Subject: Re: mounting non-BSD partitions.
To: None <wonko@blackhole.arkham.net>
From: Jonathan Stone <jonathan@DSG.Stanford.EDU>
List: current-users
Date: 06/20/1997 15:01:40
[[cloned sd* devices, as  in GENERIC config]]

>i'm not so sure i like that.  being the person i am i want to be able to look
>at the device name and be able to tell exactly where something is, not just
>guess.

You should wire down your drive configuration, then.  Use sd<N> at
scsibus <c>, or sd<N> at scsibus? if all your unit numbers are unique
(less than 8 drives, or less than 16 for wide scsi.)


> Wiring down sd? drive numbers has the nice side-effect that if a drive
> dies, or loses power, or gets moved, the device number of other drives
> doens't change, and so you don't start mounting drives on mountpoints
> at random, using partition numbners in fstab that assume the drive is
> still there.

>this is (IMHO) a Bad Thing (TM)  

Wiring down drives numbers, once you know the config,
is usually a *good* thing.  What happens when you don't wire down
drives, and they rearrange themselves is a *bad* thing.
We both  could  have written more clearly :).

> Maybe we should put examples of this in a sample config file,
> or in the documentation, or something...

>again, IMHO, i think we should do away with sdNa where we just add to the
>end of the list. 

Cloned sd? devices (and CD-roms, and tape are very useful when
installing, for example. That's enough reason to keep them, IMHO.

> very very very bad things will happen because of that if
>i remove a drive from my first controller.  (imagine the havoc it would
>create with ccd volumes!!!

Indeed. In that case, wire down your drive numbers.