Missing device files – IBM DS8000 User Manual

Page 381

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Appendix A. Open systems operating systems specifics

359

Each SCSI device can have up to 15 partitions, which are represented by the special device
files /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, and so on. The mapping of partitions to special device files and
major and minor numbers is shown in Table A-2.

Table A-2 Minor numbers, partitions and special device files

Missing device files

The Linux distributors do not always create all the possible special device files for SCSI disks.
If you attach more disks than there are special device files available, Linux will not be able to
address them. You can create missing device files with the

mknod

command. The

mknod

command requires four parameters in a fixed order:

The name of the special device file to create

The type of the device, b stands for a block device, c for a character device

The major number of the device

The minor number of the device

Refer to the manpage of the

mknod

command for more details. Example A-10 shows the

creation of special device files for the 17th SCSI disks and its first three partitions.

Example: A-10 Create new special device files for SCSI disks

mknod /dev/sdq b 65 0
mknod /dev/sdq1 b 65 1
mknod /dev/sdq2 b 65 2
mknod /dev/sdq3 b 65 3

Major number

Minor number

Special device file

Partition

8

0

/dev/sda

all of 1st disk

8

1

/dev/sda1

1st partition of 1st disk

...

8

15

/dev/sda15

15th partition of 1st
disk

8

16

/dev/sdb

all of 2nd disk

8

17

/dev/sdb1

1st partition of 2nd disk

...

8

31

/dev/sdb15

15th partition of 2nd
disk

8

32

/dev/sdc

all of 3rd disk

...

8

255

/dev/sdp15

15th partition of 16th
disk

65

0

/dev/sdq

all of 16th disk

65

1

/dev/sdq1

1st partition on 16th
disk

...

...

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