DPT(4)

πŸ’– DPT(4) β€” the DPT RAID Controller SCSI driver, bestie edition πŸ’–

okay so like. this is the manual page for dpt, a kernel driver, section 4. if u run a DPT RAID SCSI controller and ur kernel is out here not knowing what that is... girl. this page is for u. πŸŽ€


✨ NAME ✨

dpt β€” the DPT RAID Controller SCSI driver πŸ’…


✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

so u wanna bake this driver into the kernel instead of loading it later? iconic. drop these lines into ur kernel configuration file:

device scbus
device dpt

For one or more PCI cards:
device pci

To allow PCI adapters to use memory mapped I/O if enabled:
options DPT_ALLOW_MEMIO

orrrr, if u'd rather do the low-effort slay and load it as a module at boot time, put this line in loader.conf(5):

dpt_load="YES"

no cap, that's it. πŸ¦‹


✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

the dpt driver supports DPT RAID SCSI controllers. periodt.

so let's break down the lineup, because the naming is lowkey chaotic and honestly it's giving "someone's cousin named all of these":

  • SmartRAID (the PM3??? ones) are the "Enterprise" class cards πŸ‘‘
  • SmartCache (the PM2??? ones) are the "Workstation" class cards 🌸
  • the Gen 4 Smart Cache IV products? not a new design bestie β€” they were literally a re-issue of Gen 3, just using upgraded (and cheaper to produce) silicon. we love cost savings πŸ’€
  • the PM3334 (Smart RAID III) did not get revamped, because there was no upgraded silicon to move to (the 68040 processor) β€” it was already using the best DPT made. no notes.
  • also heads up: there has been customer confusion over the faster enterprise class card supported by this driver actually being an older generation. yeah. it's giving "the plot twist nobody asked for". πŸ™ˆ
  • and the Gen5 cards? not this driver's problem. those are supported by the asr(4) driver. ✨

✨ HARDWARE ✨

the dpt driver has ur back for these RAID adapters:

  • DPT Smart Cache Plus
  • Smart Cache II (PM2?2?, PM2024/PM2124 [PCI]) (Gen2)
  • Smart RAID II (PM3?2?, PM3021, PM3222)
  • Smart Cache III (PM2?3?)
  • Smart RAID III (PM3?3?, PM3334UW [PCI]) (Gen3)
  • Smart Cache IV (PM2?4?, PM2044/PM2144 [PCI]) (Gen4)
  • Smart RAID IV

go check ur card and see if it made the list 🫢


✨ SEE ALSO ✨

asr(4), cd(4), ch(4), da(4), sa(4), scsi(4)

the whole friend group honestly 🌈


✨ HISTORY ✨

the dpt driver first appeared in FreeBSD 2.2.6. a legend from day one. πŸ’œ


✨ AUTHORS ✨

the dpt driver was written by Simon Shapiro, and ported to the CAM SCSI system by Justin T. Gibbs. thank u both, kings πŸ‘‘


πŸ’€ real talk tho: everything above is exactly what the page says β€” i'm just saying it cuter. don't come for me, the facts are all here fr fr.

mwah πŸ’‹ that's the whole page! this one's from the Debian crew, dated November 13, 2014. stay slaying, and always read ur man pages bestie πŸ’…βœ¨

πŸ“¦ where this page comes from