IBM Advanced SerialRAID Adapters SA33-3285-02, User Manual

Page: 378 / 531

ssa_format Command
Purpose
To format the specified device.
Syntax
ssa_format -l pdisk
or
ssa_format -l SSA_Adapter [-b]
Description
The ssa_format -l pdisk command opens the pdisk special file, and uses the ISAL
Format command to format the device. You can close the device while the format
operation is running. If the command cannot format the device, it prints an error
message.
The ssa_format -l SSA_Adapter command attempts to format the Fast-Write Cache
Option Card (if present). If the data that is on the Fast-Write Cache Option Card has
been moved onto a disk drive (destaged), the formatting operation sets all the data on
the Fast-Write Cache Option Card to zero, for security reasons.
The ssa_format -l SSA_Adapter -b command resets the battery-age counter on the
Fast-Write Cache Option Card. Use this option only when you have exchanged the
Fast-Write Cache Option Card battery.
Possible failure conditions for the ssa_format command include:
v
No Fast-Write Cache Option Card is present on the adapter card.
v
The fast-write cache is not empty. Data is waiting to be written to another device.
This message is displayed:
Cannot be formatted because it is not empty
v
The adapter card does not provide support for the Fast-Write Cache feature. This
message is displayed:
This adapter cannot be formatted
The ssa_progress -l pdisk command allows you to check the progress of the format
operation that the ssa_format -l pdisk command started.
Flags
-l pdisk
Specifies the pdisk that you want to format.
-l SSA_Adapter
Specifies the adapter whose Fast-Write Cache Option Card you want to
format.
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