diff --git a/handbook/Makefile b/handbook/Makefile index 49665c5440..78415e80a9 100644 --- a/handbook/Makefile +++ b/handbook/Makefile @@ -1,20 +1,20 @@ -# $Id: Makefile,v 1.30 1998-03-15 15:10:01 nik Exp $ +# $Id: Makefile,v 1.31 1998-04-30 10:31:00 obrien Exp $ SGMLOPTS=-links -SRCS= authors.sgml basics.sgml bibliography.sgml boothelp.sgml +SRCS= authors.sgml backups.sgml basics.sgml bibliography.sgml boothelp.sgml SRCS+= booting.sgml contrib.sgml crypt.sgml ctm.sgml current.sgml cvsup.sgml SRCS+= cyclades.sgml development.sgml dialup.sgml dialout.sgml -SRCS+= diskless.sgml dma.sgml eresources.sgml esdi.sgml +SRCS+= disks.sgml diskless.sgml dma.sgml eresources.sgml esdi.sgml SRCS+= firewalls.sgml german.sgml glossary.sgml goals.sgml SRCS+= handbook.sgml history.sgml hw.sgml install.sgml isdn.sgml SRCS+= kerberos.sgml kernelconfig.sgml kerneldebug.sgml kernelopts.sgml SRCS+= lists.sgml mail.sgml makeworld.sgml memoryuse.sgml SRCS+= mirrors.sgml nfs.sgml nutshell.sgml pgpkeys.sgml policies.sgml SRCS+= porting.sgml ports.sgml ppp.sgml printing.sgml SRCS+= quotas.sgml relnotes.sgml routing.sgml russian.sgml SRCS+= serial.sgml scsi.sgml scsihd.sgml SRCS+= sections.sgml sio.sgml skey.sgml slipc.sgml SRCS+= slips.sgml stable.sgml submitters.sgml synching.sgml SRCS+= term.sgml userppp.sgml uart.sgml linuxemu.sgml .include diff --git a/handbook/backups.sgml b/handbook/backups.sgml new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..a4e117c3f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/handbook/backups.sgml @@ -0,0 +1,570 @@ + + + + + +Backups + +

Issues of hardware compatibility are among the most + troublesome in the computer industry today and FreeBSD is by + no means immune to trouble. In this respect, FreeBSD's + advantage of being able to run on inexpensive commodity PC + hardware is also its liability when it comes to support for + the amazing variety of components on the market. While it + would be impossible to provide a exhaustive listing of + hardware that FreeBSD supports, this section serves as a + catalog of the device drivers included with FreeBSD and the + hardware each drivers supports. Where possible and + appropriate, notes about specific products are included. + You may also want to refer to section in this handbook for + a list of supported devices. + + As FreeBSD is a volunteer project without a funded testing + department, we depend on you, the user, for much of the + information contained in this catalog. If you have direct + experience of hardware that does or does not work with + FreeBSD, please let us know by sending e-mail to the &a.doc;. + Questions about supported hardware + should be directed to the &a.questions (see + for more + information). When submitting information or asking a + question, please remember to specify exactly what version of + FreeBSD you are using and include as many details of your + hardware as possible. + +* What about backups to floppies? + Tape Media +

The major tape media are the 4mm, 8mm, QIC, mini-cartridge and +DLT. + 4mm (DDS: Digital Data Storage) + + +

4mm tapes are replacing QIC as the workstation backup +media of choice. This trend accelerated greatly when Conner +purchased Archive, a leading manufacturer of QIC drives, and then +stopped production of QIC drives. 4mm drives are small and quiet +but do not have the reputation for reliability that is enjoyed by 8mm drives. +The cartridges are less expensive and smaller (3 x 2 x 0.5 +inches, 76 x 51 x 12 mm) than 8mm cartridges. 4mm, like 8mm, has +comparatively short head life for the same reason, both use +helical scan. + + +

Data thruput on these drives starts ~150kB/s, peaking +at ~500kB/s. Data capacity starts at 1.3 GB and ends at 2.0 GB. +Hardware compression, available with most of these drives, +approximately doubles the capacity. Multi-drive tape library +units can have 6 drives in a single cabinet with automatic tape +changing. Library capacities reach 240 GB. + + +

4mm drives, like 8mm drives, use helical-scan. All +the benefits and drawbacks of helical-scan apply to both 4mm and +8mm drives. + +

Tapes should be retired from use after 2,000 passes or +100 full backups. + + 8mm (Exabyte) + + +

8mm tapes are the most common SCSI tape drives; they +are the best choice of exchanging tapes. Nearly every site has +an exabyte 2 GB 8mm tape drive. 8mm drives are reliable, +convenient and quiet. Cartridges are inexpensive and small (4.8 x +3.3 x 0.6 inches; 122 x 84 x 15 mm). One downside of 8mm tape is +relatively short head and tape life due to the high rate of +relative motion of the tape across the heads. + + +

Data thruput ranges from ~250kB/s to ~500kB/s. Data +sizes start at 300 MB and go up to 7 GB. Hardware compression, +available with most of these drives, approximately doubles the +capacity. These drives are available as single units or +multi-drive tape libraries with 6 drives and 120 tapes in a +single cabinet. Tapes are changed automatically by the unit. +Library capacities reach 840+ GB. + + +

Data is recorded onto the tape using helical-scan, the +heads are positioned at an angle to the media (approximately 6 +degrees). The tape wraps around 270 degrees of the spool that +holds the heads. The spool spins while the tape slides over the +spool. The result is a high density of data and closely packed +tracks that angle across the tape from one edge to the other. + + + QIC + +

QIC-150 tapes and drives are, perhaps, the most common +tape drive and media around. QIC tape drives are the least +expensive "serious" backup drives. The downside is the cost of +media. QIC tapes are expensive compared to 8mm or 4mm tapes, up +to 5 times the price per GB data storage. But, if your needs can +be satisfied with a half-dozen tapes, QIC may be the correct +choice. QIC is the most common tape drive. Every site +has a QIC drive of some density or another. Therein lies the +rub, QIC has a large number of densities on physically similar +(sometimes identical) tapes. QIC drives are not quiet. These +drives audibly seek before they begin to record data and are +clearly audible whenever reading, writing or seeking. QIC tapes +measure (6 x 4 x 0.7 inches; 15.2 x 10.2 x 1.7 mm). , which also +use 1/4" wide tape are discussed separately. Tape libraries and +changers are not available. + + +

Data thruput ranges from ~150kB/s to ~500kB/s. Data +capacity ranges from 40 MB to 15 GB. Hardware compression is +available on many of the newer QIC drives. QIC drives are less +frequently installed; they are being supplanted by DAT drives. + + +

Data is recorded onto the tape in tracks. The tracks +run along the long axis of the tape media from one end to the +other. The number of tracks, and therefore the width of a track, +varies with the tape's capacity. Most if not all newer drives +provide backward-compatibility at least for reading (but often +also for writing). QIC has a good reputation regarding the +safety of the data (the mechanics are simpler and more robust +than for helical scan drives). + +

Tapes should be retired from use after 5,000 backups. + + * Mini-Cartridge + + DLT + +

DLT has the fastest data transfer rate of all the drive +types listed here. The 1/2" (12.5mm) tape is contained in a +single spool cartridge (4 x 4 x 1 inches; 100 x 100 x 25 mm). The +cartridge has a swinging gate along one entire side of the +cartridge. The drive mechanism opens this gate to extract the +tape leader. The tape leader has an oval hole in it which the +drive uses to "hook" the tape. The take-up spool is located +inside the tape drive. All the other tape cartridges listed here +(9 track tapes are the only exception) have both the supply and +take-up spools located inside the tape cartridge itself. + + + Data thruput is approximately 1.5MB/s, three times the +thruput of 4mm, 8mm, or QIC tape drives. Data capacities range +from 10GB to 20GB for a single drive. Drives are available in +both multi-tape changers and multi-tape, multi-drive tape +libraries containing from 5 to 900 tapes over 1 to 20 drives, +providing from 50GB to 9TB of storage. + + + Data is recorded onto the tape in tracks parallel to the +direction of travel (just like QIC tapes). Two tracks are written +at once. Read/write head lifetimes are relatively long; once the +tape stops moving, there is no relative motion between the heads +and the tape. + + Using a new tape for the first time +

The first time that you try to read or write a new, +completely blank tape, the operation will fail. The console +messages should be similar to: + + st0(ncr1:4:0): NOT READY asc:4,1 + st0(ncr1:4:0): Logical unit is in process of becoming ready + + +The tape does not contain an Identifier Block (block number +0). All QIC tape drives since the adoption of QIC-525 standard +write an Identifier Block to the tape. There are two +solutions: +

mt fsf 1 causes the tape drive to write an +Identifier Block to the tape. +

Use the front panel button to eject the tape. +

Re-insert the tape and dump(8) data to the +tape. +

dump(8) will report DUMP: End of tape +detected and the console will show: HARDWARE FAILURE +info:280 asc:80,96 +

rewind the tape using: mt rewind + +

Subsequent tape operations are successful. + + Backup Programs +

The three major programs are dump(8), +tar(1), and cpio(1). + + Dump and Restore + +

dump(8) and restore(8) are the +traditional Unix backup programs. They operate on the drive as a +collection of disk blocks, below the abstractions of files, links +and directories that are created by the filesystems. +dump(8) backs up devices, entire filesystems, not parts +of a filesystem and not directory trees that span more than one +filesystem, using either soft links ln(1) or mounting +one filesystem onto another. dump(8) does not write +files and directories to tape, but rather writes the data blocks +that are the building blocks of files and directories. +dump(8) has quirks that remain from its early days in +Version 6 of ATT Unix (circa 1975). The default parameters are +suitable for 9-track tapes (6250 bpi), not the high-density media +available today (up to 62,182 ftpi). These defaults must be +overridden on the command line to utilize the capacity of current +tape drives. + +

rdump(8) and rrestore(8) backup data +across the network to a tape drive attached to another computer. +Both programs rely upon rcmd(3) and ruserok(3) +to access the remote tape drive. Therefore, the user performing +the backup must have rhosts access to the remote +computer. The arguments to rdump(8) and +rrestore(8) must suitable to use on the remote computer. +(e.g. When rdump'ing from a FreeBSD computer to an +Exabyte tape drive connected to a Sun called komodo, use: /sbin/rdump +0dsbfu 54000 13000 126 komodo:/dev/nrst8 /dev/rsd0a 2>&1) +Beware: there are security implications to allowing +rhosts commands. Evaluate your situation carefully. + + + + Tar + +

tar(1) also dates back to Version 6 of ATT +Unix (circa 1975). tar(1) operates in cooperation with +the filesystem; tar(1) writes files and directories to +tape. tar(1) does not support the full range of options +that are available from cpio(1), but tar(1) +does not require the unusual command pipeline that +cpio(1) uses. + +

Most versions of tar(1) do not support backups across the +network. The GNU version of tar(1), which FreeBSD utilizes, supports +remote devices using the same syntax as rdump. To tar(1) +to an Exabyte tape drive connected to a Sun called komodo, use: +/usr/bin/tar cf komodo:/dev/nrst8 . 2>&1. +For versions without remote device support, you can use a pipeline +and rsh(1) to send the +data to a remote tape drive. (XXX add an example command) + + Cpio + +

cpio(1) is the original Unix file interchange +tape program for magnetic media. cpio(1) has options (among +many others) to perform byte-swapping, write a number of +different archives format, and pipe the data to other programs. +This last feature makes cpio(1) and excellent choice for +installation media. cpio(1) does not know how to walk +the directory tree and a list of files must be provided thru STDIN. + +

cpio(1) does not support backups across the +network. You can use a pipeline and rsh(1) to send the +data to a remote tape drive. (XXX add an example command) + + Pax + + +

pax(1) is IEEE/POSIX's answer to tar and + cpio. Over the years the various versions of tar and + cpio have gotten slightly incompatible. So rather than fight it + out to fully standardize them, POSIX created a new archive utility. + pax attempts to read and write many of the various cpio and tar + formats, plus new formats of its own. Its command set more resembles + cpio than tar. + + + Amanda +

(Advanced Maryland Network Disk Archiver) is a +client/server backup system, rather than a single program. An +Amanda server will backup to a single tape drive any number of +computers that have Amanda clients and network communications +with the Amanda server. A common problem at locations with a +number of large disks is the length of time required to backup to +data directly to tape exceeds the amount of time available for +the task. Amanda solves this problem. Amanda can use a "holding +disk" to backup several filesystems at the same time. Amanda +creates "archive sets": a group of tapes used over a period of +time to create full backups of all the filesystems listed in +Amanda's configuration file. The "archive set" also contains +nightly incremental (or differential) backups of all the +filesystems. Restoring a damaged filesystem requires the most +recent full backup and the incremental backups. + +

The configuration file provides fine control backups +and the network traffic that Amanda generates. Amanda will use +any of the above backup programs to write the data to tape. +Amanda is available as either a port or a package, it is not +installed by default. + + Do nothing +

"Do nothing" is not a computer program, but it is the +most widely used backup strategy. There are no initial costs. +There is no backup schedule to follow. Just say no. If +something happens to your data, grin and bear it! + +

If your time and your data is worth little to nothing, +then "Do nothing" is the most suitable backup program for your +computer. But beware, Unix is a useful tool, you may find that +within six months you have a collection of files that are +valuable to you. + +

"Do nothing" is the correct backup method for +/usr/obj and other directory trees that can be exactly +recreated by your computer. An example is the files that +comprise these handbook pages-they have been generated from +SGML input files. Creating backups of these +HTML files is not necessary. The SGML source +files are backed up regularly. + + Which Backup Program is Best? +

dump(8) Period. Elizabeth D. Zwicky +torture tested all the backup programs discussed here. The clear +choice for preserving all your data and all the peculiarities of +Unix filesystems is dump(8). Elizabeth created +filesystems containing a large variety of unusual conditions (and +some not so unusual ones) and tested each program by do a backup +and restore of that filesystems. The peculiarities included: +files with holes, files with holes and a block of nulls, files +with funny characters in their names, unreadable and unwritable +files, devices, files that change size during the backup, files +that are created/deleted during the backup and more. She +presented the results at LISA V in Oct. 1991. + + Emergency Restore Procedure + Before the Disaster +

There are only four steps that you need to perform in +preparation for any disaster that may occur. + +

First, print the disklabel from each of your disks +(e.g. disklabel sd0 | lpr), your filesystem table +(/etc/fstab) and all boot messages, two copies of each. + +

Second, determine the boot and fixit floppies +(boot.flp and fixit.flp) have all your devices. The easiest way +to check is to reboot your machine with the boot floppy in the +floppy drive and check the boot messages. If all your devices +are listed and functional, skip on to step three. + +

Otherwise, you have to create two custom bootable +floppies which has a kernel that can mount your all of your disks +and access your tape drive. These floppies must contain: +fdisk(8), disklabel(8), newfs(8), +mount(8), and whichever backup program you use. These +programs must be statically linked. If you use dump(8), +the floppy must contain restore(8). + +

Third, create backup tapes regularly. +Any changes that you make after your last backup may be +irretrievably lost. Write-protect the backup tapes. + +

Fourth, test the floppies (either boot.flp and +fixit.flp or the two custom bootable floppies you made in step +two.) and backup tapes. Make notes of the procedure. Store +these notes with the bootable floppy, the printouts and the +backup tapes. You will be so distraught when restoring that the +notes may prevent you from destroying your backup tapes (How? In +place of tar xvf /dev/rst0, you might accidently type + tar cvf /dev/rst0 and over-write your backup tape). + +

For an added measure of security, make bootable +floppies and two backup tapes each time. Store one of each at a +remote location. A remote location is NOT the basement of the +same office building. A number of firms in the World Trade Center +learned this lesson the hard way. A remote location should be +physically separated from your computers and disk drives by a +significant distance. + +

An example script for creating a bootable floppy: + + #!/bin/sh + # + # create a restore floppy + # + # format the floppy + # + PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin + + fdformat -q fd0 + if [ $? -ne 0 ] + then + echo "Bad floppy, please use a new one" + exit 1 + fi + + # place boot blocks on the floppy + # + disklabel -w -B -b /usr/mdec/fdboot -s /usr/mdec/bootfd /dev/rfd0c fd1440 + + # + # newfs the one and only partition + # + newfs -t 2 -u 18 -l 1 -c 40 -i 5120 -m 5 -o space /dev/rfd0a + + # + # mount the new floppy + # + mount /dev/fd0a /mnt + + # + # create required directories + # + mkdir /mnt/dev + mkdir /mnt/bin + mkdir /mnt/sbin + mkdir /mnt/etc + mkdir /mnt/root + mkdir /mnt/mnt # for the root partition + mkdir /mnt/tmp + mkdir /mnt/var + + # + # populate the directories + # + if [ ! -x /sys/compile/MINI/kernel ] + then + cat << EOM + The MINI kernel does not exist, please create one. + Here is an example config file: + # + # MINI -- A kernel to get FreeBSD on onto a disk. + # + machine "i386" + cpu "I486_CPU" + ident MINI + maxusers 5 + + options INET # needed for _tcp _icmpstat _ipstat + # _udpstat _tcpstat _udb + options FFS #Berkeley Fast File System + options FAT_CURSOR #block cursor in syscons or pccons + options SCSI_DELAY=15 #Be pessimistic about Joe SCSI device + options NCONS=2 #1 virtual consoles + options USERCONFIG #Allow user configuration with -c XXX + + config kernel root on sd0 swap on sd0 and sd1 dumps on sd0 + + controller isa0 + controller pci0 + + controller fdc0 at isa? port "IO_FD1" bio irq 6 drq 2 vector fdintr + disk fd0 at fdc0 drive 0 + + controller ncr0 + + controller scbus0 + + device sc0 at isa? port "IO_KBD" tty irq 1 vector scintr + device npx0 at isa? port "IO_NPX" irq 13 vector npxintr + + device sd0 + device sd1 + device sd2 + + device st0 + + pseudo-device loop # required by INET + pseudo-device gzip # Exec gzipped a.out's + EOM + exit 1 + fi + + cp -f /sys/compile/MINI/kernel /mnt + + gzip -c -best /sbin/init > /mnt/sbin/init + gzip -c -best /sbin/fsck > /mnt/sbin/fsck + gzip -c -best /sbin/mount > /mnt/sbin/mount + gzip -c -best /sbin/halt > /mnt/sbin/halt + gzip -c -best /sbin/restore > /mnt/sbin/restore + + gzip -c -best /bin/sh > /mnt/bin/sh + gzip -c -best /bin/sync > /mnt/bin/sync + + cp /root/.profile /mnt/root + + cp -f /dev/MAKEDEV /mnt/dev + chmod 755 /mnt/dev/MAKEDEV + + chmod 500 /mnt/sbin/init + chmod 555 /mnt/sbin/fsck /mnt/sbin/mount /mnt/sbin/halt + chmod 555 /mnt/bin/sh /mnt/bin/sync + chmod 6555 /mnt/sbin/restore + + # + # create the devices nodes + # + cd /mnt/dev + ./MAKEDEV std + ./MAKEDEV sd0 + ./MAKEDEV sd1 + ./MAKEDEV sd2 + ./MAKEDEV st0 + ./MAKEDEV pty0 + cd / + + # + # create minimum filesystem table + # + cat > /mnt/etc/fstab < /mnt/etc/passwd < /mnt/etc/master.passwd < + + After the Disaster +

The key question is: did your hardware survive? You +have been doing regular backups so there is no need to worry +about the software. + +

If the hardware has been damaged. First, replace +those parts that have been damaged. + +

If your hardware is okay, check your floppies. If you +are using a custom boot floppy, boot single-user (type "-s" at +the "boot:" prompt). Skip the following paragraph. + +

If you are using the boot.flp and fixit.flp floppies, +keep reading. Insert the boot.flp floppy in the first floppy drive +and boot the computer. The original install menu will be displayed +on the screen. Select the "Fixit--Repair mode with CDROM or floppy." +option. Insert the fixit.flp when prompted. restore and +the other programs that you need are located in /mnt2/stand. + +

Recover each filesystem separately. + +

Try to mount(8) (e.g. mount /dev/sd0a /mnt) +the root partition of your first disk. If the disklabel was +damaged, use disklabel(8) to re-partition and label the +disk to match the label that your printed and saved. Use +newfs(8) to re-create the filesystems. Re-mount the +root partition of the floppy read-write ("mount -u -o rw +/mnt"). Use your backup program and backup tapes to recover +the data for this filesystem (e.g. restore vrf +/dev/st0). Unmount the filesystem (e.g. umount +/mnt) Repeat for each filesystem that was damaged. + +

Once your system is running, backup your data onto new +tapes. Whatever caused the crash or data loss may strike again. +An another hour spent now, may save you from further distress later. + + * I did not prepare for the Disaster, What Now? + diff --git a/handbook/disks.sgml b/handbook/disks.sgml new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..4a3673589e --- /dev/null +++ b/handbook/disks.sgml @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ + + + Disks + +

Contributed by &a.obrien;26 April 1998 + + * Using systinstall + * Using command line utilities + * Creating Slices + * Dedicated + diff --git a/handbook/handbook.sgml b/handbook/handbook.sgml index 57660767e7..b8ee59ec8e 100644 --- a/handbook/handbook.sgml +++ b/handbook/handbook.sgml @@ -1,183 +1,188 @@ - + %authors; %lists; %sections; ]> FreeBSD Handbook The FreeBSD Documentation Project March 1998 Welcome to FreeBSD! This handbook covers the installation and day to day use of FreeBSD Release &rel.current;. This manual is a work in progress and is the work of many individuals. Many sections do not yet exist and some of those that do exist need to be updated. If you are interested in helping with this project, send email to the &a.doc; The latest version of this document is always available from the . It may also be downloaded in plain text, postscript or HTML from the or one of the numerous . You may also want to . Getting Started Introduction

FreeBSD is a 4.4BSD-Lite based operating system for Intel architecture (x86) based PCs. For an overview of FreeBSD, see . For a history of the project, read . To see a description of the latest release, read . If you're interested in contributing something to the FreeBSD project (code, equipment, sacks of unmarked bills), please see about . &nutshell; &history; &goals; &development; &relnotes; &install; &basics; &ports; System Administration &kernelconfig; Security &crypt; &skey; &kerberos; &firewalls; &printing; + &disks; + + &backups; + "as; + The X Window System

Pending the completion of this section, please refer to documentation supplied by the . &hw; Localization &russian; &german; Network Communications Serial Communications &serial; &term; &dialup; &dialout; PPP and SLIP

If your connection to the Internet is through a modem, or you wish to provide other people with dialup connections to the Internet using FreeBSD, you have the option of using PPP or SLIP. Furthermore, two varieties of PPP are provided: user (sometimes referred to as iijppp) and kernel. The procedures for configuring both types of PPP, and for setting up SLIP are described in this chapter. &userppp; &ppp; &slipc; &slips; Advanced Networking &routing; &nfs; &diskless; &isdn; &mail; Advanced topics The Cutting Edge: FreeBSD-current and FreeBSD-stable

FreeBSD is under constant development between releases. For people who want to be on the cutting edge, there are several easy mechanisms for keeping your system in sync with the latest developments. Be warned: the cutting edge is not for everyone! This chapter will help you decide if you want to track the development system, or stick with one of the released versions.

¤t; &stable; &synching; &makeworld; &submitters; &policies; &kernelopts; &kerneldebug; &linuxemu; FreeBSD Internals &booting; &memoryuse; &dma; Appendices &mirrors; &bibliography; &eresources; &contrib; &pgpkeys; diff --git a/handbook/hw.sgml b/handbook/hw.sgml index 77a76a209c..0ad318a48f 100644 --- a/handbook/hw.sgml +++ b/handbook/hw.sgml @@ -1,1551 +1,1015 @@ - + PC Hardware compatibility

Issues of hardware compatibility are among the most troublesome in the computer industry today and FreeBSD is by no means immune to trouble. In this respect, FreeBSD's advantage of being able to run on inexpensive commodity PC hardware is also its liability when it comes to support for the amazing variety of components on the market. While it would be impossible to provide a exhaustive listing of hardware that FreeBSD supports, this section serves as a catalog of the device drivers included with FreeBSD and the hardware each drivers supports. Where possible and appropriate, notes about specific products are included. You may also want to refer to section in this handbook for a list of supported devices. As FreeBSD is a volunteer project without a funded testing department, we depend on you, the user, for much of the information contained in this catalog. If you have direct experience of hardware that does or does not work with FreeBSD, please let us know by sending e-mail to the &a.doc;. Questions about supported hardware should be directed to the &a.questions (see for more information). When submitting information or asking a question, please remember to specify exactly what version of FreeBSD you are using and include as many details of your hardware as possible. Resources on the Internet

The following links have proven useful in selecting hardware. Though some of what you see won't necessarily be specific (or even applicable) to FreeBSD, most of the hardware information out there is OS independent. Please check with the FreeBSD hardware guide to make sure that your chosen configuration is supported before making any purchases.

Sample Configurations

The following list of sample hardware configurations by no means constitutes an endorsement of a given hardware vendor or product by The FreeBSD Project. This information is provided only as a public service and merely catalogs some of the experiences that various individuals have had with different hardware combinations. Your mileage may vary. Slippery when wet. Beware of dog. Jordan's Picks

I have had fairly good luck building workstation and server configurations with the following components. I can't guarantee that you will too, nor that any of the companies here will remain "best buys" forever. I will try, when I can, to keep this list up-to-date but cannot obviously guarantee that it will be at any given time. Motherboards

For Pentium Pro (P6) systems, I'm quite fond of the S1668 dual-processor motherboard. It makes a dandy little single or dual processor system (which is supported in FreeBSD 3.0) and the price of the Pentium Pro 180/256K chip has fallen to truly affordable levels. The Pentium Pro remains my favorite processor solution server systems (Megahertz ratings aren't everything).

For the Pentium II, I'm rather partial to the motherboard with the on-board Adaptec SCSI WIDE controller.

For Pentium machines, the ASUS motherboard appears to be a good choice for mid-to-high range Pentium server and workstation systems. You might also wish to investigate ASUS's offering if it's a 486-class motherboard you're looking for (Note: These have become increasingly hard to get as ASUS apparently no longer manufactures them). Those wishing to build more fault-tolerant systems should also be sure to use Parity memory or, for truly 24/7 applications, ECC memory. Note that ECC memory does involve a slight performance trade-off (which may or may not be noticeable depending on your application) but buys you significantly increased fault-tolerance to memory errors. Disk Controllers

This one is a bit trickier, and while I used to recommend the controllers unilaterally for everything from ISA to PCI, now I tend to lean towards the 1542CF for ISA, Buslogic Bt747c for EISA and Adaptec 2940UW for PCI. The NCR/Symbios cards for PCI have also worked well for me, though you need to make sure that your motherboard supports the BIOS-less model if you're using one of those (if your card has nothing which looks even vaguely like a ROM chip on it, you've probably got one which expects its BIOS to be on your motherboard).

If you should find that you need more than one SCSI controller in a PCI machine, you may wish to consider conserving your scarce PCI bus resources by buying the Adaptec 3940 card, which puts two SCSI controllers (and internal busses) in a single slot. Disk drives

In this particular game of Russian roulette, I'll make few specific recommendations except to say "SCSI over IDE whenever you can afford it." Even in small desktop configurations, SCSI often makes more sense since it allows you to easily migrate drives from server to desktop as falling drive prices make it economical to do so. If you have more than one machine to administer then think of it not simply as storage, think of it as a food chain!

I do not currently see SCSI WIDE drives as a necessary expense unless you're putting together an NFS or NEWS server that will be doing a lot of multiuser disk I/O. CDROM drives

My SCSI preferences extend to SCSI CDROM drives as well, and while the XM-3501B (also released in a caddy-less model called the XM-5401B) drive has always performed well for me, I'm now a great fan of the PX-12CS drive. It's a 12 speed drive with excellent performance and reliability.

Generally speaking, most SCSI CDROM drives I've seen have been of pretty solid construction and you probably won't go wrong with an HP or NEC SCSI CDROM drive either. SCSI CDROM prices also appear to have dropped considerably in the last few months and are now quite competitive with IDE CDROMs while remaining a technically superior solution. I now see no reason whatsoever to settle for an IDE CDROM drive if given a choice between the two. CD Recordable (WORM) drives

At the time of this writing, FreeBSD supports 3 types of CDR drives (though I believe they all ultimately come from Phillips anyway): The Phillips CDD 522 (Acts like a Plasmon), the PLASMON RF4100 and the HP 6020i. I myself use the HP 6020i for burning CDROMs (with 2.2-current - it does not work with 2.1.5 or earlier releases of the SCSI code) and it works very well. See on your 2.2 system for example scripts used to created ISO9660 filesystem images (with RockRidge extensions) and burn them onto an HP6020i CDR. Tape drives

I've had pretty good luck with both from and drives from .

For backup purposes, I'd have to give the higher recommendation to the Exabyte due to the more robust nature (and higher storage capacity) of 8mm tape. Video Cards

If you can also afford to buy a commercial X server for US$99 from then I can heartily recommend the card. Note that support for this card is also excellent with the server, which is now at version 3.3.2. You also certainly can't go wrong with one of cards - their S3 Vision 868 and 968 based cards (the 9FX series) also being quite fast and very well supported by XFree86's S3 server. Monitors

I have had very good luck with the , as have I with the Viewsonic offering in the same (Trinitron) tube. For larger than 17", all I can recommend at the time of this writing is to not spend any less than U.S. $2,500 for a 21" monitor or $1,700 for a 20" monitor if that's what you really need. There are good monitors available in the >=20" range and there are also cheap monitors in the >=20" range. Unfortunately, very few are both cheap and good! Networking

I can recommend the Ultra 16 controller for any ISA application and the SMC EtherPower or Compex ENET32 cards for any serious PCI based networking. Both of the PCI cards are based around DEC's DC21041 Ethernet controller chip and other cards using it, such as the Zynx ZX342 or DEC DE435, will generally work as well. For 100Mbit networking, either the SMC SMC9332DST 10/100MB or Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B cards will do a fine job, the Intel EtherExpress generally getting my vote. If what you're looking for is, on the other hand, the cheapest possible solution which will still work reasonably well, then almost any NE2000 clone is a good choice. Serial

If you're looking for high-speed serial networking solutions, then makes the series, with drivers now in FreeBSD-current. also manufactures a board with T1/E1 capabilities, using software they provide. I have no direct experience using either product, however.

Multiport card options are somewhat more numerous, though it has to be said that FreeBSD's support for 's products is probably the tightest, primarily as a result of that company's commitment to making sure that we are adequately supplied with evaluation boards and technical specs. I've heard that the Cyclom-16Ye offers the best price/performance, though I've not checked the prices lately. Other multiport cards I've heard good things about are the BOCA and AST cards, and apparently offers an unofficial driver for their cards at location. Audio

I currently use a AWE32 though just about anything from Creative Labs will generally work these days. This is not to say that other types of sound cards don't also work, simply that I have little experience with them (I was a former GUS fan, but Gravis's soundcard situation has been dire for some time).

Video

For video capture, there are two good choices - any card based on the Brooktree BT848 chip, such as the Hauppage or WinTV boards, will work very nicely with FreeBSD. Another board which works for me is the card. FreeBSD also supports the older video spigot card from Creative Labs, but those are getting somewhat difficult to find. Note that the Meteor frame grabber card will not work with motherboards based on the 440FX chipset! See the section for details. In such cases, it's better to go with a BT848 based board.

Core/Processing Motherboards, busses, and chipsets * ISA * EISA * VLB PCI -

Contributed by &a.rgrimes;.25 April 1995.

+

Contributed by &a.obrien; from postings by &a.rgrimes;. + 25 April 1995.

Continuing updates by &a.jkh;.Last update on 26 August 1996.

Of the Intel PCI chip sets, the following list describes various types of known-brokenness and the degree of breakage, listed from worst to best.

Mercury: Cache coherency problems, especially if there are ISA bus masters behind the ISA to PCI bridge chip. Hardware flaw, only known work around is to turn the cache off. Saturn-I (ie, 82424ZX at rev 0, 1 or 2): Write back cache coherency problems. Hardware flaw, only known work around is to set the external cache to write-through mode. Upgrade to Saturn-II. Saturn-II (ie, 82424ZX at rev 3 or 4): Works fine, but many MB manufactures leave out the external dirty bit SRAM needed for write back operation. Work arounds are either run it in write through mode, or get the dirty bit SRAM installed. (I have these for the ASUS PCI/I-486SP3G rev 1.6 and later boards). Neptune: Can not run more than 2 bus master devices. Admitted Intel design flaw. Workarounds include do not run more than 2 bus masters, special hardware design to replace the PCI bus arbiter (appears on Intel Altair board and several other Intel server group MB's). And of course Intel's official answer, move to the Triton chip set, we ``fixed it there''. Triton (ie, 430FX): No known cache coherency or bus master problems, chip set does not implement parity checking. Workaround for parity issue. Use Triton-II based motherboards if you have the choice. Triton-II (ie, 430HX): All reports on motherboards using this chipset have been favorable so far. No known problems. Orion: Early versions of this chipset suffered from a PCI write-posting bug which can cause noticeable performance degradation in applications where large amounts of PCI bus traffic is involved. B0 stepping or later revisions of the chipset fixed this problem. :This support chipset seems to work well, and does not suffer from any of the early Orion chipset problems. It also supports a wider variety of memory, including ECC and parity. The only known problem with it is that the Matrox Meteor frame grabber card doesn't like it.

CPUs/FPUs

Contributed by &a.asami;.26 December 1997.

P6 class (Pentium Pro/Pentium II)

Both the Pentium Pro and Pentium II work fine with FreeBSD. In fact, our main ftp site (also known as "ftp.cdrom.com", world's largest ftp site) runs FreeBSD on a Pentium Pro. are available for interested parties. Pentium class

The Intel Pentium (P54C), Pentium MMX (P55C), AMD K6 and Cyrix/IBM 6x86MX processors are all reported to work with FreeBSD. I will not go into details of which processor is faster than what, there are zillions of web sites on the Internet that tells you one way or another. :)

Note that various CPUs have different voltage/cooling requirements. Make sure your motherboard can supply the exact voltage needed by the CPU. For instance, many recent MMX chips require split voltage (e.g., 2.9V core, 3.3V I/O). Also, some AMD and Cyrix/IBM chips run hotter than Intel chips. In that case, make sure you have good heatsink/fans (you can get the list of certified parts from their web pages). Clock speeds

Contributed by &a.rgrimes;.1 October 1996.

Updated by &a.asami;.27 December 1997.

Pentium class machines use different clock speeds for the various parts of the system. These being the speed of the CPU, external memory bus, and the PCI bus. It is not always true that a "faster" processor will make a system faster than a "slower" one, due to the various clock speeds used. Below is a table showing the differences:

Rated External Clock External to PCI Bus CPU and Memory Bus Internal Clock Clock MHz MHz** Multiplier MHz 60 60 1.0 30 66 66 1.0 33 75 50 1.5 25 90 60 1.5 30 100 50* 2 25 100 66 1.5 33 120 60 2 30 133 66 2 33 150 60 2.5 30 (Intel, AMD) 150 75 2 37.5 (Cyrix/IBM 6x86MX) 166 66 2.5 33 180 60 3 30 200 66 3 33 233 66 3.5 33 * The Pentium 100 can be run at either 50MHz external clock with a multiplier of 2 or at 66MHz and a multiplier of 1.5. ** 66 MHz may actually be 66.667 MHz, but don't assume so.

As can be seen the best parts to be using are the 100, 133, 166, 200 and 233, with the exception that at a multiplier of 3 or more the CPU starves for memory. The AMD K6 Bug

In 1997, there have been reports of the AMD K6 seg faulting during heavy compilation. That problem has been fixed in 3Q '97. According to reports, K6 chips with date mark "9733" or larger (i.e., manufactured in the 33rd week of '97 or later) do not have this bug. * 486 class * 386 class 286 class

Sorry, FreeBSD does not run on 80286 machines. It is nearly impossible to run today's large full-featured UNIXes on such hardware. * Memory

The minimum amount of memory you must have to install FreeBSD is 5 MB. Once your system is up and running you can that will use less memory. If you use the boot4.flp you can get away with having only 4 MB. * BIOS Input/Output Devices * Video cards * Sound cards Serial ports and multiport cards &uart; &sio; &cy; * Parallel ports * Modems * Network cards * Keyboards * Mice * Other Storage Devices &esdi; &scsi; * Disk/tape controllers * SCSI * IDE * Floppy Hard drives &scsihd; * IDE hard drives Tape drives

Contributed by &a.jmb;.2 July 1996.

General tape access commands

mt(1) provides generic access to the tape drives. Some of the more common commands are rewind, erase, and status. See the mt(1) manual page for a detailed description. Controller Interfaces

There are several different interfaces that support tape drives. The interfaces are SCSI, IDE, Floppy and Parallel Port. A wide variety of tape drives are available for these interfaces. Controllers are discussed in SCSI drives

The st(4) driver provides support for 8mm (Exabyte), 4mm (DAT: Digital Audio Tape), QIC (Quarter-Inch Cartridge), DLT (Digital Linear Tape), QIC Minicartridge and 9-track (remember the big reels that you see spinning in Hollywood computer rooms) tape drives. See the st(4) manual page for a detailed description.

The drives listed below are currently being used by members of the FreeBSD community. They are not the only drives that will work with FreeBSD. They just happen to be the ones that we use. 4mm (DAT: Digital Audio Tape)

8mm (Exabyte)

QIC (Quarter-Inch Cartridge)

DLT (Digital Linear Tape)

Mini-Cartridge

Autoloaders/Changers

* IDE drives Floppy drives

* Parallel port drives Detailed Information

The boot message identifier for this drive is "ARCHIVE ANCDA 2750 28077 -003 type 1 removable SCSI 2"

This is a QIC tape drive.

Native capacity is 1.35GB when using QIC-1350 tapes. This drive will read and write QIC-150 (DC6150), QIC-250 (DC6250), and QIC-525 (DC6525) tapes as well.

Data transfer rate is 350kB/s using dump(8). Rates of 530kB/s have been reported when using +id="backups:programs:amanda" name="Amanda">

Production of this drive has been discontinued.

The SCSI bus connector on this tape drive is reversed from that on most other SCSI devices. Make sure that you have enough SCSI cable to twist the cable one-half turn before and after the Archive Anaconda tape drive, or turn your other SCSI devices upside-down.

Two kernel code changes are required to use this drive. This drive will not work as delivered.

If you have a SCSI-2 controller, short jumper 6. Otherwise, the drive behaves are a SCSI-1 device. When operating as a SCSI-1 device, this drive, "locks" the SCSI bus during some tape operations, including: fsf, rewind, and rewoffl.

If you are using the NCR SCSI controllers, patch the file /usr/src/sys/pci/ncr.c (as shown below). Build and install a new kernel. *** 4831,4835 **** }; ! if (np->latetime>4) { /* ** Although we tried to wake it up, --- 4831,4836 ---- }; ! if (np->latetime>1200) { /* ** Although we tried to wake it up,

Reported by: &a.jmb;

The boot message identifier for this drive is "ARCHIVE Python 28454-XXX4ASB" "type 1 removable SCSI 2" "density code 0x8c, 512-byte blocks"

This is a DDS-1 tape drive.

Native capacity is 2.5GB on 90m tapes.

Data transfer rate is XXX.

This drive was repackaged by Sun Microsystems as model 411.

Reported by: Bob Bishop rb@gid.co.uk

The boot message identifier for this drive is "ARCHIVE VIPER 60 21116 -007" "type 1 removable SCSI 1"

This is a QIC tape drive.

Native capacity is 60MB.

Data transfer rate is XXX.

Production of this drive has been discontinued.

Reported by: Philippe Regnauld regnauld@hsc.fr

The boot message identifier for this drive is "ARCHIVE VIPER 150 21531 -004" "Archive Viper 150 is a known rogue" "type 1 removable SCSI 1". A multitude of firmware revisions exist for this drive. Your drive may report different numbers (e.g "21247 -005".

This is a QIC tape drive.

Native capacity is 150/250MB. Both 150MB (DC6150) and 250MB (DC6250) tapes have the recording format. The 250MB tapes are approximately 67% longer than the 150MB tapes. This drive can read 120MB tapes as well. It can not write 120MB tapes.

Data transfer rate is 100kB/s

This drive reads and writes DC6150 (150MB) and DC6250 (250MB) tapes.

This drives quirks are known and pre-compiled into the scsi tape device driver (st(4)).

Under FreeBSD 2.2-current, use mt blocksize 512 to set the blocksize. (The particular drive had firmware revision 21247 -005. Other firmware revisions may behave differently) Previous versions of FreeBSD did not have this problem.

Production of this drive has been discontinued.

Reported by: Pedro A M Vazquez vazquez@IQM.Unicamp.BR

Mike Smith msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au

The boot message identifier for this drive is "ARCHIVE VIPER 2525 25462 -011" "type 1 removable SCSI 1"

This is a QIC tape drive.

Native capacity is 525MB.

Data transfer rate is 180kB/s at 90 inches/sec.

The drive reads QIC-525, QIC-150, QIC-120 and QIC-24 tapes. Writes QIC-525, QIC-150, and QIC-120.

Firmware revisions prior to "25462 -011" are bug ridden and will not function properly.

Production of this drive has been discontinued.

The boot message identifier for this drive is "Conner tape".

This is a floppy controller, minicartridge tape drive.

Native capacity is XXXX

Data transfer rate is XXX

The drive uses QIC-80 tape cartridges.

Reported by: Mark Hannon mark@seeware.DIALix.oz.au

The boot message identifier for this drive is "CONNER CTMS 3200 7.00" "type 1 removable SCSI 2".

This is a minicartridge tape drive.

Native capacity is XXXX

Data transfer rate is XXX

The drive uses QIC-3080 tape cartridges.

Reported by: Thomas S. Traylor tst@titan.cs.mci.com

The boot message identifier for this drive is "DEC TZ87 (C) DEC 9206" "type 1 removable SCSI 2" "density code 0x19"

This is a DLT tape drive.

Native capacity is 10GB.

This drive supports hardware data compression.

Data transfer rate is 1.2MB/s.

This drive is identical to the Quantum DLT2000. The drive firmware can be set to emulate several well-known drives, including an Exabyte 8mm drive.

Reported by: &a.wilko;

The boot message identifier for this drive is "EXABYTE EXB-2501"

This is a mini-cartridge tape drive.

Native capacity is 1GB when using MC3000XL minicartridges.

Data transfer rate is XXX

This drive can read and write DC2300 (550MB), DC2750 (750MB), MC3000 (750MB), and MC3000XL (1GB) minicartridges.

WARNING: This drive does not meet the SCSI-2 specifications. The drive locks up completely in response to a SCSI MODE_SELECT command unless there is a formatted tape in the drive. Before using this drive, set the tape blocksize with mt -f /dev/st0ctl.0 blocksize 1024 Before using a minicartridge for the first time, the minicartridge must be formated. FreeBSD 2.1.0-RELEASE and earlier: /sbin/scsi -f /dev/rst0.ctl -s 600 -c "4 0 0 0 0 0" (Alternatively, fetch a copy of the scsiformat shell script from FreeBSD 2.1.5/2.2.) FreeBSD 2.1.5 and later: /sbin/scsiformat -q -w /dev/rst0.ctl

Right now, this drive cannot really be recommended for FreeBSD.

Reported by: Bob Beaulieu ez@eztravel.com

The boot message identifier for this drive is "EXABYTE EXB-8200 252X" "type 1 removable SCSI 1"

This is an 8mm tape drive.

Native capacity is 2.3GB.

Data transfer rate is 270kB/s.

This drive is fairly slow in responding to the SCSI bus during boot. A custom kernel may be required (set SCSI_DELAY to 10 seconds).

There are a large number of firmware configurations for this drive, some have been customized to a particular vendor's hardware. The firmware can be changed via EPROM replacement.

Production of this drive has been discontinued.

Reported by: Mike Smith msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au

The boot message identifier for this drive is "EXABYTE EXB-8500-85Qanx0 0415" "type 1 removable SCSI 2"

This is an 8mm tape drive.

Native capacity is 5GB.

Data transfer rate is 300kB/s.

Reported by: Greg Lehey grog@lemis.de

The boot message identifier for this drive is "EXABYTE EXB-85058SQANXR1 05B0" "type 1 removable SCSI 2"

This is an 8mm tape drive which supports compression, and is upward compatible with the EXB-5200 and EXB-8500.

Native capacity is 5GB.

The drive supports hardware data compression.

Data transfer rate is 300kB/s.

Reported by: Glen Foster gfoster@gfoster.com

The boot message identifier for this drive is "HP C1533A 9503" "type 1 removable SCSI 2".

This is a DDS-2 tape drive. DDS-2 means hardware data compression and narrower tracks for increased data capacity.

Native capacity is 4GB when using 120m tapes. This drive supports hardware data compression.

Data transfer rate is 510kB/s.

This drive is used in Hewlett-Packard's SureStore 6000eU and 6000i tape drives and C1533A DDS-2 DAT drive.

The drive has a block of 8 dip switches. The proper settings for FreeBSD are: 1 ON; 2 ON; 3 OFF; 4 ON; 5 ON; 6 ON; 7 ON; 8 ON. switch 1 2 Result ON ON Compression enabled at power-on, with host control ON OFF Compression enabled at power-on, no host control OFF ON Compression disabled at power-on; the host is allowed to control compression OFF OFF Compression disabled at power-on, no host control

Switch 3 controls MRS (Media Recognition System). MRS tapes have stripes on the transparent leader. These identify the tape as DDS (Digital Data Storage) grade media. Tapes that do not have the stripes will be treated as write-protected. Switch 3 OFF enables MRS. Switch 3 ON disables MRS.

See and for more information on configuring this drive.

Warning: Quality control on these drives varies greatly. One FreeBSD core-team member has returned 2 of these drives. Neither lasted more than 5 months.

Reported by: &a.se;

The boot message identifier for this drive is "HP HP35470A T503" type 1 removable SCSI 2" "Sequential-Access density code 0x13, variable blocks".

This is a DDS-1 tape drive. DDS-1 is the original DAT tape format.

Native capacity is 2GB when using 90m tapes.

Data transfer rate is 183kB/s.

The same mechanism is used in Hewlett-Packard's SureStore tape drive, C35470A DDS format DAT drive, C1534A DDS format DAT drive and HP C1536A DDS format DAT drive.

The HP C1534A DDS format DAT drive has two indicator lights, one green and one amber. The green one indicates tape action: slow flash during load, steady when loaded, fast flash during read/write operations. The amber one indicates warnings: slow flash when cleaning is required or tape is nearing the end of its useful life, steady indicates an hard fault. (factory service required?)

Reported by Gary Crutcher gcrutchr@nightflight.com

The boot message identifier for this drive is "".

This is a DDS-2 tape drive with a tape changer. DDS-2 means hardware data compression and narrower tracks for increased data capacity.

Native capacity is 24GB when using 120m tapes. This drive supports hardware data compression.

Data transfer rate is 510kB/s (native).

This drive is used in Hewlett-Packard's SureStore tape drive.

The drive has two selectors on the rear panel. The selector closer to the fan is SCSI id. The other selector should be set to 7.

There are four internal switches. These should be set: 1 ON; 2 ON; 3 ON; 4 OFF.

At present the kernel drivers do not automatically change tapes at the end of a volume. This shell script can be used to change tapes: #!/bin/sh PATH="/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin"; export PATH usage() { echo "Usage: dds_changer [123456ne] raw-device-name echo "1..6 = Select cartridge" echo "next cartridge" echo "eject magazine" exit 2 } if [ $# -ne 2 ] ; then usage fi cdb3=0 cdb4=0 cdb5=0 case $1 in [123456]) cdb3=$1 cdb4=1 ;; n) ;; e) cdb5=0x80 ;; ?) usage ;; esac scsi -f $2 -s 100 -c "1b 0 0 $cdb3 $cdb4 $cdb5"

The boot message identifier for this drive is "HP HP35450A -A C620" "type 1 removable SCSI 2" "Sequential-Access density code 0x13"

This is a DDS-1 tape drive. DDS-1 is the original DAT tape format.

Native capacity is 1.2GB.

Data transfer rate is 160kB/s.

Reported by: mark thompson mark.a.thompson@pobox.com

The boot message identifier for this drive is "HP HP35470A 9 09" type 1 removable SCSI 2"

This is a DDS-1 tape drive. DDS-1 is the original DAT tape format.

Native capacity is 2GB when using 90m tapes.

Data transfer rate is 183kB/s.

The same mechanism is used in Hewlett-Packard's SureStore tape drive, C35470A DDS format DAT drive, C1534A DDS format DAT drive, and HP C1536A DDS format DAT drive.

Warning: Quality control on these drives varies greatly. One FreeBSD core-team member has returned 5 of these drives. None lasted more than 9 months.

Reported by: David Dawes dawes@rf900.physics.usyd.edu.au (9 09)

The boot message identifier for this drive is "HP HP35480A 1009" "type 1 removable SCSI 2" "Sequential-Access density code 0x13".

This is a DDS-DC tape drive. DDS-DC is DDS-1 with hardware data compression. DDS-1 is the original DAT tape format.

Native capacity is 2GB when using 90m tapes. It cannot handle 120m tapes. This drive supports hardware data compression. Please refer to the section on for the proper switch settings.

Data transfer rate is 183kB/s.

This drive is used in Hewlett-Packard's SureStore and tape drives and C35480A DDS format DAT drive..

This drive will occasionally hang during a tape eject operation (mt offline). Pressing the front panel button will eject the tape and bring the tape drive back to life.

WARNING: HP 35480-03110 only. On at least two occasions this tape drive when used with FreeBSD 2.1.0, an IBM Server 320 and an 2940W SCSI controller resulted in all SCSI disk partitions being lost. The problem has not be analyzed or resolved at this time.

There are at least two significantly different models: one is a DDS-1 and the other DDS-2. The DDS-1 version is "SDT-5000 3.02". The DDS-2 version is "SONY SDT-5000 327M". The DDS-2 version has a 1MB cache. This cache is able to keep the tape streaming in almost any circumstances.

The boot message identifier for this drive is "SONY SDT-5000 3.02" "type 1 removable SCSI 2" "Sequential-Access density code 0x13"

Native capacity is 4GB when using 120m tapes. This drive supports hardware data compression.

Data transfer rate is depends upon the model or the drive. The rate is 630kB/s for the "SONY SDT-5000 327M" while compressing the data. For the "SONY SDT-5000 3.02", the data transfer rate is 225kB/s.

In order to get this drive to stream, set the blocksize to 512 bytes (mt blocksize 512) reported by Kenneth Merry ken@ulc199.residence.gatech.edu"

"SONY SDT-5000 327M" information reported by Charles Henrich henrich@msu.edu

Reported by: &a.jmz;

The boot message identifier for this drive is "TANDBERG TDC 3600 =08:" "type 1 removable SCSI 2"

This is a QIC tape drive.

Native capacity is 150/250MB.

This drive has quirks which are known and work around code is present in the scsi tape device driver (st(4)). Upgrading the firmware to XXX version will fix the quirks and provide SCSI 2 capabilities.

Data transfer rate is 80kB/s.

IBM and Emerald units will not work. Replacing the firmware EPROM of these units will solve the problem.

Reported by: Michael Smith msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au

This is very similar to the drive.

Reported by: &a.joerg;

The boot message identifier for this drive is "TANDBERG TDC 4222 =07" "type 1 removable SCSI 2"

This is a QIC tape drive.

Native capacity is 2.5GB. The drive will read all cartridges from the 60 MB (DC600A) upwards, and write 150 MB (DC6150) upwards. Hardware compression is optionally supported for the 2.5 GB cartridges.

This drives quirks are known and pre-compiled into the scsi tape device driver (st(4)) beginning with FreeBSD 2.2-current. For previous versions of FreeBSD, use mt to read one block from the tape, rewind the tape, and then execute the backup program (mt fsr 1; mt rewind; dump ...)

Data transfer rate is 600kB/s (vendor claim with compression), 350 KB/s can even be reached in start/stop mode. The rate decreases for smaller cartridges.

Reported by: &a.joerg;

The boot message identifier for this drive is "WANGTEK 5525ES SCSI REV7 3R1" "type 1 removable SCSI 1" "density code 0x11, 1024-byte blocks"

This is a QIC tape drive.

Native capacity is 525MB.

Data transfer rate is 180kB/s.

The drive reads 60, 120, 150, and 525MB tapes. The drive will not write 60MB (DC600 cartridge) tapes. In order to overwrite 120 and 150 tapes reliably, first erase (mt erase) the tape. 120 and 150 tapes used a wider track (fewer tracks per tape) than 525MB tapes. The "extra" width of the previous tracks is not overwritten, as a result the new data lies in a band surrounded on both sides by the previous data unless the tape have been erased.

This drives quirks are known and pre-compiled into the scsi tape device driver (st(4)).

Other firmware revisions that are known to work are: M75D

Reported by: Marc van Kempen marc@bowtie.nl "REV73R1" Andrew Gordon Andrew.Gordon@net-tel.co.uk "M75D"

The boot message identifier for this drive is "WANGTEK 6200-HS 4B18" "type 1 removable SCSI 2" "Sequential-Access density code 0x13"

This is a DDS-1 tape drive.

Native capacity is 2GB using 90m tapes.

Data transfer rate is 150kB/s.

Reported by: Tony Kimball alk@Think.COM * Problem drives CD-ROM drives

Contributed by &a.obrien;.23 November 1997.

As mentioned in Generally speaking those in The FreeBSD Project prefer SCSI CDROM drives over IDE CDROM drives. However not all SCSI CDROM drives are equal. Some feel the quality of some SCSI CDROM drives have been deteriorating to that of IDE CDROM drives. Toshiba used to be the favored stand-by, but many on the SCSI mailing list have found displeasure with the 12x speed XM-5701TA as its volume (when playing audio CDROMs) is not controllable by the various audio player software. Another area where SCSI CDROM manufacturers are cutting corners is adhearance to the . Many SCSI CDROMs will respond to for its target address. Known violators include the 6x Teac CD-56S 1.0D. * Other -* Adding and reconfiguring disks - Tapes and backups - * What about backups to floppies? - Tape Media - - -

4mm tapes are replacing QIC as the workstation backup -media of choice. This trend accelerated greatly when Conner -purchased Archive, a leading manufacturer of QIC drives, and then -stopped production of QIC drives. 4mm drives are small and quiet -but do not have the reputation for reliability that is enjoyed by 8mm drives. -The cartridges are less expensive and smaller (3 x 2 x 0.5 -inches, 76 x 51 x 12 mm) than 8mm cartridges. 4mm, like 8mm, has -comparatively short head life for the same reason, both use -helical scan. - - -

Data thruput on these drives starts ~150kB/s, peaking -at ~500kB/s. Data capacity starts at 1.3 GB and ends at 2.0 GB. -Hardware compression, available with most of these drives, -approximately doubles the capacity. Multi-drive tape library -units can have 6 drives in a single cabinet with automatic tape -changing. Library capacities reach 240 GB. - - -

4mm drives, like 8mm drives, use helical-scan. All -the benefits and drawbacks of helical-scan apply to both 4mm and -8mm drives. - -

Tapes should be retired from use after 2,000 passes or -100 full backups. - - - - -

8mm tapes are the most common SCSI tape drives; they -are the best choice of exchanging tapes. Nearly every site has -an exabyte 2 GB 8mm tape drive. 8mm drives are reliable, -convenient and quiet. Cartridges are inexpensive and small (4.8 x -3.3 x 0.6 inches; 122 x 84 x 15 mm). One downside of 8mm tape is -relatively short head and tape life due to the high rate of -relative motion of the tape across the heads. - - -

Data thruput ranges from ~250kB/s to ~500kB/s. Data -sizes start at 300 MB and go up to 7 GB. Hardware compression, -available with most of these drives, approximately doubles the -capacity. These drives are available as single units or -multi-drive tape libraries with 6 drives and 120 tapes in a -single cabinet. Tapes are changed automatically by the unit. -Library capacities reach 840+ GB. - - -

Data is recorded onto the tape using helical-scan, the -heads are positioned at an angle to the media (approximately 6 -degrees). The tape wraps around 270 degrees of the spool that -holds the heads. The spool spins while the tape slides over the -spool. The result is a high density of data and closely packed -tracks that angle across the tape from one edge to the other. - - - - -

QIC-150 tapes and drives are, perhaps, the most common -tape drive and media around. QIC tape drives are the least -expensive "serious" backup drives. The downside is the cost of -media. QIC tapes are expensive compared to 8mm or 4mm tapes, up -to 5 times the price per GB data storage. But, if your needs can -be satisfied with a half-dozen tapes, QIC may be the correct -choice. QIC is the most common tape drive. Every site -has a QIC drive of some density or another. Therein lies the -rub, QIC has a large number of densities on physically similar -(sometimes identical) tapes. QIC drives are not quiet. These -drives audibly seek before they begin to record data and are -clearly audible whenever reading, writing or seeking. QIC tapes -measure (6 x 4 x 0.7 inches; 15.2 x 10.2 x 1.7 mm). , which also -use 1/4" wide tape are discussed separately. Tape libraries and -changers are not available. - - -

Data thruput ranges from ~150kB/s to ~500kB/s. Data -capacity ranges from 40 MB to 15 GB. Hardware compression is -available on many of the newer QIC drives. QIC drives are less -frequently installed; they are being supplanted by DAT drives. - - -

Data is recorded onto the tape in tracks. The tracks -run along the long axis of the tape media from one end to the -other. The number of tracks, and therefore the width of a track, -varies with the tape's capacity. Most if not all newer drives -provide backward-compatibility at least for reading (but often -also for writing). QIC has a good reputation regarding the -safety of the data (the mechanics are simpler and more robust -than for helical scan drives). - -

Tapes should be retired from use after 5,000 backups. - - - - - -

DLT has the fastest data transfer rate of all the drive -types listed here. The 1/2" (12.5mm) tape is contained in a -single spool cartridge (4 x 4 x 1 inches; 100 x 100 x 25 mm). The -cartridge has a swinging gate along one entire side of the -cartridge. The drive mechanism opens this gate to extract the -tape leader. The tape leader has an oval hole in it which the -drive uses to "hook" the tape. The take-up spool is located -inside the tape drive. All the other tape cartridges listed here -(9 track tapes are the only exception) have both the supply and -take-up spools located inside the tape cartridge itself. - - - Data thruput is approximately 1.5MB/s, three times the -thruput of 4mm, 8mm, or QIC tape drives. Data capacities range -from 10GB to 20GB for a single drive. Drives are available in -both multi-tape changers and multi-tape, multi-drive tape -libraries containing from 5 to 900 tapes over 1 to 20 drives, -providing from 50GB to 9TB of storage. - - - Data is recorded onto the tape in tracks parallel to the -direction of travel (just like QIC tapes). Two tracks are written -at once. Read/write head lifetimes are relatively long; once the -tape stops moving, there is no relative motion between the heads -and the tape. - - Using a new tape for the first time -

The first time that you try to read or write a new, -completely blank tape, the operation will fail. The console -messages should be similar to: - - st0(ncr1:4:0): NOT READY asc:4,1 - st0(ncr1:4:0): Logical unit is in process of becoming ready - - -The tape does not contain an Identifier Block (block number -0). All QIC tape drives since the adoption of QIC-525 standard -write an Identifier Block to the tape. There are two -solutions: -

mt fsf 1 causes the tape drive to write an -Identifier Block to the tape. -

Use the front panel button to eject the tape. -

Re-insert the tape and dump(8) data to the -tape. -

dump(8) will report DUMP: End of tape -detected and the console will show: HARDWARE FAILURE -info:280 asc:80,96 -

rewind the tape using: mt rewind - -

Subsequent tape operations are successful. - - Backup Programs -

The three major programs are dump(8), -tar(1), and cpio(1). - - Dump and Restore - -

dump(8) and restore(8) are the -traditional Unix backup programs. They operate on the drive as a -collection of disk blocks, below the abstractions of files, links -and directories that are created by the filesystems. -dump(8) backs up devices, entire filesystems, not parts -of a filesystem and not directory trees that span more than one -filesystem, using either soft links ln(1) or mounting -one filesystem onto another. dump(8) does not write -files and directories to tape, but rather writes the data blocks -that are the building blocks of files and directories. -dump(8) has quirks that remain from its early days in -Version 6 of ATT Unix (circa 1975). The default parameters are -suitable for 9-track tapes (6250 bpi), not the high-density media -available today (up to 62,182 ftpi). These defaults must be -overridden on the command line to utilize the capacity of current -tape drives. - -

rdump(8) and rrestore(8) backup data -across the network to a tape drive attached to another computer. -Both programs rely upon rcmd(3) and ruserok(3) -to access the remote tape drive. Therefore, the user performing -the backup must have rhosts access to the remote -computer. The arguments to rdump(8) and -rrestore(8) must suitable to use on the remote computer. -(e.g. When rdump'ing from a FreeBSD computer to an -Exabyte tape drive connected to a Sun called komodo, use: /sbin/rdump -0dsbfu 54000 13000 126 komodo:/dev/nrst8 /dev/rsd0a 2>&1) -Beware: there are security implications to allowing -rhosts commands. Evaluate your situation carefully. - - - - Tar - -

tar(1) also dates back to Version 6 of ATT -Unix (circa 1975). tar(1) operates in cooperation with -the filesystem; tar(1) writes files and directories to -tape. tar(1) does not support the full range of options -that are available from cpio(1), but tar(1) -does not require the unusual command pipeline that -cpio(1) uses. - -

Most versions of tar(1) do not support backups across the -network. The GNU version of tar(1), which FreeBSD utilizes, supports -remote devices using the same syntax as rdump. To tar(1) -to an Exabyte tape drive connected to a Sun called komodo, use: -/usr/bin/tar cf komodo:/dev/nrst8 . 2>&1. -For versions without remote device support, you can use a pipeline -and rsh(1) to send the -data to a remote tape drive. (XXX add an example command) - - Cpio - -

cpio(1) is the original Unix file interchange -tape program for magnetic media. cpio(1) has options (among -many others) to perform byte-swapping, write a number of -different archives format, and pipe the data to other programs. -This last feature makes cpio(1) and excellent choice for -installation media. cpio(1) does not know how to walk -the directory tree and a list of files must be provided thru STDIN. - -

cpio(1) does not support backups across the -network. You can use a pipeline and rsh(1) to send the -data to a remote tape drive. (XXX add an example command) - - Pax - - -

pax(1) is IEEE/POSIX's answer to tar and - cpio. Over the years the various versions of tar and - cpio have gotten slightly incompatible. So rather than fight it - out to fully standardize them, POSIX created a new archive utility. - pax attempts to read and write many of the various cpio and tar - formats, plus new formats of its own. Its command set more resembles - cpio than tar. - - - -

Amanda (Advanced Maryland Network Disk Archiver) is a -client/server backup system, rather than a single program. An -Amanda server will backup to a single tape drive any number of -computers that have Amanda clients and network communications -with the Amanda server. A common problem at locations with a -number of large disks is the length of time required to backup to -data directly to tape exceeds the amount of time available for -the task. Amanda solves this problem. Amanda can use a "holding -disk" to backup several filesystems at the same time. Amanda -creates "archive sets": a group of tapes used over a period of -time to create full backups of all the filesystems listed in -Amanda's configuration file. The "archive set" also contains -nightly incremental (or differential) backups of all the -filesystems. Restoring a damaged filesystem requires the most -recent full backup and the incremental backups. - -

The configuration file provides fine control backups -and the network traffic that Amanda generates. Amanda will use -any of the above backup programs to write the data to tape. -Amanda is available as either a port or a package, it is not -installed by default. - - Do nothing -

"Do nothing" is not a computer program, but it is the -most widely used backup strategy. There are no initial costs. -There is no backup schedule to follow. Just say no. If -something happens to your data, grin and bear it! - -

If your time and your data is worth little to nothing, -then "Do nothing" is the most suitable backup program for your -computer. But beware, Unix is a useful tool, you may find that -within six months you have a collection of files that are -valuable to you. - -

"Do nothing" is the correct backup method for -/usr/obj and other directory trees that can be exactly -recreated by your computer. An example is the files that -comprise these handbook pages-they have been generated from -SGML input files. Creating backups of these -HTML files is not necessary. The SGML source -files are backed up regularly. - - Which Backup Program is Best? -

dump(8) Period. Elizabeth D. Zwicky -torture tested all the backup programs discussed here. The clear -choice for preserving all your data and all the peculiarities of -Unix filesystems is dump(8). Elizabeth created -filesystems containing a large variety of unusual conditions (and -some not so unusual ones) and tested each program by do a backup -and restore of that filesystems. The peculiarities included: -files with holes, files with holes and a block of nulls, files -with funny characters in their names, unreadable and unwritable -files, devices, files that change size during the backup, files -that are created/deleted during the backup and more. She -presented the results at LISA V in Oct. 1991. - - Emergency Restore Procedure - Before the Disaster -

There are only four steps that you need to perform in -preparation for any disaster that may occur. - -

First, print the disklabel from each of your disks -(e.g. disklabel sd0 | lpr), your filesystem table -(/etc/fstab) and all boot messages, two copies of each. - -

Second, determine the boot and fixit floppies -(boot.flp and fixit.flp) have all your devices. The easiest way -to check is to reboot your machine with the boot floppy in the -floppy drive and check the boot messages. If all your devices -are listed and functional, skip on to step three. - -

Otherwise, you have to create two custom bootable -floppies which has a kernel that can mount your all of your disks -and access your tape drive. These floppies must contain: -fdisk(8), disklabel(8), newfs(8), -mount(8), and whichever backup program you use. These -programs must be statically linked. If you use dump(8), -the floppy must contain restore(8). - -

Third, create backup tapes regularly. -Any changes that you make after your last backup may be -irretrievably lost. Write-protect the backup tapes. - -

Fourth, test the floppies (either boot.flp and -fixit.flp or the two custom bootable floppies you made in step -two.) and backup tapes. Make notes of the procedure. Store -these notes with the bootable floppy, the printouts and the -backup tapes. You will be so distraught when restoring that the -notes may prevent you from destroying your backup tapes (How? In -place of tar xvf /dev/rst0, you might accidently type - tar cvf /dev/rst0 and over-write your backup tape). - -

For an added measure of security, make bootable -floppies and two backup tapes each time. Store one of each at a -remote location. A remote location is NOT the basement of the -same office building. A number of firms in the World Trade Center -learned this lesson the hard way. A remote location should be -physically separated from your computers and disk drives by a -significant distance. - -

An example script for creating a bootable floppy: - - #!/bin/sh - # - # create a restore floppy - # - # format the floppy - # - PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin - - fdformat -q fd0 - if [ $? -ne 0 ] - then - echo "Bad floppy, please use a new one" - exit 1 - fi - - # place boot blocks on the floppy - # - disklabel -w -B -b /usr/mdec/fdboot -s /usr/mdec/bootfd /dev/rfd0c fd1440 - - # - # newfs the one and only partition - # - newfs -t 2 -u 18 -l 1 -c 40 -i 5120 -m 5 -o space /dev/rfd0a - - # - # mount the new floppy - # - mount /dev/fd0a /mnt - - # - # create required directories - # - mkdir /mnt/dev - mkdir /mnt/bin - mkdir /mnt/sbin - mkdir /mnt/etc - mkdir /mnt/root - mkdir /mnt/mnt # for the root partition - mkdir /mnt/tmp - mkdir /mnt/var - - # - # populate the directories - # - if [ ! -x /sys/compile/MINI/kernel ] - then - cat << EOM - The MINI kernel does not exist, please create one. - Here is an example config file: - # - # MINI -- A kernel to get FreeBSD on onto a disk. - # - machine "i386" - cpu "I486_CPU" - ident MINI - maxusers 5 - - options INET # needed for _tcp _icmpstat _ipstat - # _udpstat _tcpstat _udb - options FFS #Berkeley Fast File System - options FAT_CURSOR #block cursor in syscons or pccons - options SCSI_DELAY=15 #Be pessimistic about Joe SCSI device - options NCONS=2 #1 virtual consoles - options USERCONFIG #Allow user configuration with -c XXX - - config kernel root on sd0 swap on sd0 and sd1 dumps on sd0 - - controller isa0 - controller pci0 - - controller fdc0 at isa? port "IO_FD1" bio irq 6 drq 2 vector fdintr - disk fd0 at fdc0 drive 0 - - controller ncr0 - - controller scbus0 - - device sc0 at isa? port "IO_KBD" tty irq 1 vector scintr - device npx0 at isa? port "IO_NPX" irq 13 vector npxintr - - device sd0 - device sd1 - device sd2 - - device st0 - - pseudo-device loop # required by INET - pseudo-device gzip # Exec gzipped a.out's - EOM - exit 1 - fi - - cp -f /sys/compile/MINI/kernel /mnt - - gzip -c -best /sbin/init > /mnt/sbin/init - gzip -c -best /sbin/fsck > /mnt/sbin/fsck - gzip -c -best /sbin/mount > /mnt/sbin/mount - gzip -c -best /sbin/halt > /mnt/sbin/halt - gzip -c -best /sbin/restore > /mnt/sbin/restore - - gzip -c -best /bin/sh > /mnt/bin/sh - gzip -c -best /bin/sync > /mnt/bin/sync - - cp /root/.profile /mnt/root - - cp -f /dev/MAKEDEV /mnt/dev - chmod 755 /mnt/dev/MAKEDEV - - chmod 500 /mnt/sbin/init - chmod 555 /mnt/sbin/fsck /mnt/sbin/mount /mnt/sbin/halt - chmod 555 /mnt/bin/sh /mnt/bin/sync - chmod 6555 /mnt/sbin/restore - - # - # create the devices nodes - # - cd /mnt/dev - ./MAKEDEV std - ./MAKEDEV sd0 - ./MAKEDEV sd1 - ./MAKEDEV sd2 - ./MAKEDEV st0 - ./MAKEDEV pty0 - cd / - - # - # create minimum filesystem table - # - cat > /mnt/etc/fstab < /mnt/etc/passwd < /mnt/etc/master.passwd < - - After the Disaster -

The key question is: did your hardware survive? You -have been doing regular backups so there is no need to worry -about the software. - -

If the hardware has been damaged. First, replace -those parts that have been damaged. - -

If your hardware is okay, check your floppies. If you -are using a custom boot floppy, boot single-user (type "-s" at -the "boot:" prompt). Skip the following paragraph. - -

If you are using the boot.flp and fixit.flp floppies, -keep reading. Insert the boot.flp floppy in the first floppy drive -and boot the computer. The original install menu will be displayed -on the screen. Select the "Fixit--Repair mode with CDROM or floppy." -option. Insert the fixit.flp when prompted. restore and -the other programs that you need are located in /mnt2/stand. - -

Recover each filesystem separately. - -

Try to mount(8) (e.g. mount /dev/sd0a /mnt) -the root partition of your first disk. If the disklabel was -damaged, use disklabel(8) to re-partition and label the -disk to match the label that your printed and saved. Use -newfs(8) to re-create the filesystems. Re-mount the -root partition of the floppy read-write ("mount -u -o rw -/mnt"). Use your backup program and backup tapes to recover -the data for this filesystem (e.g. restore vrf -/dev/st0). Unmount the filesystem (e.g. umount -/mnt) Repeat for each filesystem that was damaged. - -

Once your system is running, backup your data onto new -tapes. Whatever caused the crash or data loss may strike again. -An another hour spent now, may save you from further distress later. - - * I did not prepare for the Disaster, What Now? - * Other * PCMCIA diff --git a/handbook/sections.sgml b/handbook/sections.sgml index 8033f8bab8..90ded366f0 100644 --- a/handbook/sections.sgml +++ b/handbook/sections.sgml @@ -1,64 +1,66 @@ - + + +