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MDCONFIG(8)		FreeBSD	System Manager's Manual		   MDCONFIG(8)

NAME
     mdconfig -- configure and enable memory disks

SYNOPSIS
     mdconfig -a -t type [-o [no]option] [-s size] [-f file] [-u unit]
     mdconfig -d -u unit
     mdconfig -l [-u unit]

DESCRIPTION
     The mdconfig utility configures and enables md(4) devices.

     Options indicate an action	to be performed:

     -a	     Attach a memory disk.  This will configure	and attach a memory
	     disk with the parameters specified	and attach it to the system.

     -d	     Detach a memory disk from the system and release all resources.

     -t	type
	     Select the	type of	the memory disk.

	     malloc   Storage for this type of memory disk is allocated	with
		      malloc(9).  This limits the size to the malloc bucket
		      limit in the kernel.

	     vnode    A	file specified with -f file becomes the	backingstore
		      for this memory disk.

	     swap     swapspace	is used	to back	this memory disk.

     -f	file
	     Filename to use for the vnode type	memory disk.

     -l	     List information about configured md(4) devices.  If the -u
	     option is used in conjuction with this, the output	is limited to
	     information on the	specified device.

     -s	size
	     Size of the memory	disk.  Size is the number of 512 bytes sectors
	     unless suffixed with a k, m, or g which denotes kilobyte,
	     megabyte and gigabyte respectively.

     -o	[no]option
	     Set or reset options.

	     [no]reserve
		     Allocate and reserve all needed storage from the start,
		     rather than as needed.

	     [no]cluster
		     Enable clustering on this disk.

	     [no]compress
		     Enable/Disable compression	features to reduce memory
		     usage.

	     [no]force
		     Disable/Enable extra sanity checks	to prevent the user
		     from doing	something that might adversely affect the sys-
		     tem.

	     [no]readonly
		     Enable/Disable readonly mode.

     -u	unit
	     Request a specific	unit number for	the md(4) device instead of
	     automatic allocation.

EXAMPLES
     To	create a 4 megabyte malloc(9) backed memory disk.  The name of the
     allocated unit will be output on stdout like ``md3'':

	   mdconfig -a -t malloc -s 4m

     To	create a disk named /dev/md4 with /tmp/boot.flp	as backing:

	   mdconfig -a -t vnode	-f /tmp/boot.flp -u 4

     To	detach and free	all resources used by /dev/md4:

	   mdconfig -d -u 4

     To	create and mount a 128MByte swap backed	file system on /tmp:

	   mdconfig -a -t swap -s 128M -u 10
	   newfs -U /dev/md10
	   mount /dev/md10 /tmp
	   chmod 1777 /tmp

SEE ALSO
     md(4), disklabel(8), fdisk(8), malloc(9)

HISTORY
     The mdconfig utility first	appeared in FreeBSD 5.0	as a cleaner replace-
     ment for the vn(4)	and vnconfig(8)	combo.

AUTHORS
     The mdconfig utility was written by Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@FreeBSD.org>.

FreeBSD	11.1		       December	31, 2000		  FreeBSD 11.1

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY | AUTHORS

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