Removable Media Mounter configuration file.

# File system identification

ident hsfs ident_hsfs.so cdrom

ident ufs ident_ufs.so cdrom floppy rmscsi pcmem

ident pcfs ident_pcfs.so floppy rmscsi pcmem

# Actions

action cdrom action_workman.so /usr/dist/exe/workman

action cdrom action_filemgr.so

action floppy action_filemgr.so

action rmscsi action_filemgr.so

# File System Sharing

share cdrom*

share floppy*

How to Prepare a System for a New CD-ROM

Drive

Preparing the system involves creating the /reconfigure file and rebooting the

system so that Volume Management recognizes the new CD-ROM drive.

1. Become superuser.

2. Create a file called /reconfigure.

Using CDs From the Command Line (Tasks)

189

# touch /reconfigure

3. Reboot the system.

# init 6

Configuring Volume Management

Occasionally, you might want to manage diskettes or CDs without the help of Volume

Management. This section describes how to stop and restart Volume Management.

How to Stop Volume Management

1. Make sure no diskettes or CDs are being used.

If you are not sure whether you have found all users of the diskette or CD, use

the fuser command, as described in “How to Find Out If a CD Is Still in Use”

on page 182.

2. Become superuser.

3. Enter the volmgt stop command.

# /etc/init.d/volmgt stop

How to Restart Volume Management

1. Become superuser.

2. Enter the volmgt start command.

190

CHAPTER

Formatting and Using Diskettes From

the Command Line (Tasks)

This chapter describes all the tasks required to format and use diskettes from the

command line in the Solaris environment. This is a list of the step-by-step

instructions in this chapter.

“How to Format a UFS Diskette” on page 197

“How to Place a UFS File System on a Diskette” on page 200

“How to Format a DOS Diskette” on page 201

“How to Load a Diskette” on page 205

“How to Examine the Contents of a Diskette” on page 207

“How to Copy or Move Information From a Diskette” on page 207

“How to Copy or Move Information to a Diskette” on page 208

“How to Find Out If a Diskette Is Still in Use” on page 209

“How to Eject a Diskette” on page 210

“How to Access Diskettes on Other Systems” on page 211

“How to Make Local Diskettes Available to Other Systems” on page 212

Formatting Diskettes Task Map

193

TABLE 16-1

Formatting Diskettes Task Map

Task

Description

For Instructions, Go To ...

1. Load Unformatted

Insert the diskette into the drive and enter

“How to Load a Diskette” on

Diskette

the volcheck command.

page 205

2. Format the Diskette

Format the diskette for UFS.

“How to Format a UFS

Diskette” on page 197

Format the diskette for DOS.

“How to Format a DOS

Diskette” on page 201

3. Add a UFS File System

UFS Only. Optional. To use the diskette for

“How to Place a UFS File

files, add a UFS file system. To use for

System on a Diskette” on page

characters, skip this step.

200

4. Eject the Diskette

When finished formatting, always eject the

“How to Eject a Diskette” on

diskette, even if you are going to use it again

page 210

right away.

Using Diskette Names

When working with diskettes, you can identify them by name or with a designator

from Table 16-2. For brevity, task descriptions use floppy0, but you can replace this

with either the diskette name or a different designator.

TABLE 16-2

How to Identify Diskettes

Diskette

Alternate Name

First diskette drive

floppy0

Second diskette drive

floppy1

Third diskette drive

floppy2

194

Note - Diskettes that are not named (that is, they have no “label”) are assigned the

default name of noname.

Hardware Considerations

A Solaris system can format diskettes for use on both Solaris and DOS systems.

However, the hardware platform imposes some limitations. They are summarized in

the table below.

Solaris On This Platform ...

Can Format Diskettes For ...

SPARC based systems

UFS

MS-DOS or NEC-DOS (PCFS)

IA based systems

UFS

MS-DOS or NEC-DOS (PCFS)

Diskettes formatted for UFS are restricted to the hardware platform on which they

were formatted. In other words, a UFS diskette formatted on a SPARC based platform

cannot be used for UFS on an IA platform, nor can a diskette formatted on an IA

platform be used on a SPARC based platform. This is because the SPARC and IA

UFS formats are different. SPARC uses little-endian bit coding, IA uses big-endian.

A complete format for SunOS file systems consists of the basic “bit” formatting plus

the structure to support a SunOS file system. A complete format for a DOS file system

consists of the basic “bit” formatting plus the structure to support either an MS-DOS

or an NEC-DOS file system. The procedures required to prepare a diskette for each

type of file system are different. Therefore, before you format a diskette, consider

which procedure to follow. See “Formatting Diskettes Task Map” on page 193.

On a Solaris system (either SPARC or IA), you can format diskettes of seven different

densities (provided you have the appropriate drive).

Diskette Size

Diskette Density

Capacity

3.5”

Extended Density

2.88 Mbytes

3.5”

High Density (HD)

1.44 Mbytes

3.5”

Medium Density (DD)

1.2 Mbytes

3.5”

Low Density

720 Kbytes

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Diskette Size

Diskette Density

Capacity

5.25”

High Density (HD)

1.2 Mbytes

5.25”

Medium Density (DD)

720 Kbytes

5.25”

Low Density

360 Kbytes

By default, the diskette drive formats a diskette to a like density. In other words, a

1.44 Mbyte drive attempts to format a diskette for 1.44 Mbytes, whether the diskette

is in fact a 1.44 Mbyte diskette or not—unless you instruct it otherwise. You can tell a

1.44 Mbyte drive to format a diskette to, for instance, 720 Kbytes. You cannot,

however, instruct a 720 Kbyte drive to format a diskette to 1.44 Mbyte. In other

words, a diskette can be formatted to its capacity or lower, and a drive can format to

its capacity or lower.

To instruct a drive to format a diskette to a non-default density, use the fdformat

command as instructed in the following tasks, but use the appropriate density option

from the table below.

TABLE 16-3

Density Options

To Format A Diskette

In A Drive With This

Specify This fdformat Density

With This Density ...

Default Density ...

Option ...

2.88 Mbytes

−E

1.44 Mbytes

2.88 Mbytes

−H

1.44 Mbytes

none

1.2 Mbytes

1.44 Mbytes

−t nec −M

720 Kbytes

1.44 Mbytes

−D or −t dos −D

1.2 Mbytes

none

720 Kbytes

1.2 Mbytes

−D

720 Kbytes

none

360 Kbytes

720 Kbytes

−D

196

TABLE 16-3

Density Options

(continued)

To view all the options to the fdformat command, either see fdformat(1) or enter

fdformat -z. The −z option displays all the options to the command.

If you don’t know the default density of your drive, begin the formatting process

with the default setting (that is, no density options) and observe the configuration

message. It will look something like this:

Formatting 1.44 M in /vol/dev/rdiskette0/unformatted

Press return to start formatting floppy.

The confirmation message indicates the drive’s default density. For instance, in the

example above, the default density of the drive is 1.44 Mbytes. If the density is not

what you expected, use Control-c to escape the formatting process and start over.

How to Format a UFS Diskette

As mentioned in “Hardware Considerations” on page 195, a UFS diskette formatted

on a SPARC based platform can only be used on another SPARC based platform, and

a UFS diskette formatted on an IA platform can only be used on an IA based system.

Caution - Formatting a diskette erases any pre-existing content.

1. Quit File Manager.

File Manager automatically displays a formatting window when you insert an

unformatted diskette. To avoid the window, quit from File Manager. If you prefer

to keep File Manager open, quit the formatting window when it appears.

2. Make sure the diskette is write-enabled.

On both 3.5-inch and 5.25 inch diskettes, write-protection is controlled by a small

tab in either the lower left or lower right corner. If you can see through the

square hole behind the tab, the diskette is write-protected. If the hole is covered

by the tab, the diskette is write-enabled. (If you need to eject the diskette to

examine it, simply type eject floppy in a shell.)

3. Insert the diskette.

Make sure the diskette is completely inserted.

4. Invoke formatting.

$ fdformat -v -U [density-options convenience-options]

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Verifies whether the diskette was formatted correctly.

−v

Unmounts the diskette if it is mounted.

−U

density-options

If the drive density is 1.44 Mbytes, density-options are:

—none—

Formats a 1.44 Mbyte diskette.

Formats a 720 Kbyte diskette.

−D

Lists all the options to the fdformat command, but

does not format the diskette..

convenience-options

Ejects the diskette when done formatting.

−e

Forces formatting without asking for confirmation.

−f

Names the diskette. label must be eight characters or

−b label

less, upper or lower case.

Lists all the options to the fdformat command, but

−z

does not format the diskette.

Note - If you try to format a 720 Kbyte (DD) diskette for 1.44 Mbytes, fdformat

will not stop you unless you include the −v option. With the −v option,

fdformat will format the diskette, but the verification will catch the error and

notify you with the following message: fdformat: check diskette

density, I/O error

The fdformat command displays a confirmation message (unless you used the

−f option), indicating the type of formatting to be performed:

Formatting 1.44 M in /vol/dev/rdiskette0/unformatted

Press return to start formatting floppy.

5. Select one of the options in the table below.

198

To ...

Press ...

Confirm the type of formatting

Return (unless you used the −f option in

the previous step, in which case no

confirmation is necessary)

Cancel formatting

Control-c

As the formatting progresses, a series of dots is displayed. As the verification

progresses, a series of Vs appears beneath the dots. When the series stops, the

formatting is complete.

The diskette is now ready for raw character operations such as tar and cpio.

Examples—Formatting a UFS Diskette

Following are several examples of UFS formatting. The first example formats a 1.44

Mbyte diskette on a 1.44 Mbyte drive:

$ fdformat -v -U

Formatting 1.44 M in /vol/dev/rdiskette0/unformatted

Press return to start formatting floppy. [ Return ]

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The following example performs the same job, but assigns the diskette the name

myfiles:

$ fdformat -v -U -b myfiles

Formatting 1.44 M in /vol/dev/rdiskette0/unformatted

Press return to start formatting floppy. [ Return ]

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The following example formats a 720Kbyte diskette on a 1.44 Mbyte drive, and

names it myfiles:

$ fdformat -v -U -D -b myfiles

Formatting 720 KB in /vol/dev/rdiskette0/unformatted

Press return to start formatting floppy. [ Return ]

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

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Sun Microsystems System Administration Guide, Volume 1 (2000) - page 6