norm@cfctech.cfc.com (Norm Meluch) (03/27/90)
Greetings once again netlanders,
Currently I am in the process of trying to "customize" the partitioning
on our 386s here at CFC. The machines I am working with are several (Olivetti)
AT&T 6386 E WGS (20 MHz) machines running AT&T SysV 3.2.1.
Each came with 1 - 135 MB ESDI (3:1) hard disk and controller.
I am trying to add a 300 MB ESDI second drive to each machine.
Heres what I know so far:
1) Not only do you have to buy the 300 MB drive, but a AT&T Suplemental
Kit. This "Kit" is a euphamism for 1:1 interleave controller (WD1017).
Seems my systems were shipped with 3:1 (WD1015) and they don't support
300 MB drives.
Fine. Set delay = 1 month.
2) Oh yeah. 3.2 has a bug with finding and swapping out bad tracks on
300 MB disks. We'll send you "fix #69" (no lie) for that problem.
This basically makes the OS 3.2.1 ( I think/hope ).
Set delay = 2 weeks.
3) I find there are no instructions in Supplemental Kit. Just a board
two disks, and a pair of chips.
Another call to AT&T says, "No you don't need those chips".
"They're just ROM upgrades for the PC."
Whew!
"But wait! You'll need Low Level format v 2.01.1."
"Let me guess. A bug with 300 MB drives?"
"Yep."
Set delay = 1 more week.
So, while I'm awaiting those utilities I have been working on creating a plan of
action for the disk installation.
Now, the install of the OS only allows one to create 4 (including swap)
partitions maximum on the first hard disk, and the diskadd (and I use the term
loosely) utility also only allows for the creation of 4 partitions max.
These partitions correspond to:
/dev/dsk/0s1 /dev/dsk/1s1
/dev/dsk/0s2 /dev/dsk/1s2
/dev/dsk/0s3 /dev/dsk/1s3
/dev/dsk/0s4 /dev/dsk/1s4
Fine. However, these 386s are file servers on our network. Being
such, users have the nasty habit of grabbing all the disk they are permitted to
take, and so 4 partitions on 1 300 MB hard disk don't cut it. One department
inevitably ends up munching on anothers "space".
Therefore, I wish to create > 4 partitions on each disk.
After dissecting the INSTALL script for the Base System (and diskadd)
I have found most of the answers I need to know, but I still have a few
questions that I would feel better about having the answers to.
Here's the question(s):
1. Does the # of the partition in /etc/partitions correspond to the "slice"
number of the device?
usr2: partition = 4, start = 310590, size = 312120,
^ tag = USR, perm = VALID
|
v
/usr2 /dev/dsk/0s4
2. Thus, can I use /dev/dsk/[01]s[789], or are they for alt, reserved, and
trkalt?
3. Will the device driver for the hard disk support me creating more
more /dev/dsk devices without modification? Seems that since
/dev/dsk/1s0 = maj 0 min 16, I should be able to have 16 devices for the
first hard disk on the system. Yes?
Hopefully I just mknod, and I'm all set. Or is there a fix for that
too?
Any and all answers will be greatly appreciated.
- Norm
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Norman J. Meluch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Mail:norm@cfctech.cfc.COM Fax:(313)948-4975 Voice:(313)948-4809 |
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Note: The opinions expressed here are in no way to be confused with valid |
|_______ideas or corporate policy.____________________________________________|