system
Purpose
Identifies the system devices.
Description
The system file contains entries for currently configured
real devices, virtual devices, and device managers. Some
of this information is used by the Virtual Resource
Manager (VRM) to establish the default running environ-
ment.
The system file is an attribute file containing stanzas
that generally describe special files including informa-
tion about AIX drivers or what non-standard VRM drivers
are needed to support them. See "attributes" for a
description of attribute files. Also included is data
for the Define_Device supervisor calls (SVCs) to the VRM
if needed. See the vrmconfig program in AIX Operating
System Commands Reference for more information.
Each special file named in the system file refers to a
device driver entry in the master file. The driver
entries specify the AIX device drivers to be configured.
All drivers needed for specified special files are
included, and those drivers marked as mandatory. Two
driver entries may specify the same major device number
where the same driver controls devices with different I/O
code numbers.
The name of each stanza is the simple name of the special
file.
The use of extended characters in the system file is not
supported.
adp Indicates the valid adapter names for the
device described in the stanza.
aflag Is a required keyword that indicates
whether both an adapter and an AIX device
driver are associated with the device
described in the stanza. If the value is
false, then the device has either an AIX
device driver or a VRM device driver (and,
in most cases, an adapter), but not both.
If true, then the devices command con-
structs the name of the ddi stanza when
adding the device by concatenating the
value of the use keyword, the adapter name
that the user choses from the adp list, and
a port number.
If false, then devices constructs the name
of the ddi stanza by concatenating the
value of the use keyword and a pseudo port
number. Either a maxminor keyword or a
maxdev keyword must be defined if the value
of aflag is false. If the maxminor keyword
is defined, which indicates that this
device has only an AIX device driver, then
the pseudo port number is the next unused
integer between 0 and maxminor - 1. If the
maxdev keyword is defined, which indicates
that this device has only a VRM device
driver, then the pseudo port number is the
next unused integer between 0 and
maxdev - 1.
The showall subcommand of the devices
command displays the comment line that
immediately follows the aflag definition as
a description of the device or adapter.
crname Is a required keyword that indicates by a
value of true or false whether the devices
command should create a new driver name for
the device.
ddi Specifies the hexadecimal bytes to be
passed to the VRM Define_Device SVC. If a
customize helper program is invoked, it
determines the data to be passed. In that
case, this attribute is not used.
dname Indicates the prefix name that is used to
create the name of the device stanza in the
/etc/system file and the special file in
the /dev directory. The devices command
uses this value when it creates a stanza
name for a new special file.
driver Identifies the associated driver in the
master file. This is mandatory in all
device stanzas.
dtype Specifies the class of the device. Exam-
ples of this are printer and disk. The
devices command displays this value when
asking the user to choose a device class.
It also uses this value to construct a list
of device classes.
file Identifies the file that contains the
stanzas included by the use attribute.
This is the /etc/ddi file associated with
the device.
iodn Specifies the I/O device number to use. If
omitted, no Define_Device SVC is sent to
the VRM.
kaf_file Indicates the name of the keyword attribute
file to be used by the customization helper
programs for the device described in the
device stanza.
kaf_use Indicates the name of the stanza in the
kaf_file that contains information about
the attributes for the device.
maxdev Specifies the maximum number of IODNs sup-
ported by the VRM device driver for this
adapter. This is equivalent to the maximum
number of adapters that can be installed
times the number of ports on each adapter.
minor Has a value of the form cn, where c is
either b to denote a block device, or c to
denote a character device. n is the minor
device number.
modes Sets the protection bits for the special
file, specified in the form rwxrwxrwx.
Hyphens replace modes that are turned off,
for example, "rw-r--r--".
name Is a required keyword that identifies the
type of the driver or the four-character
name passed to the VRM using the
Define_Device SVC. The default name is the
first two and last two characters of the
special file name.
native Identifies the model. A value true indi-
cates IBM RT PC 6150, false indicates IBM
RT PC 6151.
nname Is a required keyword that indicates the
name of the device, adapter, and port
number (if applicable).
nocopy The value true indicates that the associ-
ated VRM device driver stanza in
/etc/master cannot contain the copy
keyword, but must specify the code keyword
instead.
noddi Indicates whether any device-dependent
information is associated with the device.
The value true indicates there is none. If
noddi=true, then the change subcommand of
the devices command does not allow the user
to change device characteristics.
nodelete Indicates whether to delete the special
file when this driver is removed. When
this value is true, no attempt is made to
delete the special file.
nodl Indicates whether the device can be deleted
from the system by the devices command.
The value true indicates the device cannot
be deleted using this command.
noduplicate Indicates whether another device of this
type can be added to the system. The value
true indicates another device cannot be
added.
noipl Indicates whether this stanza is processed
at initial program load (IPL) time. When
this value is true, this stanza is not
processed at system initial program load
(IPL) time.
noshow Indicates whether the devices command dis-
plays information from the stanza to the
user. If noshow=false, then the showdev
subcommand of the devices command displays
all device characteristics and the showall
subcommand displays the device.
nospecial When this value is true, no special file
(/dev file) is to be created.
owner Specifies the name of the owner assigned to
the /dev special file when it is created.
port Lists the number of ports on each adapter
in the adp keyword. There is a one to one
correspondence between each adapter and its
number of ports. If the device being added
is the adapter, port is the number of ports
on the adapter. This keyword is required
if the aflag keyword is true.
protocol Indicates whether this stanza is used by a
protocol procedure. When this value is
true, this stanza is used by a protocol
procedure.
shared Sets the shared bit for the VRM
Define_Device SVC. When this value is
true, the shared bit is set.
specproc Indicates the name of the special proc-
essing routine that is to be invoked when
customizing the system for the device. See
"cfgadev" for information about the appli-
cation program interface to this feature.
switchable Indicates whether the device can be shared
by the coprocessor. The value true indi-
cates that it can be shared. If so, then
the devices command displays this as a
device that can be added to the
coprocessor.
type Defines a device manager rather than a
device driver when this value is manager
and used with the Define_Device SVC.
uinfo Specifies the hexadecimal bytes to pass to
the CFUDRV type ioctl call to configure an
AIX device driver. If a customization
helper program is invoked, it determines
the data to pass. In that case, this
attribute is not used.
use Identifies a stanza to be logically
included in the current stanza. If a file
attribute is present, the file is searched
to find the indicated stanza for device
dependent information. This keyword is
required if the file keyword is present.
vdmgr Defines device drivers controlled by a
manager. Values are the names of stanzas in
the system file, separated by commas. The
controlled drivers should include
nospecial=true.
vint Identifies the virtual interrupt level to
use. Level 4 is the only supported level.
If not specified, the default value is
vint=4.
Other parameters can be given for special customization
helper programs.
Miscellaneous System Parameters
Both the master and the system files can have option
lines in the default stanzas describing miscellaneous
system customizing and tuning options. Options in the
system file override those in the master file. See
"master" for a list of these parameters.
Other lines can be added as needed.
Example
The following is an excerpt of the system file entries:
* * system - actual devices
default:
modes = rw-rw-rw-
owner = root
native = true
lp1:
* IBM PC Color Printer
name = 5182
crname = true
minor = c1
vint = 4
iodn = 12003
kaf_file = /etc/ddi/pprinter.kaf
kaf_use = kparallel
file = /etc/ddi/pprinter
noddi = false
dtype = printer
nodelete = true
* Printer
switchable = true
specproc =cfgaqcfg
shared = false
noduplicate = false
dname = lp
noshow = false
aflag = true
* IBM Mono Disp & Paral Prntr
adp = mp,sp1,sp2
use = d5182mp
nname = 5182mp
driver = u5182mp
lp2:
* IBM PC Color Printer (5182)
name = 5182
crname = true
minor = c2
vint = 4
iodn = 12004
kaf_file = /etc/ddi/pprinter.kaf
kaf_use = kparallel
file = /etc/ddi/pprinter
noddi = false
dtype = printer
* Printer
switchable = true
specproc = cfgaqcfg
shared = false
noduplicate = false
dname = lp
noshow = false
aflag = true
* IBM Ser/Par Adptr, Primary
adp = mp,spq,sp2
use = d5182sp1
nname = 5182sp1
driver = u5182sp1
lp3:
* IBM PC Color Printer (5182)
name = 5182
crname = true
minor = c3
vint = 4
iodn = 12005
kaf_file = /etc/ddi/pprinter.kaf
kaf_use = /etc/ddi/pprinter
noddi = false
dtype = printer
* Printer
switchable = true
specproc = cfgaqcfg
shared = false
noduplicate = false
dname = lp
noshow = false
aflag = true
* IBM Ser/Par Adptr, Secondary
adp = mp,sp1,sp2
use = d5182sp2
nname = 5182sp2
driver = u5182sp2
File
/etc/system
Related Information
In this book: "attributes," "ddi," "master," and "pre-
defined."
The config, devices, and vrmconfig commands in AIX Oper-
ating System Commands Reference.