Editing Solaris 10 System Administration Part I (section)

==== instance names ====

instance names are shortened names for a physical device

instance names are abbreviated names assigned by the Solaris OS kernel for each system device

instance names are usually used to display on console or in /var/adm/messages log file

Example instance names:
* sd# = SCSI disk name & # is the number, such that sd1 would be 2nd SCSI disk device
* cmdk# = common disk driver is the disk name & # is the number, such that  cmdk0 would be first SATA disk device
* dad# = direct access device name & # is the number, such that dad1 would be 2nd IDE disk device
* ata# = Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) is disk name & # is the number, such that ata0 would be first 
* qfe# = quad fast ethernet & # is the number, such that qfe2 is 3rd interface on quad fast ethernet device