mksf versus insf

[Hill_1]

hi people,
i'm not sure about when to use the mksf command and when to use the insf as both are creating the device file.

[Michael Tully]

Hi,

Generally 'insf' can be used to generate or
re-generate device files that may have
been accidently deleted. 'insf -e' from
/dev will create all devices that are
recognised by the system kernel.
'mksf' on the other hand can be
used mainly to create a single device file
from say a hardware address and class
e.g.
# mksf -d stape -H 0/0/1/0.3.0 will create
tape drive devices as
/dev/rmt/?m
/dev/rmt/?mn
/dev/rmt/?mb
/dev/rmt/?mnb
/dev/rmt/c0t3dBEST

One item to note is that 'insf' should not be
run in multi-user mode as stated at the end
of the man page, altough I've never had any
problem with using it whether in single or multi-user state.

HTH
-Michael

[linuxfan]

Hi June,

First of all insf and mksf call mksf. When you run /usr/sbin/insf or /usr/sbin/mksf it calls /sbin/mksf.

One of the major advantages of insf is, it has an option -e which lets you reinstall the special files for psuedo-drivers and existing devices.

For more information look at man pages for insf and mksf.
Actually like Mike said, there is a WARNING for insf, that it should be run in single-user mode, but i never had a problem running in multi-user mode.

-HTH
I am RU

[Erik Tong]

Another note for insf:
When running "insf -e", all device files are recreated even if they already exist.

So, if you are running an application that requires a specific permissions/owner/group on a device file your application will break. This is because on recreation of the device file all the defaults for permissions/owner/group are applied.

[Hill_1]

Anyway if i configure a device for eg. tape drive without rebot the system, can i run mksf or insf to create the device file?

[Bill Hassell]

Connecting any shared bus device (like SCSI) is a great way to watch the system crash. Unless the tape is being connected to a dedicated SCSI card, the 5 dozen or so pins will make connection randomly and usually confuses the driver bigtime.

insf is the command used at bootup to create device files for new peripherals. insf installs a standard set of device files while mksf has several options to for additional device files. insf is easier to use:

insf -H

insf figures out the driver and the associated device files.

[linuxfan]

Hi June,

First of all you can try
/usr/sbin/ioscan -fnC tape

(This would return if the tape drive is already configured and the device files are existing.

If not you could create the device files using mksf
eg:
mksf -d stape -H 10/12/5.0.0
(This would create the device file for the tape drive at the hardware path 10/12/5.0.0, which happens to be the default path for K-Class system. Notice the stape here is to indicate the driver for the tape drive. To list the device drivers on your system, you can use lsdev)

If its an L/N class, the path would be 0/0/1/0.3.0 ( but check the path on your system)

-HTH
I am RU

[Carlos Fernandez Riera]

The procedure to add a hot-plug tape or disk

is:

ioscan -f # scan hardware
insf -e -H harward_path # create standard special files for that hardware found.

mkfs allows you create 'special' special files as /dev/zero or /dev/async or special files for tapes

[Sundar_7]

Hi there,

U will use insf ..say when ur hot swap hard
disk is failed and U replaced or when U want to create more pty's or U have removed some of
the special device file and want the system to automatically build for U..

U will use mksf to ""Customize"" the device
file for U when the driver is already there in the kernel..

So U want to create a non-rewinding tape device file or U might want to enable software compression or density options..

In that case U are going to use mksf..

Hope this clears U..

Sundar