After you have formatted a volume with dasdfmt,
you must partition it before Linux can
use it. Use the fdasd program to partition the
volume. This program is similar to the fdisk program
that comes with the Linux version
that runs on personal computers. One difference is that it creates
partitions on ECKD™ DASD instead
of hard drives. With fdasd, you can create up
to three partitions on a volume. Each partition appears to z/OS® as a data set. fdasd asks
you to choose the beginning track and ending track or size of the
partition. The naming conventions for the data sets and partitions
are listed in Data set and partition naming conventions.
Follow these rules when you create partitions with
fdasd that
you want to back up with z/OS tools.
- Create partitions by starting from the lowest possible track.
- Do not leave gaps between partitions.
- If you want to restore a partition, do
not delete it with fdasd first. When you
delete the partition with fdasd, the
naming convention between the partition names and data set names is
no longer valid. If you then recover a partition on that volume, you
could recover over the wrong partition, losing data. When you restore
the partition, you replace the existing partition.
- If you follow the previous rules of thumb above, then you can
add partitions to a volume at any time up to a maximum of three partitions
or until the entire volume is used. If you need to reorganize the
partitions, you should back up the data on the partitions and then
delete all partitions and create new ones in the desired configuration.