Sometimes it is useful to know what order Solaris will assign controller
numbers to your scsi/fibre controllers so that you may plan your installation
in advance and predict how to address each controller after install.
Solaris will assign controller numbers based on the order in which it sees the
slots/devices while booting. There is a set order in which Solaris 8 will recognize
the devices and assign these values. This order can be used to predict the controller
numbers. On an initial boot off of a Solaris 8 cdrom the OS will create controller
numbers in the following order:
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3 > internal 4 slot disk backplane
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@2 > RMA and external scsi port
/pci@1f,4000/device@4 > slot 10
/pci@1f,2000/device@1 > slot 5
/pci@4,4000/device@2 > slot 9
/pci@4,4000/device@3 > slot 8
/pci@4,4000/device@4 > slot 7
/pci@4,2000/device@1 > slot 6
/pci@6,4000/device@2 > slot 3
/pci@6,4000/device@3 > slot 2
/pci@6,4000/device@4 > slot 1
/pci@6,2000/device@1 > slot 4
For example, if we had 5 pci cards installed: 2 A5000 fibre controllers,
2 dual channel Single-Ended scsi controllers connected to internal 8 slot Backplanes
and 1 Sunswift scsi/ethernet controller, you would see the following behavior:
fibre controllers in slots 4&5, dual channel scsi in slots 2&3 and the Sunswift in slot 8
c0 -> internal 4-slot disk backplane
c1 -> Removable media access tray and external onboard scsi port
c2 -> fibre card in slot 5
c3 -> Sunswift in slot 8
c4&c5 -> dual channel scsi in slot 3
c6&c7 -> dual channel scsi in slot 2
c8 -> fibre card in slot 4
If you wanted to make sure that the two internal 8 disk backplanes got the lowest controller numbers (2,3,4&5)
and the internal disk bays had controller numbers in order (2 on the bottom and 5 on the very top), you would need to
make sure that the dual channel cards were installed in slots that got probed before the others and that they were
cabled to the correct backplanes. For example:
fibre controllers in slots 4&6, dual channel scsi in slots 5&7 and the Sunswift in slot 1
c0 -> internal 4-slot disk backplane
c1 -> Removable media access tray and external onboard scsi port
c2&c3 -> dual channel scsi in slot 5, cabled to bottom 8-slot backplane
c4&c5 -> dual channel scsi in slot 7, cabled to top 8-slot backplane
c6 -> fibre card in slot 6
c7 -> Sunswift in slot 1
c8 -> fibre card in slot 4
If you require that the cards be ordered in a different manner than what you see Solaris assigning controllers,
it is recommended that you install the OS first without the cards installed and then add the cards in one at a time
in the order in which you wish them to be recognized and do a boot -r each time so that the controller numbers are
assigned in the order that you wish.
You can also check for and/or assign skip list for the PCI slots. To check for PCI slots to be skipped, type the
following at the OK prompt -
ok> pci-slot-skip-list
To skip slots, at the ok prompt type -
ok> pci=slot-skip-list 1236
note: Slots 1,2,3, and 6 are now skipped over during recognition of the PCI slots/devices while booting.
Note: This information was documented using Solaris 8 and OBP 3.22.0