Provided by: lvm2_2.02.176-4.1ubuntu3.18.04.3_amd64 bug

NAME

       pvcreate - Initialize physical volume(s) for use by LVM

SYNOPSIS

       pvcreate position_args
           [ option_args ]

DESCRIPTION

       pvcreate  initializes a PV so that it is recognized as belonging to LVM, and allows the PV
       to be used in a VG. A PV can be a disk partition, whole disk,  meta  device,  or  loopback
       file.

       For DOS disk partitions, the partition id should be set to 0x8e using fdisk(8), cfdisk(8),
       or    a    equivalent.    For    GUID    Partition    Table    (GPT),    the     id     is
       E6D6D379-F507-44C2-A23C-238F2A3DF928. For whole disk devices only the partition table must
       be erased, which will effectively destroy all data on that  disk.  This  can  be  done  by
       zeroing the first sector with:

       dd if=/dev/zero of=PhysicalVolume bs=512 count=1

       Use vgcreate(8) to create a new VG on the PV, or vgextend(8) to add the PV to existing VG.

       The  force option will create a PV without confirmation.  Repeating the force option (-ff)
       will forcibly create a PV, overriding checks that normally prevent it, e.g. if the  PV  is
       already in a VG.

USAGE

       pvcreate PV ...
           [ -f|--force ]
           [ -M|--metadatatype lvm2|lvm1 ]
           [ -u|--uuid String ]
           [ -Z|--zero y|n ]
           [    --dataalignment Size[k|UNIT] ]
           [    --dataalignmentoffset Size[k|UNIT] ]
           [    --bootloaderareasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
           [    --labelsector Number ]
           [    --[pv]metadatacopies 0|1|2 ]
           [    --metadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
           [    --metadataignore y|n ]
           [    --norestorefile ]
           [    --setphysicalvolumesize Size[m|UNIT] ]
           [    --reportformat basic|json ]
           [    --restorefile String ]
           [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]

       Common options for lvm:
           [ -d|--debug ]
           [ -h|--help ]
           [ -q|--quiet ]
           [ -t|--test ]
           [ -v|--verbose ]
           [ -y|--yes ]
           [    --commandprofile String ]
           [    --config String ]
           [    --driverloaded y|n ]
           [    --longhelp ]
           [    --profile String ]
           [    --version ]

OPTIONS

       --bootloaderareasize Size[m|UNIT]
              Create a separate bootloader area of specified size besides PV's data area. The
              bootloader area is an area of reserved space on the PV from which LVM will not
              allocate any extents and it's kept untouched. This is primarily aimed for use with
              bootloaders to embed their own data or metadata.  The start of the bootloader area
              is always aligned, see also --dataalignment and --dataalignmentoffset. The
              bootloader area size may eventually end up increased due to the alignment, but it's
              never less than the size that is requested. To see the bootloader area start and
              size of an existing PV use pvs -o +pv_ba_start,pv_ba_size.

       --commandprofile String
              The command profile to use for command configuration.  See lvm.conf(5) for more
              information about profiles.

       --config String
              Config settings for the command. These override lvm.conf settings.  The String arg
              uses the same format as lvm.conf, or may use section/field syntax.  See lvm.conf(5)
              for more information about config.

       --dataalignment Size[k|UNIT]
              Align the start of the data to a multiple of this number.  Also specify an
              appropriate Physical Extent size when creating a VG.  To see the location of the
              first Physical Extent of an existing PV, use pvs -o +pe_start. In addition, it may
              be shifted by an alignment offset.  See lvm.conf/data_alignment_offset_detection
              and --dataalignmentoffset.

       --dataalignmentoffset Size[k|UNIT]
              Shift the start of the data area by this additional offset.

       -d|--debug ...
              Set debug level. Repeat from 1 to 6 times to increase the detail of messages sent
              to the log file and/or syslog (if configured).

       --driverloaded y|n
              If set to no, the command will not attempt to use device-mapper.  For testing and
              debugging.

       -f|--force ...
              Override various checks, confirmations and protections.  Use with extreme caution.

       -h|--help
              Display help text.

       --labelsector Number
              By default the PV is labelled with an LVM2 identifier in its second sector (sector
              1). This lets you use a different sector near the start of the disk (between 0 and
              3 inclusive - see LABEL_SCAN_SECTORS in the source). Use with care.

       --longhelp
              Display long help text.

       --metadataignore y|n
              Specifies the metadataignore property of a PV.  If yes, metadata areas on the PV
              are ignored, and lvm will not store metadata in the metadata areas of the PV.  If
              no, lvm will store metadata on the PV.

       --metadatasize Size[m|UNIT]
              The approximate amount of space used for each VG metadata area.  The size may be
              rounded.

       -M|--metadatatype lvm2|lvm1
              Specifies the type of on-disk metadata to use.  lvm2 (or just 2) is the current,
              standard format.  lvm1 (or just 1) is a historical format that can be used for
              accessing old data.

       --norestorefile
              In conjunction with --uuid, this allows a uuid to be specified without also
              requiring that a backup of the metadata be provided.

       --profile String
              An alias for --commandprofile or --metadataprofile, depending on the command.

       --[pv]metadatacopies 0|1|2
              The number of metadata areas to set aside on a PV for storing VG metadata.  When 2,
              one copy of the VG metadata is stored at the front of the PV and a second copy is
              stored at the end.  When 1, one copy of the VG metadata is stored at the front of
              the PV (starting in the 5th sector).  When 0, no copies of the VG metadata are
              stored on the given PV.  This may be useful in VGs containing many PVs (this places
              limitations on the ability to use vgsplit later.)

       -q|--quiet ...
              Suppress output and log messages. Overrides --debug and --verbose.  Repeat once to
              also suppress any prompts with answer 'no'.

       --reportformat basic|json
              Overrides current output format for reports which is defined globally by the
              report/output_format setting in lvm.conf.  basic is the original format with
              columns and rows.  If there is more than one report per command, each report is
              prefixed with the report name for identification. json produces report output in
              JSON format. See lvmreport(7) for more information.

       --restorefile String
              In conjunction with --uuid, this reads the file (produced by vgcfgbackup), extracts
              the location and size of the data on the PV, and ensures that the metadata produced
              by the program is consistent with the contents of the file, i.e. the physical
              extents will be in the same place and not be overwritten by new metadata. This
              provides a mechanism to upgrade the metadata format or to add/remove metadata
              areas. Use with care.

       --setphysicalvolumesize Size[m|UNIT]
              Overrides the automatically detected size of the PV.  Use with care, or prior to
              reducing the physical size of the device.

       -t|--test
              Run in test mode. Commands will not update metadata.  This is implemented by
              disabling all metadata writing but nevertheless returning success to the calling
              function. This may lead to unusual error messages in multi-stage operations if a
              tool relies on reading back metadata it believes has changed but hasn't.

       -u|--uuid String
              Specify a UUID for the device.  Without this option, a random UUID is generated.
              This option is needed before restoring a backup of LVM metadata onto a replacement
              device; see vgcfgrestore(8). As such, use of --restorefile is compulsory unless the
              --norestorefile is used.  All PVs must have unique UUIDs, and LVM will prevent
              certain operations if multiple devices are seen with the same UUID.  See
              vgimportclone(8) for more information.

       -v|--verbose ...
              Set verbose level. Repeat from 1 to 4 times to increase the detail of messages sent
              to stdout and stderr.

       --version
              Display version information.

       -y|--yes
              Do not prompt for confirmation interactively but always assume the answer yes. Use
              with extreme caution.  (For automatic no, see -qq.)

       -Z|--zero y|n
              Controls if the first 4 sectors (2048 bytes) of the device are wiped.  The default
              is to wipe these sectors unless either or both of --restorefile or --uuid are
              specified.

VARIABLES

       PV
              Physical  Volume  name,  a  device path under /dev.  For commands managing physical
              extents, a PV positional arg generally accepts a  suffix  indicating  a  range  (or
              multiple  ranges)  of  physical  extents  (PEs).  When  the first PE is omitted, it
              defaults to the start of the device, and when the last PE is omitted it defaults to
              end.   Start  and  end  range  (inclusive):  PV[:PE-PE]...   Start and length range
              (counting from 0): PV[:PE+PE]...

       String
              See the option description for information about the string content.

       Size[UNIT]
              Size is an input number that accepts an optional  unit.   Input  units  are  always
              treated  as  base  two  values, regardless of capitalization, e.g. 'k' and 'K' both
              refer to 1024.  The default input unit is specified by letter, followed  by  |UNIT.
              UNIT represents other possible input units: bBsSkKmMgGtTpPeE.  b|B is bytes, s|S is
              sectors of 512 bytes, k|K is kilobytes, m|M is megabytes, g|G is gigabytes, t|T  is
              terabytes,  p|P  is  petabytes, e|E is exabytes.  (This should not be confused with
              the output control --units, where capital letters mean multiple of 1000.)

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       See lvm(8) for  information  about  environment  variables  used  by  lvm.   For  example,
       LVM_VG_NAME can generally be substituted for a required VG parameter.

EXAMPLES

       Initialize a partition and a full device.
       pvcreate /dev/sdc4 /dev/sde

       If  a device is a 4KiB sector drive that compensates for windows partitioning (sector 7 is
       the lowest aligned logical block, the 4KiB sectors  start  at  LBA  -1,  and  consequently
       sector  63  is aligned on a 4KiB boundary) manually account for this when initializing for
       use by LVM.
       pvcreate --dataalignmentoffset 7s /dev/sdb

SEE ALSO

       lvm(8) lvm.conf(5) lvmconfig(8)

       pvchange(8) pvck(8) pvcreate(8)  pvdisplay(8)  pvmove(8)  pvremove(8)  pvresize(8)  pvs(8)
       pvscan(8)

       vgcfgbackup(8)  vgcfgrestore(8)  vgchange(8) vgck(8) vgcreate(8) vgconvert(8) vgdisplay(8)
       vgexport(8) vgextend(8) vgimport(8) vgimportclone(8) vgmerge(8)  vgmknodes(8)  vgreduce(8)
       vgremove(8) vgrename(8) vgs(8) vgscan(8) vgsplit(8)

       lvcreate(8)  lvchange(8)  lvconvert(8)  lvdisplay(8)  lvextend(8)  lvreduce(8) lvremove(8)
       lvrename(8) lvresize(8) lvs(8) lvscan(8)

       lvm-fullreport(8) lvm-lvpoll(8) lvm2-activation-generator(8) blkdeactivate(8) lvmdump(8)

       dmeventd(8)  lvmetad(8)  lvmpolld(8)  lvmlockd(8)   lvmlockctl(8)   clvmd(8)   cmirrord(8)
       lvmdbusd(8)

       lvmsystemid(7) lvmreport(7) lvmraid(7) lvmthin(7) lvmcache(7)