diff --git a/drivers/block/aoe/aoe.h b/drivers/block/aoe/aoe.h
index db78f826d40c..551dd8e5b14b 100644
--- a/drivers/block/aoe/aoe.h
+++ b/drivers/block/aoe/aoe.h
@@ -2,9 +2,14 @@
 #define VERSION "5"
 #define AOE_MAJOR 152
 #define DEVICE_NAME "aoe"
+
+/* set AOE_PARTITIONS to 1 to use whole-disks only
+ * default is 16, which is 15 partitions plus the whole disk
+ */
 #ifndef AOE_PARTITIONS
 #define AOE_PARTITIONS 16
 #endif
+
 #define SYSMINOR(aoemajor, aoeminor) ((aoemajor) * 10 + (aoeminor))
 #define AOEMAJOR(sysminor) ((sysminor) / 10)
 #define AOEMINOR(sysminor) ((sysminor) % 10)
diff --git a/drivers/block/aoe/aoecmd.c b/drivers/block/aoe/aoecmd.c
index fb6d942a4565..1b711a52dd25 100644
--- a/drivers/block/aoe/aoecmd.c
+++ b/drivers/block/aoe/aoecmd.c
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ aoecmd_cfg_rsp(struct sk_buff *skb)
 	struct aoe_cfghdr *ch;
 	ulong flags, bufcnt, sysminor, aoemajor;
 	struct sk_buff *sl;
-	enum { MAXFRAMES = 8, MAXSYSMINOR = 255 };
+	enum { MAXFRAMES = 8 };
 
 	h = (struct aoe_hdr *) skb->mac.raw;
 	ch = (struct aoe_cfghdr *) (h+1);
@@ -594,9 +594,10 @@ aoecmd_cfg_rsp(struct sk_buff *skb)
 	}
 
 	sysminor = SYSMINOR(aoemajor, h->minor);
-	if (sysminor > MAXSYSMINOR) {
-		printk(KERN_INFO "aoe: aoecmd_cfg_rsp: sysminor %ld too "
-			"large\n", sysminor);
+	if (sysminor * AOE_PARTITIONS + AOE_PARTITIONS > MINORMASK) {
+		printk(KERN_INFO
+			"aoe: e%ld.%d: minor number too large\n", 
+			aoemajor, (int) h->minor);
 		return;
 	}