partitioning and labeling geom devices

[Shaun Jurrens]

On Tue, Jan 11, 2005 at 08:13:24AM -0800, Brooks Davis wrote:
#> On Tue, Jan 11, 2005 at 12:00:12PM +0100, Shaun Jurrens wrote:
#> > Now I have /dev/stripe/stripe0 and i want to subdivide this into two slices
#> > (aka. DOS partitions) and then partition the slices into various FreeBSD
#> > partitions, (so the a-h thingies, for those catching up).  This is sort of
#> > where the concept goes to hell.
#> > 
	[....]
#> 
#> > 	Do you want to change our idea of what BIOS thinks ?
#> > 
#> > (I have no clue what to answer here, so 'no' is the answer because I
#> > couldn't tell you the acceptable values for this if you beat me senseless)
#> 
#> You probalby need to answer yes yere.  You don't care what the BIOS
#> might think, you care what freebsd thinks.

	If I answer yes, it requires that I supply the parameters myself. I
	already wrote that I do not know what acceptable parameters would be.
#> 
#> > Strangely enough the values from previous fdisk runs are still there when I
#> > continue... I've 'cleared' the plexes and stripes twice now... And if the
#> > partition/slice confusion isn't complete enough, fdisk tells you about
#> > partitions when the rest of your life in FreeBSD, you'll call them
#> > 'slices'...
#> > 
	[...]
#> > 
#> > with a date from a week ago! Really, the box is sync'd with ntpd... There's
#> > probably an explanation somewhere.
#> 
#> Times in /dev are irrelevent, ignore them.  I suspect the problem is
#> that you have an entierly bogus MBR partion table on the disk and
#> now you've modified it, possiably exposing a bogus bsdlabel.  Before
#> attempting to label a disk, it's generally best to do something like:
#> 
#> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<disk> count=64
#> 
#> That way you've nuked the MBR partition table and any bsdlabel labels in
#> the first slice.
#> 
#> You might take a look at the sysutils/diskprep port.  It's a config file
#> driven disk labeler.

	I gave diskprep a go... I still have not gotten the desired result...

	paracles:/root#> diskprep -config diskprep.array.cf stripe/stripe0
	===> Initalizing slices
	------> Hog slice is 2.
	******* Working on device /dev/stripe/stripe0 *******
	fdisk: WARNING: adjusting size of partition 1 from 10485760 to 10474317
	    to end on a cylinder boundary
	fdisk: WARNING: adjusting start offset of partition 2
	    from 10485823 to 10485846, to fall on a head boundary
	fdisk: WARNING: adjusting size of partition 2 from 42576872 to 42576849
	    to end on a cylinder boundary
	===> Getting adjusting sizes
	------> slice 1 is 10474317 sectors
	------> slice 2 is 42576849 sectors
	===> initializing slice 1
	------> Hog partition is 'a'
	Argument "*" isn't numeric in subtraction (-) at /usr/local/sbin/diskprep
	line 232.
	disklabel: /dev/stripe/stripe0s1: No such file or directory
	===> initializing slice 2
	------> Hog partition is 'c'
	disklabel: /dev/stripe/stripe0s2: No such file or directory
	newfs: /dev/stripe/stripe0s1a: could not find special device
	newfs: /dev/stripe/stripe0s1d: could not find special device
	newfs: /dev/stripe/stripe0s1e: could not find special device


	The config file is simple enough:

	$slices{1}{type} = $fbsd_type;
	$slices{1}{size} = 5120*1024*2;
	$slices{1}{'d'}{size} = 768*1024*2;
	$slices{1}{'d'}{type} = "4.2BSD";
	$slices{1}{'e'}{size} = "*";
	$slices{1}{'e'}{type} = "4.2BSD";

	#$hog_slice = 2;
	$slices{2}{size} = "*";
	$slices{2}{type} = $fbsd_type;
	$slices{2}{'c'}{type} = "4.2BSD";
	$slices{2}{'c'}{size} = "*";

	
	So I could still use some suggestions... I'm not getting any wiser
	here. I have no "slice" devices or partitions.  Is this devd's fault
	or geom's ?

#> 
#> -- Brooks
#> 
#> -- 
#> Any statement of the form "X is the one, true Y" is FALSE.
#> PGP fingerprint 655D 519C 26A7 82E7 2529  9BF0 5D8E 8BE9 F238 1AD4



-- 
Yours truly,

Shaun D. Jurrens
shaun at shamz.net
shamz at freenix.no

Blomsterkroken 44B
1344 Haslum
Norway

Tel. Mobil: +47 9268 0049