OpenSolaris

 xxxxx@xxxxx.com 2003-12-12

so i'm trying to set up some new storage devices on jurassic.
these devices are luns on a 6020 array.

i decided to use EFI labels so i went ahead and used format to put
an EFI label on the first lun i created.  here's the size as reported
by format:
--
Total disk sectors available: 505401310 + 16384 (reserved sectors)
--

after labeling the device i decided that it wasn't big enough so i deleted
the device and created another device with the same lun that was slightly
larger.  then i ran format again on the device nd it reported that the
device was the same size.
--
Total disk sectors available: 505401310 + 16384 (reserved sectors)
--

strange you say?  i say it's a bug.

so then i went ahead and relabled the disk to an SMI label and back to
an EFI label and now magically it has more space.
--
Total disk sectors available: 506458078 + 16384 (reserved sectors)
--

here's the complete log with all the interesting bits:
--
partition> print
Current partition table (original):
Total disk sectors available: 505401310 + 16384 (reserved sectors)

Part      Tag    Flag     First Sector         Size         Last Sector
  0       root    wm                34      240.99GB          505384925    
  1        usr    wu         505384926        8.00MB          505401309    
  2 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  3 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  4 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  5 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  6 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  7 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  8   reserved    wm         505401310        8.00MB          505417693    

partition> label
[0] SMI Label
[1] EFI Label
Specify Label type[1]: 0
Auto configuration via format.dat[no]? 
Auto configuration via generic SCSI-2[no]? 
Ready to label disk, continue? y

partition> label
[0] SMI Label
[1] EFI Label
Specify Label type[0]: 1
Ready to label disk, continue? y
partition> print
Current partition table (default):
Total disk sectors available: 506458078 + 16384 (reserved sectors)

Part      Tag    Flag     First Sector         Size         Last Sector
  0       root    wm                34      131.98MB          270335    
  1       swap    wu            270336      132.00MB          540671    
  2 unassigned    wu                 0           0               0    
  3 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  4 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  5 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  6        usr    wm            540672      241.24GB          506449919    
  7 unassigned    wm                 0           0               0    
  8   reserved    wm         506458078        8.00MB          506474461    

partition> 
--

now for some conjecture on my part.

i'm assuming that format saw the old label on the disk (which probably
has the size of the disk embedded in it) and simply displayed that label.

it seems like format should detect cases where the label doesn't match the
current size of the device (or doesn't take advantage of all the space on
the device) and emmit some kind of message alerting the user to this fact.

i haven't tried this with SMI labels so i don't know if format has the
same problem there.

Use format's "type->autoconfigure" commands to resync the proper capacity.

N/A