format(1M)                                                       format(1M)




 NAME    [Toc]    [Back]
      format - format an HP SCSI disk array LUN

 SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]
      format device_file

 DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]
      format formats one LUN of the HP SCSI disk array associated with
      device file, device_file.  The 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 Device Page (0x03).

           3.   The LUN contains one or more failed drives.  In this case
                only a certain subset of the drives containing the failed
                drives will be formatted.

           4.   Either the FmtData or the CmpLst bit in the Format Unit CDB
                is set.

 RETURN VALUE    [Toc]    [Back]
      format returns the following values:

            0   Successful completion.
           -1   Command failed.

 DIAGNOSTICS AND ERRORS    [Toc]    [Back]
      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



 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 1 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003






 format(1M)                                                       format(1M)




           with all required arguments, in the order shown.

      format: device busy
           To ensure that format does not modify a disk array that is being
           used by another process, 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 "device busy" error message is returned by the driver.  To
           eliminate the "device busy" condition, determine what process has
           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.

    Error messages generated by system calls:
      format uses the following system calls:

           malloc(), free(), stat(), open(), close(), read(), write(), and
           ioctl().

      Documentation for these HP-UX system calls contains information about
      the specific error conditions associated with each call.  format does
      not alter the value of errno.  The interpretation of errno for
      printing purposes is performed by the system utility strerror().

 EXAMPLES    [Toc]    [Back]
      To format the HP SCSI disk array LUN /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0 on a Series 800:

           format /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0

 WARNING    [Toc]    [Back]
      The format command will destroy all user data on the addressed LUN.

 DEPENDENCIES    [Toc]    [Back]
      The HP C2425 and HP C2427 disk arrays are only supported on Series 700



 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 2 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003






 format(1M)                                                       format(1M)




      systems running HP-UX version 9.0X.

      The HP C2430 disk array is supported on Series 700 and 800 systems
      running HP-UX versions 9.0X and 10.0X.

 AUTHOR    [Toc]    [Back]
      format was developed by HP.


 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 3 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003