Table of Contents
Advertisement
format(1M)
NAME
format - format an HP SCSI disk array LUN
SYNOPSIS
format
device_file
DESCRIPTION
formats one LUN of the HP SCSI disk array associated with device file, device_file. The format
format
will usually be a soft or zeroing format, in which the controller writes zeroes to the data area and parity
area, if any, of the LUN.
NOTE: The above should always be true of a sub-LUN, but the controller might decide, based on certain
conditions, to do a full format of a regular LUN, which consists of sending a mode select and a media
initialization command to the physical drive(s) in question, followed by zeroing the data and parity
area, if any. The conditions which will cause a full format to be done are as follows:
1.
The controller received a Mode Select command which requires a drive sector size change.
2.
The controller received a Mode Select command which changed a parameter in the Format Dev-
ice Page (0x03).
3.
The LUN contains one or more failed drives. In this case only a certain subset of the drives con-
taining the failed drives will be formatted.
4.
Either the FmtData or the CmpLst bit in the Format Unit CDB is set.
RETURN VALUE
returns the following values:
format
0
Successful completion.
-1
Command failed.
DIAGNOSTICS AND ERRORS
Errors can originate from problems with:
•
format
• SCSI (device level) communications
• system calls
Error messages generated by format:
usage: format <special>
An error in command syntax has occurred. Enter command again with all required arguments, in the
order shown.
format: device busy
To ensure that
format
attempts to obtain exclusive access to the disk array. If the disk array is already opened by another
process (for example, LVM — the Logical Volume Manager), a "
returned by the driver. To eliminate the "
device open. In the case of LVM, it is necessary to deactivate the volume group containing the array
before formatting array LUNs (see vgchange(1M)).
format: LUN # too big
The LUN number, which is derived from the device file name, is out of range.
format: LUN does not exist
The addressed LUN is not configured, and thus is not known to the array controller.
format: Not a raw file
Utilities must be able to open the device file for raw access.
format: Not an HP SCSI disk array
The device being addressed is not an HP SCSI disk array.
SCSI (device level) communication errors:
Sense data associated with the failed operation is printed.
HP-UX 11i Version 2: December 2007 Update
does not modify a disk array that is being used by another process,
device busy
− 1 −
format(1M)
device busy
" error message is
" condition, determine what process has the
Hewlett-Packard Company
f
format
263
Advertisement
Table of Contents
