1VGCREATE(8) System Manager's Manual VGCREATE(8)
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6 vgcreate - Create a volume group
7
9 vgcreate position_args
10 [ option_args ]
11
13 vgcreate creates a new VG on block devices. If the devices were not
14 previously intialized as PVs with pvcreate(8), vgcreate will inititial‐
15 ize them, making them PVs. The pvcreate options for initializing
16 devices are also available with vgcreate.
17
19 vgcreate VG_new PV ...
20 [ -A|--autobackup y|n ]
21 [ -c|--clustered y|n ]
22 [ -l|--maxlogicalvolumes Number ]
23 [ -p|--maxphysicalvolumes Number ]
24 [ -M|--metadatatype lvm2 ]
25 [ -s|--physicalextentsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
26 [ -f|--force ]
27 [ -Z|--zero y|n ]
28 [ --addtag Tag ]
29 [ --alloc contiguous|cling|cling_by_tags|normal|anywhere|inherit
30 ]
31 [ --metadataprofile String ]
32 [ --labelsector Number ]
33 [ --metadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
34 [ --pvmetadatacopies 0|1|2 ]
35 [ --[vg]metadatacopies all|unmanaged|Number ]
36 [ --reportformat basic|json ]
37 [ --dataalignment Size[k|UNIT] ]
38 [ --dataalignmentoffset Size[k|UNIT] ]
39 [ --shared ]
40 [ --systemid String ]
41 [ --locktype sanlock|dlm|none ]
42 [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
43 Common options for lvm:
45 [ -d|--debug ]
46 [ -h|--help ]
47 [ -q|--quiet ]
48 [ -t|--test ]
49 [ -v|--verbose ]
50 [ -y|--yes ]
51 [ --commandprofile String ]
52 [ --config String ]
53 [ --driverloaded y|n ]
54 [ --lockopt String ]
55 [ --longhelp ]
56 [ --nolocking ]
57 [ --profile String ]
58 [ --version ]
59
61 --addtag Tag
62 Adds a tag to a PV, VG or LV. This option can be repeated to add
63 multiple tags at once. See lvm(8) for information about tags.
64 --alloc contiguous|cling|cling_by_tags|normal|anywhere|inherit
66 Determines the allocation policy when a command needs to allo‐
67 cate Physical Extents (PEs) from the VG. Each VG and LV has an
68 allocation policy which can be changed with vgchange/lvchange,
69 or overriden on the command line. normal applies common sense
70 rules such as not placing parallel stripes on the same PV.
71 inherit applies the VG policy to an LV. contiguous requires new
72 PEs be placed adjacent to existing PEs. cling places new PEs on
73 the same PV as existing PEs in the same stripe of the LV. If
74 there are sufficient PEs for an allocation, but normal does not
75 use them, anywhere will use them even if it reduces performance,
76 e.g. by placing two stripes on the same PV. Optional positional
77 PV args on the command line can also be used to limit which PVs
78 the command will use for allocation. See lvm(8) for more infor‐
79 mation about allocation.
80 -A|--autobackup y|n
82 Specifies if metadata should be backed up automatically after a
83 change. Enabling this is strongly advised! See vgcfgbackup(8)
84 for more information.
85 -c|--clustered y|n
87 This option was specific to clvm and is now replaced by the
88 --shared option with lvmlockd(8).
89 --commandprofile String
91 The command profile to use for command configuration. See
92 lvm.conf(5) for more information about profiles.
93 --config String
95 Config settings for the command. These override lvm.conf set‐
96 tings. The String arg uses the same format as lvm.conf, or may
97 use section/field syntax. See lvm.conf(5) for more information
98 about config.
99 --dataalignment Size[k|UNIT]
101 Align the start of the data to a multiple of this number. Also
102 specify an appropriate Physical Extent size when creating a VG.
103 To see the location of the first Physical Extent of an existing
104 PV, use pvs -o +pe_start. In addition, it may be shifted by an
105 alignment offset. See lvm.conf/data_alignment_offset_detection
106 and --dataalignmentoffset.
107 --dataalignmentoffset Size[k|UNIT]
109 Shift the start of the data area by this additional offset.
110 -d|--debug ...
112 Set debug level. Repeat from 1 to 6 times to increase the detail
113 of messages sent to the log file and/or syslog (if configured).
114 --driverloaded y|n
116 If set to no, the command will not attempt to use device-mapper.
117 For testing and debugging.
118 -f|--force ...
120 Override various checks, confirmations and protections. Use
121 with extreme caution.
122 -h|--help
124 Display help text.
125 --labelsector Number
127 By default the PV is labelled with an LVM2 identifier in its
128 second sector (sector 1). This lets you use a different sector
129 near the start of the disk (between 0 and 3 inclusive - see
130 LABEL_SCAN_SECTORS in the source). Use with care.
131 --lockopt String
133 Used to pass options for special cases to lvmlockd. See lvm‐
134 lockd(8) for more information.
135 --locktype sanlock|dlm|none
137 Specify the VG lock type directly in place of using --shared.
138 See lvmlockd(8) for more information.
139 --longhelp
141 Display long help text.
142 -l|--maxlogicalvolumes Number
144 Sets the maximum number of LVs allowed in a VG.
145 -p|--maxphysicalvolumes Number
147 Sets the maximum number of PVs that can belong to the VG. The
148 value 0 removes any limitation. For large numbers of PVs, also
149 see options --pvmetadatacopies, and --vgmetadatacopies for
150 improving performance.
151 --metadataprofile String
153 The metadata profile to use for command configuration. See
154 lvm.conf(5) for more information about profiles.
155 --metadatasize Size[m|UNIT]
157 The approximate amount of space used for each VG metadata area.
158 The size may be rounded.
159 -M|--metadatatype lvm2
161 Specifies the type of on-disk metadata to use. lvm2 (or just 2)
162 is the current, standard format. lvm1 (or just 1) is no longer
163 used.
164 --nolocking
166 Disable locking.
167 -s|--physicalextentsize Size[m|UNIT]
169 Sets the physical extent size of PVs in the VG. The value must
170 be either a power of 2 of at least 1 sector (where the sector
171 size is the largest sector size of the PVs currently used in the
172 VG), or at least 128KiB. Once this value has been set, it is
173 difficult to change without recreating the VG, unless no extents
174 need moving.
175 --profile String
177 An alias for --commandprofile or --metadataprofile, depending on
178 the command.
179 --pvmetadatacopies 0|1|2
181 The number of metadata areas to set aside on a PV for storing VG
182 metadata. When 2, one copy of the VG metadata is stored at the
183 front of the PV and a second copy is stored at the end. When 1,
184 one copy of the VG metadata is stored at the front of the PV
185 (starting in the 5th sector). When 0, no copies of the VG meta‐
186 data are stored on the given PV. This may be useful in VGs con‐
187 taining many PVs (this places limitations on the ability to use
188 vgsplit later.)
189 -q|--quiet ...
191 Suppress output and log messages. Overrides --debug and --ver‐
192 bose. Repeat once to also suppress any prompts with answer
193 'no'.
194 --reportformat basic|json
196 Overrides current output format for reports which is defined
197 globally by the report/output_format setting in lvm.conf. basic
198 is the original format with columns and rows. If there is more
199 than one report per command, each report is prefixed with the
200 report name for identification. json produces report output in
201 JSON format. See lvmreport(7) for more information.
202 --shared
204 Create a shared VG using lvmlockd if LVM is compiled with lockd
205 support. lvmlockd will select lock type sanlock or dlm depend‐
206 ing on which lock manager is running. This allows multiple hosts
207 to share a VG on shared devices. lvmlockd and a lock manager
208 must be configured and running. See lvmlockd(8) for more infor‐
209 mation about shared VGs.
210 --systemid String
212 Specifies the system ID that will be given to the new VG, over‐
213 riding the system ID of the host running the command. A VG is
214 normally created without this option, in which case the new VG
215 is given the system ID of the host creating it. Using this
216 option requires caution because the system ID of the new VG may
217 not match the system ID of the host running the command, leaving
218 the VG inaccessible to the host. See lvmsystemid(7) for more
219 information.
220 -t|--test
222 Run in test mode. Commands will not update metadata. This is
223 implemented by disabling all metadata writing but nevertheless
224 returning success to the calling function. This may lead to
225 unusual error messages in multi-stage operations if a tool
226 relies on reading back metadata it believes has changed but
227 hasn't.
228 -v|--verbose ...
230 Set verbose level. Repeat from 1 to 4 times to increase the
231 detail of messages sent to stdout and stderr.
232 --version
234 Display version information.
235 --[vg]metadatacopies all|unmanaged|Number
237 Number of copies of the VG metadata that are kept. VG metadata
238 is kept in VG metadata areas on PVs in the VG, i.e. reserved
239 space at the start and/or end of the PVs. Keeping a copy of the
240 VG metadata on every PV can reduce performance in VGs containing
241 a large number of PVs. When this number is set to a non-zero
242 value, LVM will automatically choose PVs on which to store meta‐
243 data, using the metadataignore flags on PVs to achieve the spec‐
244 ified number. The number can also be replaced with special
245 string values: unmanaged causes LVM to not automatically manage
246 the PV metadataignore flags. all causes LVM to first clear the
247 metadataignore flags on all PVs, and then to become unmanaged.
248 -y|--yes
250 Do not prompt for confirmation interactively but always assume
251 the answer yes. Use with extreme caution. (For automatic no,
252 see -qq.)
253 -Z|--zero y|n
255 Controls if the first 4 sectors (2048 bytes) of the device are
256 wiped. The default is to wipe these sectors unless either or
257 both of --restorefile or --uuid are specified.
258
260 VG
261 Volume Group name. See lvm(8) for valid names.
262 PV
264 Physical Volume name, a device path under /dev. For commands
265 managing physical extents, a PV positional arg generally accepts
266 a suffix indicating a range (or multiple ranges) of physical
267 extents (PEs). When the first PE is omitted, it defaults to the
268 start of the device, and when the last PE is omitted it defaults
269 to end. Start and end range (inclusive): PV[:PE-PE]... Start
270 and length range (counting from 0): PV[:PE+PE]...
271 String
273 See the option description for information about the string con‐
274 tent.
275 Size[UNIT]
277 Size is an input number that accepts an optional unit. Input
278 units are always treated as base two values, regardless of capi‐
279 talization, e.g. 'k' and 'K' both refer to 1024. The default
280 input unit is specified by letter, followed by |UNIT. UNIT rep‐
281 resents other possible input units: bBsSkKmMgGtTpPeE. b|B is
282 bytes, s|S is sectors of 512 bytes, k|K is kilobytes, m|M is
283 megabytes, g|G is gigabytes, t|T is terabytes, p|P is petabytes,
284 e|E is exabytes. (This should not be confused with the output
285 control --units, where capital letters mean multiple of 1000.)
286
288 See lvm(8) for information about environment variables used by lvm.
289 For example, LVM_VG_NAME can generally be substituted for a required VG
290 parameter.
291
293 Create a VG with two PVs, using the default physical extent size.
294 vgcreate myvg /dev/sdk1 /dev/sdl1
295
297 lvm(8) lvm.conf(5) lvmconfig(8)
298 pvchange(8) pvck(8) pvcreate(8) pvdisplay(8) pvmove(8) pvremove(8)
300 pvresize(8) pvs(8) pvscan(8)
301 vgcfgbackup(8) vgcfgrestore(8) vgchange(8) vgck(8) vgcreate(8) vgcon‐
303 vert(8) vgdisplay(8) vgexport(8) vgextend(8) vgimport(8) vgimport‐
304 clone(8) vgmerge(8) vgmknodes(8) vgreduce(8) vgremove(8) vgrename(8)
305 vgs(8) vgscan(8) vgsplit(8)
306 lvcreate(8) lvchange(8) lvconvert(8) lvdisplay(8) lvextend(8) lvre‐
308 duce(8) lvremove(8) lvrename(8) lvresize(8) lvs(8) lvscan(8)
309 lvm-fullreport(8) lvm-lvpoll(8) lvm2-activation-generator(8) blkdeacti‐
311 vate(8) lvmdump(8)
312 dmeventd(8) lvmpolld(8) lvmlockd(8) lvmlockctl(8) cmirrord(8) lvmd‐
314 busd(8)
315 lvmsystemid(7) lvmreport(7) lvmraid(7) lvmthin(7) lvmcache(7)
317Red Hat, Inc. LVM TOOLS 2.03.02(2)-RHEL8 (2019-01-04) VGCREATE(8)