Solaris question - format command

[AStar617]

In the format command for Solaris, when you slice a SCSI disk using the 'partition' sub-command, it stores the resulting partition table (which can be named) so that if you ever change the slicing again, you can simply revert to a "predefined partition table". What I need to know is, where is this information stored? I assume it's somewhere in the OS (for instance, some file under /etc besides format.dat, with global, historical info for all disks by type) and not exclusive to the target disk itself (for instance, the disk label/VTOC), because if I switch to another identical yet unsliced disk, the same predefined partition tables are available.

The larger question is how to delete redundant entries.

In the "attached code" example, you can see I have three copies of the 'original' table and two of the 'RAID5' table. What happens is, if you name a table, it is saved/stored... but if you realize (like I did) that you forgot something and edit it, it becomes a completely separate unnamed table. Naming it only makes an additional copy. I'd like to edit out the unnecessary ones by hand if stored in a flat text file somewhere...

Any help is appreciated... thanks.

P.S. I'm setting up some disks for a RAID5 in DiskSuite / Solaris Volume Manager, and manually partitioning the first then planning to use the table to set up the rest. Slice 0 is for the data region, slice 3 is for the state database replicas. I'm fully aware that I can simply use prtvtoc | fmthard to copy the slicing from disk to disk, but I'd like to see how to make this way work.

 

[n0cmonkey]

format.dat(4):

partition Defines a partition table for a specific disk
type. The partition table contains the partition-
ing information, plus a name that lets you refer
to it in format(1M). The default data file con-
tains default partition definitions for several
kinds of disk drives. Add a partition definition
if you repartitioned any of the disks on your sys-
tem. Add as many partition definitions to the
data file as you need.

That's all I've seen about it...

 

[AStar617]

Thanks, have read that as well. Earlier I suspected that perhaps the settings were being stored in another format.dat file located somewhere else besides /etc (it will use whatever format.dat it finds in your working directory by default), but only one format.dat exists on my system tree.

Somehow these values are being stored without the use of format.dat. Admittedly I have not attempted to reboot the box yet to see if the custom table from disk #1 is available to the others after main memory is purged, because it's still in production.

Still racking my brain over this one.

 

[AStar617]

Some tests I've done on another box show that my settings would get blown away if rebooted. I think I have to use the "save" feature from the format menu to save, and it will write the table to a format.dat of your choosing.

Problem appears to be solved. :thumbsup: