aoe-mkdevs(8)

💖 aoe-mkdevs(8) — the make-the-device-files girlie 💖

okay so bestie, this is aoe-mkdevs, and she lives in the System Manager's Manual, and her whole job is creating special device files for the aoe driver. very niche, very powerful, we love her. 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

aoe-mkdevs {device-dir}
env n_partitions=1 aoe-mkdevs {device-dir}

like, two ways to call her. that's it. slay. 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so first thing's first, and I need you to hear me on this: aoe-mkdevs is deprecated in favor of udev. periodt. systems that have udev do not need to use aoe-mkdevs or aoe-mkself, because udev will just make the device nodes as needed, like a functioning adult. 💖

systems without udev use aoe-mkdevs to create the character special files that are necessary to control the aoe driver. and here's the cute part — aoe-mkdevs uses aoe-mkshelf to also create block special files. teamwork, honestly. 🫶

now, the aoe drivers after version 49 support dynamic minor device numbers so that a greater number of devices can be supported. but aoe-mkdevs is incompatible with dynamic device numbers. so if your system lacks udev, and you are using an aoe driver version 50 or above, use the aoe_dyndevs=0 module option to force the aoe driver to use static device numbers. no cap, you gotta do that or it's not gonna vibe. 🔥

and if you are not using dynamic device numbers, and you built your aoe driver to support only one partition per device (whole-disk partitions), then the device files must match, and you should use the n_partitions environment variable described below. matchy-matchy or it's a mess. 🦋

🎀 Arguments 🎀

• device-dir — this should be the name of the directory where the special device files will be created. like, the home address for your brand new device nodes. 💜

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌈

• n_partitions — if this variable is set in the environment, it will override the default number of partitions per aoe disk, namely 16. yes bestie, 16 is the default. remember it. ✨

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💀 EXAMPLE 💀

okay so in this example, the root user on a host named nai creates special files for using the aoe disks in shelf 7. and then — after remembering that the driver doesn't have partition support — this sysadmin gets rid of the mismatching device nodes and calls aoe-mkdevs again with n_partitions set to 1. character development. 😭

nai:~# rm -rf /dev/etherd
nai:~# aoe-mkdevs /dev/etherd
nai:~# ls /dev/etherd | wc -l
1603
nai:~# rm -rf /dev/etherd
nai:~# n_partitions=1 aoe-mkdevs /dev/etherd
nai:~# ls /dev/etherd | wc -l
103

look at that count drop from 1603 to 103. the way she fixed it. obsessed. 👑

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

• aoe-discover(8)
• aoe-interfaces(8)
• aoe-mkshelf(8)
• aoe-stat(8)
• aoetools(8)
• udev(7)

go read those too, they're all part of the aoetools cinematic universe. 💖

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Ed L. Cashin (ecashin@coraid.com) — legend behavior, honestly. 🫶

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and that's the whole page bestie! this was aoe-mkdevs(8) from the System Manager's Manual — mwah, go forth and make those device files (or like, just use udev, fr fr). 💅✨🌸