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

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

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