Provided by: lvm2_2.02.176-4.1ubuntu3.18.04.3_amd64 
NAME
lvcreate - Create a logical volume
SYNOPSIS
lvcreate option_args position_args
[ option_args ]
[ position_args ]
-a|--activate y|n|ay
--addtag Tag
--alloc contiguous|cling|cling_by_tags|normal|anywhere|inherit
-A|--autobackup y|n
-H|--cache
--cachemetadataformat auto|1|2
--cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough
--cachepolicy String
--cachepool LV
--cachesettings String
-c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT]
--commandprofile String
--config String
-C|--contiguous y|n
-d|--debug
--discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore
--driverloaded y|n
--errorwhenfull y|n
-l|--extents Number[PERCENT]
-h|--help
-K|--ignoreactivationskip
--ignoremonitoring
--longhelp
-j|--major Number
--[raid]maxrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT]
--metadataprofile String
--minor Number
--[raid]minrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT]
--mirrorlog core|disk
-m|--mirrors Number
--monitor y|n
-n|--name String
--nosync
--noudevsync
-p|--permission rw|r
-M|--persistent y|n
--poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT]
--poolmetadataspare y|n
--profile String
-q|--quiet
-r|--readahead auto|none|Number
-R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT]
--reportformat basic|json
-k|--setactivationskip y|n
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
-s|--snapshot
-i|--stripes Number
-I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT]
-t|--test
-T|--thin
--thinpool LV
--type linear|striped|snapshot|mirror|raid|thin|cache|thin-pool|cache-pool
-v|--verbose
--version
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-W|--wipesignatures y|n
-y|--yes
-Z|--zero y|n
DESCRIPTION
lvcreate creates a new LV in a VG. For standard LVs, this requires allocating logical
extents from the VG's free physical extents. If there is not enough free space, the VG can
be extended with other PVs (vgextend(8)), or existing LVs can be reduced or removed
(lvremove(8), lvreduce(8).)
To control which PVs a new LV will use, specify one or more PVs as position args at the
end of the command line. lvcreate will allocate physical extents only from the specified
PVs.
lvcreate can also create snapshots of existing LVs, e.g. for backup purposes. The data in
a new snapshot LV represents the content of the original LV from the time the snapshot was
created.
RAID LVs can be created by specifying an LV type when creating the LV (see lvmraid(7)).
Different RAID levels require different numbers of unique PVs be available in the VG for
allocation.
Thin pools (for thin provisioning) and cache pools (for caching) are represented by
special LVs with types thin-pool and cache-pool (see lvmthin(7) and lvmcache(7)). The pool
LVs are not usable as standard block devices, but the LV names act as references to the
pools.
Thin LVs are thinly provisioned from a thin pool, and are created with a virtual size
rather than a physical size. A cache LV is the combination of a standard LV with a cache
pool, used to cache active portions of the LV to improve performance.
Usage notes
In the usage section below, --size Size can be replaced with --extents Number. See
descriptions in the options section.
In the usage section below, --name is omitted from the required options, even though it is
typically used. When the name is not specified, a new LV name is generated with the "lvol"
prefix and a unique numeric suffix.
USAGE
Create a linear LV.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ --type linear ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a striped LV (infers --type striped).
lvcreate -i|--stripes Number -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a raid1 or mirror LV (infers --type raid1|mirror).
lvcreate -m|--mirrors Number -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --mirrorlog core|disk ]
[ --[raid]minrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]maxrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a raid LV (a specific raid level must be used, e.g. raid1).
lvcreate --type raid -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -m|--mirrors Number ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]minrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]maxrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a raid10 LV.
lvcreate -m|--mirrors Number -i|--stripes Number
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]minrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]maxrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a COW snapshot LV of an origin LV.
lvcreate -s|--snapshot -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] LV
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type snapshot ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin pool.
lvcreate --type thin-pool -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --thinpool LV_new ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a cache pool.
lvcreate --type cache-pool -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV in a thin pool (infers --type thin).
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] --thinpool LV_thinpool VG
[ -T|--thin ]
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV
(infers --type thin).
lvcreate -s|--snapshot LV_thin
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV.
lvcreate --type thin --thinpool LV_thinpool LV
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
where the new thin pool is named by the --thinpool arg.
lvcreate --type thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] --thinpool LV_new
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a cache LV, first creating a new origin LV,
then combining it with the existing cache pool named
by the --cachepool arg.
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachepool LV_cachepool VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Common options for command:
[ -a|--activate y|n|ay ]
[ -A|--autobackup y|n ]
[ -C|--contiguous y|n ]
[ -K|--ignoreactivationskip ]
[ -j|--major Number ]
[ -n|--name String ]
[ -p|--permission rw|r ]
[ -M|--persistent y|n ]
[ -r|--readahead auto|none|Number ]
[ -k|--setactivationskip y|n ]
[ -W|--wipesignatures y|n ]
[ -Z|--zero y|n ]
[ --addtag Tag ]
[ --alloc contiguous|cling|cling_by_tags|normal|anywhere|inherit ]
[ --ignoremonitoring ]
[ --metadataprofile String ]
[ --minor Number ]
[ --monitor y|n ]
[ --nosync ]
[ --noudevsync ]
[ --reportformat basic|json ]
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
-a|--activate y|n|ay
Controls the active state of the new LV. y makes the LV active, or available. New
LVs are made active by default. n makes the LV inactive, or unavailable, only when
possible. In some cases, creating an LV requires it to be active. For example,
COW snapshots of an active origin LV can only be created in the active state (this
does not apply to thin snapshots). The --zero option normally requires the LV to
be active. If autoactivation ay is used, the LV is only activated if it matches an
item in lvm.conf activation/auto_activation_volume_list. ay implies --zero n and
--wipesignatures n. See lvmlockd(8) for more information about activation options
for shared VGs. See clvmd(8) for more information about activation options for
clustered VGs.
--addtag Tag
Adds a tag to a PV, VG or LV. This option can be repeated to add multiple tags at
once. See lvm(8) for information about tags.
--alloc contiguous|cling|cling_by_tags|normal|anywhere|inherit
Determines the allocation policy when a command needs to allocate Physical Extents
(PEs) from the VG. Each VG and LV has an allocation policy which can be changed
with vgchange/lvchange, or overriden on the command line. normal applies common
sense rules such as not placing parallel stripes on the same PV. inherit applies
the VG policy to an LV. contiguous requires new PEs be placed adjacent to existing
PEs. cling places new PEs on the same PV as existing PEs in the same stripe of the
LV. If there are sufficient PEs for an allocation, but normal does not use them,
anywhere will use them even if it reduces performance, e.g. by placing two stripes
on the same PV. Optional positional PV args on the command line can also be used
to limit which PVs the command will use for allocation. See lvm(8) for more
information about allocation.
-A|--autobackup y|n
Specifies if metadata should be backed up automatically after a change. Enabling
this is strongly advised! See vgcfgbackup(8) for more information.
-H|--cache
Specifies the command is handling a cache LV or cache pool. See --type cache and
--type cache-pool. See lvmcache(7) for more information about LVM caching.
--cachemetadataformat auto|1|2
Specifies the cache metadata format used by cache target.
--cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough
Specifies when writes to a cache LV should be considered complete. writeback
considers a write complete as soon as it is stored in the cache pool. writethough
considers a write complete only when it has been stored in both the cache pool and
on the origin LV. While writethrough may be slower for writes, it is more
resilient if something should happen to a device associated with the cache pool LV.
With passthrough, all reads are served from the origin LV (all reads miss the
cache) and all writes are forwarded to the origin LV; additionally, write hits
cause cache block invalidates. See lvmcache(7) for more information.
--cachepolicy String
Specifies the cache policy for a cache LV. See lvmcache(7) for more information.
--cachepool LV
The name of a cache pool LV.
--cachesettings String
Specifies tunable values for a cache LV in "Key = Value" form. Repeat this option
to specify multiple values. (The default values should usually be adequate.) The
special string value default switches settings back to their default kernel values
and removes them from the list of settings stored in LVM metadata. See lvmcache(7)
for more information.
-c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT]
The size of chunks in a snapshot, cache pool or thin pool. For snapshots, the
value must be a power of 2 between 4KiB and 512KiB and the default value is 4. For
a cache pool the value must be between 32KiB and 1GiB and the default value is 64.
For a thin pool the value must be between 64KiB and 1GiB and the default value
starts with 64 and scales up to fit the pool metadata size within 128MiB, if the
pool metadata size is not specified. The value must be a multiple of 64KiB. See
lvmthin(7) and lvmcache(7) for more information.
--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.
-C|--contiguous y|n
Sets or resets the contiguous allocation policy for LVs. Default is no contiguous
allocation based on a next free principle. It is only possible to change a non-
contiguous allocation policy to contiguous if all of the allocated physical extents
in the LV are already contiguous.
-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).
--discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore
Specifies how the device-mapper thin pool layer in the kernel should handle
discards. ignore causes the thin pool to ignore discards. nopassdown causes the
thin pool to process discards itself to allow reuse of unneeded extents in the thin
pool. passdown causes the thin pool to process discards itself (like nopassdown)
and pass the discards to the underlying device. See lvmthin(7) for more
information.
--driverloaded y|n
If set to no, the command will not attempt to use device-mapper. For testing and
debugging.
--errorwhenfull y|n
Specifies thin pool behavior when data space is exhausted. When yes, device-mapper
will immediately return an error when a thin pool is full and an I/O request
requires space. When no, device-mapper will queue these I/O requests for a period
of time to allow the thin pool to be extended. Errors are returned if no space is
available after the timeout. (Also see dm-thin-pool kernel module option
no_space_timeout.) See lvmthin(7) for more information.
-l|--extents Number[PERCENT]
Specifies the size of the new LV in logical extents. The --size and --extents
options are alternate methods of specifying size. The total number of physical
extents used will be greater when redundant data is needed for RAID levels. An
alternate syntax allows the size to be determined indirectly as a percentage of the
size of a related VG, LV, or set of PVs. The suffix %VG denotes the total size of
the VG, the suffix %FREE the remaining free space in the VG, and the suffix %PVS
the free space in the specified PVs. For a snapshot, the size can be expressed as
a percentage of the total size of the origin LV with the suffix %ORIGIN (100%ORIGIN
provides space for the whole origin). When expressed as a percentage, the size
defines an upper limit for the number of logical extents in the new LV. The precise
number of logical extents in the new LV is not determined until the command has
completed.
-h|--help
Display help text.
-K|--ignoreactivationskip
Ignore the "activation skip" LV flag during activation to allow LVs with the flag
set to be activated.
--ignoremonitoring
Do not interact with dmeventd unless --monitor is specified. Do not use this if
dmeventd is already monitoring a device.
--longhelp
Display long help text.
-j|--major Number
Sets the major number of an LV block device.
--[raid]maxrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT]
Sets the maximum recovery rate for a RAID LV. The rate value is an amount of data
per second for each device in the array. Setting the rate to 0 means it will be
unbounded. See lvmraid(7) for more information.
--metadataprofile String
The metadata profile to use for command configuration. See lvm.conf(5) for more
information about profiles.
--minor Number
Sets the minor number of an LV block device.
--[raid]minrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT]
Sets the minimum recovery rate for a RAID LV. The rate value is an amount of data
per second for each device in the array. Setting the rate to 0 means it will be
unbounded. See lvmraid(7) for more information.
--mirrorlog core|disk
Specifies the type of mirror log for LVs with the "mirror" type (does not apply to
the "raid1" type.) disk is a persistent log and requires a small amount of storage
space, usually on a separate device from the data being mirrored. core is not
persistent; the log is kept only in memory. In this case, the mirror must be
synchronized (by copying LV data from the first device to others) each time the LV
is activated, e.g. after reboot. mirrored is a persistent log that is itself
mirrored, but should be avoided. Instead, use the raid1 type for log redundancy.
-m|--mirrors Number
Specifies the number of mirror images in addition to the original LV image, e.g.
--mirrors 1 means there are two images of the data, the original and one mirror
image. Optional positional PV args on the command line can specify the devices the
images should be placed on. There are two mirroring implementations: "raid1" and
"mirror". These are the names of the corresponding LV types, or "segment types".
Use the --type option to specify which to use (raid1 is default, and mirror is
legacy) Use lvm.conf global/mirror_segtype_default and
global/raid10_segtype_default to configure the default types. See the --nosync
option for avoiding initial image synchronization. See lvmraid(7) for more
information.
--monitor y|n
Start (yes) or stop (no) monitoring an LV with dmeventd. dmeventd monitors kernel
events for an LV, and performs automated maintenance for the LV in reponse to
specific events. See dmeventd(8) for more information.
-n|--name String
Specifies the name of a new LV. When unspecified, a default name of "lvol#" is
generated, where # is a number generated by LVM.
--nosync
Causes the creation of mirror, raid1, raid4, raid5 and raid10 to skip the initial
synchronization. In case of mirror, raid1 and raid10, any data written afterwards
will be mirrored, but the original contents will not be copied. In case of raid4
and raid5, no parity blocks will be written, though any data written afterwards
will cause parity blocks to be stored. This is useful for skipping a potentially
long and resource intensive initial sync of an empty mirror/raid1/raid4/raid5 and
raid10 LV. This option is not valid for raid6, because raid6 relies on proper
parity (P and Q Syndromes) being created during initial synchronization in order to
reconstruct proper user date in case of device failures. raid0 and raid0_meta do
not provide any data copies or parity support and thus do not support initial
synchronization.
--noudevsync
Disables udev synchronisation. The process will not wait for notification from
udev. It will continue irrespective of any possible udev processing in the
background. Only use this if udev is not running or has rules that ignore the
devices LVM creates.
-p|--permission rw|r
Set access permission to read only r or read and write rw.
-M|--persistent y|n
When yes, makes the specified minor number persistent.
--poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT]
Specifies the size of the new pool metadata LV.
--poolmetadataspare y|n
Enable or disable the automatic creation and management of a spare pool metadata LV
in the VG. A spare metadata LV is reserved space that can be used when repairing a
pool.
--profile String
An alias for --commandprofile or --metadataprofile, depending on the command.
-q|--quiet ...
Suppress output and log messages. Overrides --debug and --verbose. Repeat once to
also suppress any prompts with answer 'no'.
-r|--readahead auto|none|Number
Sets read ahead sector count of an LV. auto is the default which allows the kernel
to choose a suitable value automatically. none is equivalent to zero.
-R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT]
Size of each raid or mirror synchronization region. lvm.conf
activation/raid_region_size can be used to configure a default.
--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.
-k|--setactivationskip y|n
Persistently sets (yes) or clears (no) the "activation skip" flag on an LV. An LV
with this flag set is not activated unless the --ignoreactivationskip option is
used by the activation command. This flag is set by default on new thin snapshot
LVs. The flag is not applied to deactivation. The current value of the flag is
indicated in the lvs lv_attr bits.
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
Specifies the size of the new LV. The --size and --extents options are alternate
methods of specifying size. The total number of physical extents used will be
greater when redundant data is needed for RAID levels.
-s|--snapshot
Create a snapshot. Snapshots provide a "frozen image" of an origin LV. The
snapshot LV can be used, e.g. for backups, while the origin LV continues to be
used. This option can create a COW (copy on write) snapshot, or a thin snapshot
(in a thin pool.) Thin snapshots are created when the origin is a thin LV and the
size option is NOT specified. Thin snapshots share the same blocks in the thin
pool, and do not allocate new space from the VG. Thin snapshots are created with
the "activation skip" flag, see --setactivationskip. A thin snapshot of a non-thin
"external origin" LV is created when a thin pool is specified. Unprovisioned blocks
in the thin snapshot LV are read from the external origin LV. The external origin
LV must be read-only. See lvmthin(7) for more information about LVM thin
provisioning. COW snapshots are created when a size is specified. The size is
allocated from space in the VG, and is the amount of space that can be used for
saving COW blocks as writes occur to the origin or snapshot. The size chosen
should depend upon the amount of writes that are expected; often 20% of the origin
LV is enough. If COW space runs low, it can be extended with lvextend (shrinking is
also allowed with lvreduce.) A small amount of the COW snapshot LV size is used to
track COW block locations, so the full size is not available for COW data blocks.
Use lvs to check how much space is used, and see --monitor to to automatically
extend the size to avoid running out of space.
-i|--stripes Number
Specifies the number of stripes in a striped LV. This is the number of PVs
(devices) that a striped LV is spread across. Data that appears sequential in the
LV is spread across multiple devices in units of the stripe size (see
--stripesize). This does not change existing allocated space, but only applies to
space being allocated by the command. When creating a RAID 4/5/6 LV, this number
does not include the extra devices that are required for parity. The largest number
depends on the RAID type (raid0: 64, raid10: 32, raid4/5: 63, raid6: 62), and when
unspecified, the default depends on the RAID type (raid0: 2, raid10: 2, raid4/5: 3,
raid6: 5.) To stripe a new raid LV across all PVs by default, see lvm.conf
allocation/raid_stripe_all_devices.
-I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT]
The amount of data that is written to one device before moving to the next in a
striped LV.
-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.
-T|--thin
Specifies the command is handling a thin LV or thin pool. See --type thin, --type
thin-pool, and --virtualsize. See lvmthin(7) for more information about LVM thin
provisioning.
--thinpool LV
The name of a thin pool LV.
--type linear|striped|snapshot|mirror|raid|thin|cache|thin-pool|cache-pool
The LV type, also known as "segment type" or "segtype". See usage descriptions for
the specific ways to use these types. For more information about redundancy and
performance (raid<N>, mirror, striped, linear) see lvmraid(7). For thin
provisioning (thin, thin-pool) see lvmthin(7). For performance caching (cache,
cache-pool) see lvmcache(7). For copy-on-write snapshots (snapshot) see usage
definitions. Several commands omit an explicit type option because the type is
inferred from other options or shortcuts (e.g. --stripes, --mirrors, --snapshot,
--virtualsize, --thin, --cache). Use inferred types with care because it can lead
to unexpected results.
-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.
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
The virtual size of a new thin LV. See lvmthin(7) for more information about LVM
thin provisioning. Using virtual size (-V) and actual size (-L) together creates a
sparse LV. lvm.conf global/sparse_segtype_default determines the default segment
type used to create a sparse LV. Anything written to a sparse LV will be returned
when reading from it. Reading from other areas of the LV will return blocks of
zeros. When using a snapshot to create a sparse LV, a hidden virtual device is
created using the zero target, and the LV has the suffix _vorigin. Snapshots are
less efficient than thin provisioning when creating large sparse LVs (GiB).
-W|--wipesignatures y|n
Controls detection and subsequent wiping of signatures on new LVs. There is a
prompt for each signature detected to confirm its wiping (unless --yes is used to
override confirmations.) When not specified, signatures are wiped whenever zeroing
is done (see --zero). This behaviour can be configured with lvm.conf
allocation/wipe_signatures_when_zeroing_new_lvs. If blkid wiping is used (lvm.conf
allocation/use_blkid_wiping) and LVM is compiled with blkid wiping support, then
the blkid(8) library is used to detect the signatures (use blkid -k to list the
signatures that are recognized). Otherwise, native LVM code is used to detect
signatures (only MD RAID, swap and LUKS signatures are detected in this case.) The
LV is not wiped if the read only flag is set.
-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 zeroing of the first 4KiB of data in the new LV. Default is y. Snapshot
COW volumes are always zeroed. LV is not zeroed if the read only flag is set.
Warning: trying to mount an unzeroed LV can cause the system to hang.
VARIABLES
VG
Volume Group name. See lvm(8) for valid names. For lvcreate, the required VG
positional arg may be omitted when the VG name is included in another option, e.g.
--name VG/LV.
LV
Logical Volume name. See lvm(8) for valid names. An LV positional arg generally
includes the VG name and LV name, e.g. VG/LV. LV followed by _<type> indicates
that an LV of the given type is required. (raid represents raid<N> type)
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.
ADVANCED USAGE
Alternate command forms, advanced command usage, and listing of all valid syntax for
completeness.
Create an LV that returns errors when used.
lvcreate --type error -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create an LV that returns zeros when read.
lvcreate --type zero -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a linear LV.
lvcreate --type linear -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a striped LV (also see lvcreate --stripes).
lvcreate --type striped -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a mirror LV (also see --type raid1).
lvcreate --type mirror -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -m|--mirrors Number ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --mirrorlog core|disk ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a COW snapshot LV of an origin LV
(also see --snapshot).
lvcreate --type snapshot -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] LV
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a sparse COW snapshot LV of a virtual origin LV
(also see --snapshot).
lvcreate --type snapshot -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a sparse COW snapshot LV of a virtual origin LV.
lvcreate -s|--snapshot -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type snapshot ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin pool (infers --type thin-pool).
lvcreate -T|--thin -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type thin-pool ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin pool named by the --thinpool arg
(infers --type thin-pool).
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] --thinpool LV_new VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type thin-pool ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a cache pool named by the --cachepool arg
(variant, uses --cachepool in place of --name).
lvcreate --type cache-pool -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachepool LV_new VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV in a thin pool.
lvcreate --type thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV_thinpool VG
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV in a thin pool named in the first arg
(variant, also see --thinpool for naming pool).
lvcreate --type thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] LV_thinpool
[ -T|--thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV in the thin pool named in the first arg
(variant, infers --type thin, also see --thinpool for
naming pool.)
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] LV_thinpool
[ -T|--thin ]
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
lvcreate --type thin LV_thin
[ -T|--thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV
(infers --type thin).
lvcreate -T|--thin LV_thin
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV
(infers --type thin).
lvcreate -s|--snapshot --thinpool LV_thinpool LV
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
where the new thin pool is named by the --thinpool arg
(variant, infers --type thin).
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV_new
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
where the new thin pool is named by the --thinpool arg
(variant, infers --type thin).
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV_new VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
where the new thin pool is named in the first arg,
or the new thin pool name is generated when the first
arg is a VG name.
lvcreate --type thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG|LV_new
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
where the new thin pool is named in the first arg,
or the new thin pool name is generated when the first
arg is a VG name (variant, infers --type thin).
lvcreate -T|--thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG|LV_new
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it
(infers --type thin).
Create a sparse snapshot of a virtual origin LV
(infers --type snapshot).
Chooses --type thin or --type snapshot according to
config setting sparse_segtype_default.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type snapshot ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a cache LV, first creating a new origin LV,
then combining it with the existing cache pool named
by the --cachepool arg (variant, infers --type cache).
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] --cachepool LV_cachepool VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type cache ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a cache LV, first creating a new origin LV,
then combining it with the existing cache pool named
in the first arg (variant, also use --cachepool).
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] LV_cachepool
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
When LV is a cache pool, create a cache LV,
first creating a new origin LV, then combining it with
the existing cache pool named in the first arg
(variant, infers --type cache, also use --cachepool).
When LV is not a cache pool, convert the specified LV
to type cache after creating a new cache pool LV to use
(use lvconvert).
lvcreate -H|--cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] LV
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
EXAMPLES
Create a striped LV with 3 stripes, a stripe size of 8KiB and a size of 100MiB. The LV
name is chosen by lvcreate.
lvcreate -i 3 -I 8 -L 100m vg00
Create a raid1 LV with two images, and a useable size of 500 MiB. This operation requires
two devices, one for each mirror image. RAID metadata (superblock and bitmap) is also
included on the two devices.
lvcreate --type raid1 -m1 -L 500m -n mylv vg00
Create a mirror LV with two images, and a useable size of 500 MiB. This operation
requires three devices: two for mirror images and one for a disk log.
lvcreate --type mirror -m1 -L 500m -n mylv vg00
Create a mirror LV with 2 images, and a useable size of 500 MiB. This operation requires
2 devices because the log is in memory.
lvcreate --type mirror -m1 --mirrorlog core -L 500m -n mylv vg00
Create a copy-on-write snapshot of an LV:
lvcreate --snapshot --size 100m --name mysnap vg00/mylv
Create a copy-on-write snapshot with a size sufficient for overwriting 20% of the size of
the original LV.
lvcreate -s -l 20%ORIGIN -n mysnap vg00/mylv
Create a sparse LV with 1TiB of virtual space, and actual space just under 100MiB.
lvcreate --snapshot --virtualsize 1t --size 100m --name mylv vg00
Create a linear LV with a usable size of 64MiB on specific physical extents.
lvcreate -L 64m -n mylv vg00 /dev/sda:0-7 /dev/sdb:0-7
Create a RAID5 LV with a usable size of 5GiB, 3 stripes, a stripe size of 64KiB, using a
total of 4 devices (including one for parity).
lvcreate --type raid5 -L 5G -i 3 -I 64 -n mylv vg00
Create a RAID5 LV using all of the free space in the VG and spanning all the PVs in the VG
(note that the command will fail if there are more than 8 PVs in the VG, in which case -i
7 must be used to get to the current maximum of 8 devices including parity for RaidLVs).
lvcreate --config allocation/raid_stripe_all_devices=1
--type raid5 -l 100%FREE -n mylv vg00
Create RAID10 LV with a usable size of 5GiB, using 2 stripes, each on a two-image mirror.
(Note that the -i and -m arguments behave differently: -i specifies the total number of
stripes, but -m specifies the number of images in addition to the first image).
lvcreate --type raid10 -L 5G -i 2 -m 1 -n mylv vg00
Create a 1TiB thin LV, first creating a new thin pool for it, where the thin pool has
100MiB of space, uses 2 stripes, has a 64KiB stripe size, and 256KiB chunk size.
lvcreate --type thin --name mylv --thinpool mypool
-V 1t -L 100m -i 2 -I 64 -c 256 vg00
Create a thin snapshot of a thin LV (the size option must not be used, otherwise a copy-
on-write snapshot would be created).
lvcreate --snapshot --name mysnap vg00/thinvol
Create a thin snapshot of the read-only inactive LV named "origin" which becomes an
external origin for the thin snapshot LV.
lvcreate --snapshot --name mysnap --thinpool mypool vg00/origin
Create a cache pool from a fast physical device. The cache pool can then be used to cache
an LV.
lvcreate --type cache-pool -L 1G -n my_cpool vg00 /dev/fast1
Create a cache LV, first creating a new origin LV on a slow physical device, then
combining the new origin LV with an existing cache pool.
lvcreate --type cache --cachepool my_cpool
-L 100G -n mylv vg00 /dev/slow1
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)