Usually we would use parted or fdisk to create a new partition, but in my case I want to do this non-interactively in a script. An interactive fdisk session would look like this:
# fdisk /dev/sdb
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-13054, default 1): [[ENTER]]
Using default value 1
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (1-13054, default 13054): [[ENTER]]
Using default value 13054
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
# fdisk -l /dev/sdb
Disk /dev/sdb: 107.4 GB, 107374182400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 13054 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7a0ce571
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 13054 104856223+ 83 Linux
The closest I can get is with the following where the cylinders don't line up to 13054, the specified maximum:
# parted -s -- /dev/sdb mklabel msdos
# parted -s -- /dev/sdb mkpart primary ext3 1 -1
# fdisk -l /dev/xvdb
Disk /dev/sdb: 107.4 GB, 107374182400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 13054 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d3807
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 13055 104856576 83 Linux
So the standard ways to do this are using parted, echoing commands to fdisk or using a here document passed to sfdisk. Are there other ways to create a single partition using the maximum amount of cylinders?
EDIT: It looks like passing '-a cylinder' causes parted to behave exactly like fdisk. But passing '-a optimal' is...based on disk topology optimally? Can anyone explain this? Why does fdisk align to cylinders and not 'optimally'?
