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Using Disks with Direct Controllers

Disks with direct controllers do not have a target entry as part of the device name. To specify a slice ( partition) on a disk with a direct controller, use a device name with these conventions: /dev/dsk/cXdYsZ (the block interface) or /dev/rdsk/cXdYsZ (the raw interface).

Figure 3-10 shows the naming convention for disks with direct controllers. If you have only one controller on your system, X is always 0. Use slice 2 to specify the entire disk.


Figure 3-10  Naming convention for disks with direct controllers.

Table 3-10 shows some examples of raw device names for disks with direct controllers.

Table 3-10 Examples of Device Names for Disks with Direct Controllers
Device Name Description
/dev/rdsk/c0d0s0 Raw interface to the first controller on the first disk to the first slice (root).
/dev/rdsk/c0d0s2 Raw interface to the first controller on the first disk to the third slice (the entire disk).
/dev/rdsk/c0d1s6 Raw interface to the first controller on the second disk to the seventh (/usr) slice. By convention, the slice numbers are assigned to specific file systems, as shown in Table 3-8.

Setting Up Disk Slices

Files are stored within file systems. Each disk slice is treated as a separate disk drive both by the operating system and by the system administrator. When setting up slices, remember:

•  Each disk slice holds only one file system.
•  No file system can span multiple slices.

You set up slices differently on SPARC and x86 platforms, as described in Table 3-11.

Table 3-11 Slice Differences on Platforms
SPARC Platform x86 Platform
Entire disk is used for Solaris environment Disk is divided into fdisk partitions, one per operating environment.
Disk is divided into eight slices, numbered 0-7 The Solaris fdisk partition is divided into 10 slices, numbered 0-9.

SPARC Disk Slices

On SPARC systems, you define eight disk slices, and assign each to a conventional use, as described in Table 3-12.

Table 3-12 SPARC Disk Slice Conventions
Slice File System Client/Server Description
0 root Both Holds files and directories that make up the operating system.
1 swap Both Provides virtual memory or swap space.
2 -- Both By convention, refers to the entire disk. The entire disk is defined automatically by the format command and the Solaris installation programs. Do not change the size of this slice.
3 /export Server Holds alternative versions of the operating system that are required by client systems whose architecture differs from that of the server. Clients with the same architecture type as the server obtain executables from the /usr file system, usually slice 6.
4 /export/swap Server Provides virtual memory/swap space for client systems.
5 /opt Both Holds application software added to a system. If a slice is not allocated for this file system during installation, the /opt directory is put in slice 0.
6 /usr Both Holds operating system commands—also known as executables—designed to be run by users. This slice also holds documentation, system programs such as init and syslogd, and library routines.
7 /home or /export/home Both Holds files created by user accounts.

x86 Disk Slices

On x86 systems, you divide disks into fdisk partitions. Each fdisk partition is a section of the disk reserved for a particular operating environment. For a Solaris fdisk partition, you define 10 slices, numbered from 0 through 9, and assign each to a conventional use. The uses for slices 0 through 7 are the same as on Solaris systems, described in Table 3-12. Table 3-13 describes slices 8 and 9.

Table 3-13 x86 Conventions for Slices 8 and 9
Slice File System Client/Server Description
8 -- Both Contains the boot slice information at the beginning of the Solaris partition that enables Solaris to boot from the hard disk.
9 -- Both Provides an area reserved for alternate disk blocks. Slice 9 is known as the alternate sector slice.


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