April 1, 1981 Format/Allocate Services Program (DMKFMT)
The Format/Allocate service program formats, allocates, and labels
direct access volumes for paging, spooling and CP file residence. This
service program is executed as part of CP system generation procedures
and may also be executed as a stand-alone program to:• Format direct access volumes for CP use Allocate specific disk areas to particular functions or to CP use • write six-character volume serial number labels
Note: The Format/Allocate program should be used with care since it
destroys existing data (if any). Also, user minidisks and temporary
minidisks must not begin on real cylinder zero of CP-owned volumes,
because information critical to CP is stored in cylinder.
An object deck version of the CP Format/Allocate service program is a
standalone program and can be loaded from a virtual or real card reader
into a virtual or a real machine. (If run in a virtual machine, the
virtual machine must have write access to the volume being formatted.)
The program accepts control statements from the operator's system
console (commands) or from the IPL device (card reader).
Note: Messages DMKFMT736E and DMKFMT13SE may be issued if an available
path to the device cannot be found after an appropriate number of
retries. High activity may cause this situation.
Cylinders used by CP for paging, spooling, and so on, must be
preformatted with fixed length unblocked records of4096 bytes.
Device capacity when formatted for CP use is:
2314/2319 32 records/cylinder (8 records/S tracks)3330 51 records/cylinder (3 records/track) 230S 24 records/cylinder (3 reco rds/track) 3340 24 records/cylinder (2 reco rds/track) 3350 120 records/cylinder (4 reco rds/track) The format operation writes 4096-byte blocks on all cylinders being
formatted. The service program does write-checking to verify that parts
of the track are net defective. A count is maintained of pages with
read check errors detected during the format operation. At the
completion ofthe format operation, the count of the pages with read
check errors is printed.
172VM/370 Operator's Guide
The Format/Allocate service program formats, allocates, and labels
direct access volumes for paging, spooling and CP file residence. This
service program is executed as part of CP system generation procedures
and may also be executed as a stand-alone program to:
Note: The Format/Allocate program should be used with care since it
destroys existing data (if any). Also, user minidisks and temporary
minidisks must not begin on real cylinder zero of CP-owned volumes,
because information critical to CP is stored in
An object deck version of the CP Format/Allocate service program is a
standalone program and can be loaded from a virtual or real card reader
into a virtual or a real machine. (If run in a virtual machine, the
virtual machine must have write access to the volume being formatted.)
The program accepts control statements from the operator's system
console (commands) or from the IPL device (card reader).
Note: Messages DMKFMT736E and DMKFMT13SE may be issued if an available
path to the device cannot be found after an appropriate number of
retries. High activity may cause this situation.
Cylinders used by CP for paging, spooling, and so on, must be
preformatted with fixed length unblocked records of
Device capacity when formatted for CP use is:
2314/2319 32 records/cylinder (8 records/S tracks)
formatted. The service program does write-checking to verify that parts
of the track are net defective. A count is maintained of pages with
read check errors detected during the format operation. At the
completion of
check errors is printed.
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