noble (8) vgcreate.8.gz

Provided by: lvm2_2.03.16-3ubuntu3.1_amd64 bug

NAME

       vgcreate — Create a volume group

SYNOPSIS

       vgcreate position_args
           [ option_args ]

DESCRIPTION

       vgcreate  creates  a  new VG on block devices. If the devices were not previously initialized as PVs with
       pvcreate(8), vgcreate will inititialize them, making them PVs.  The  pvcreate  options  for  initializing
       devices are also available with vgcreate.

       When  vgcreate uses an existing PV, that PV's existing values for metadata size, PE start, etc, are used,
       even if different values are specified in the vgcreate  command.   To  change  these  values,  first  use
       pvremove on the device.

USAGE

       vgcreate VG_new PV ...
           [ -A|--autobackup y|n ]
           [ -c|--clustered y|n ]
           [ -l|--maxlogicalvolumes Number ]
           [ -p|--maxphysicalvolumes Number ]
           [ -M|--metadatatype lvm2 ]
           [ -s|--physicalextentsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
           [ -f|--force ]
           [ -Z|--zero y|n ]
           [    --addtag Tag ]
           [    --alloc contiguous|cling|cling_by_tags|normal|anywhere|inherit ]
           [    --metadataprofile String ]
           [    --labelsector Number ]
           [    --metadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
           [    --pvmetadatacopies 0|1|2 ]
           [    --[vg]metadatacopies all|unmanaged|Number ]
           [    --reportformat basic|json ]
           [    --dataalignment Size[k|UNIT] ]
           [    --dataalignmentoffset Size[k|UNIT] ]
           [    --shared ]
           [    --systemid String ]
           [    --locktype sanlock|dlm|none ]
           [    --setautoactivation y|n ]
           [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]

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

OPTIONS

       --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
              overridden 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.

       -c|--clustered y|n
              This option was specific to clvm and is now replaced by the --shared option with lvmlockd(8).

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

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

       --dataalignmentoffset Size[k|UNIT]
              Shift the start of the PV 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).

       --devices PV
              Restricts the devices that are visible and accessible to the command.   Devices  not  listed  will
              appear  to  be missing. This option can be repeated, or accepts a comma separated list of devices.
              This overrides the devices file.

       --devicesfile String
              A file listing devices that LVM should use.  The file  must  exist  in  /etc/lvm/devices/  and  is
              managed  with  the  lvmdevices(8) command.  This overrides the lvm.conf(5) devices/devicesfile and
              devices/use_devicesfile settings.

       --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.

       --journal String
              Record information in the systemd journal.  This information is in addition to information enabled
              by  the  lvm.conf  log/journal  setting.   command: record information about the command.  output:
              record the default command output.  debug: record full command debugging.

       --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.

       --lockopt String
              Used to pass options for special cases to lvmlockd.  See lvmlockd(8) for more information.

       --locktype sanlock|dlm|none
              Specify the VG lock  type  directly  in  place  of  using  --shared.   See  lvmlockd(8)  for  more
              information.

       --longhelp
              Display long help text.

       -l|--maxlogicalvolumes Number
              Sets the maximum number of LVs allowed in a VG.

       -p|--maxphysicalvolumes Number
              Sets  the  maximum  number  of PVs that can belong to the VG.  The value 0 removes any limitation.
              For large numbers  of  PVs,  also  see  options  --pvmetadatacopies,  and  --vgmetadatacopies  for
              improving performance.

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

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

       -M|--metadatatype lvm2
              Specifies the type of on-disk metadata to use.  lvm2 (or just 2) is the current, standard  format.
              lvm1 (or just 1) is no longer used.

       --nohints
              Do  not  use the hints file to locate devices for PVs. A command may read more devices to find PVs
              when hints are not used. The command will still perform  standard  hint  file  invalidation  where
              appropriate.

       --nolocking
              Disable locking. Use with caution, concurrent commands may produce incorrect results.

       -s|--physicalextentsize Size[m|UNIT]
              Sets the physical extent size of PVs in the VG.  The value must be either a power of 2 of at least
              1 sector (where the sector size is the largest sector size of the PVs currently used in  the  VG),
              or  at  least  128KiB.  Once this value has been set, it is difficult to change without recreating
              the VG, unless no extents need moving.

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

       --pvmetadatacopies 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.   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(5).  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.

       --setautoactivation y|n
              Set the autoactivation property on a VG  or  LV.   Display  the  property  with  vgs  or  lvs  "-o
              autoactivation".  When the autoactivation property is disabled, the VG or LV will not be activated
              by a command doing autoactivation (vgchange, lvchange, or pvscan using -aay.)   If  autoactivation
              is  disabled  on a VG, no LVs will be autoactivated in that VG, and the LV autoactivation property
              has no effect.  If autoactivation  is  enabled  on  a  VG,  autoactivation  can  be  disabled  for
              individual LVs.

       --shared
              Create  a  shared  VG  using lvmlockd if LVM is compiled with lockd support.  lvmlockd will select
              lock type sanlock or dlm depending on which lock manager is running. This allows multiple hosts to
              share  a  VG  on  shared devices. lvmlockd and a lock manager must be configured and running.  See
              lvmlockd(8) for more information about shared VGs.

       --systemid String
              Specifies the system ID that will be given to the new VG, overriding the system  ID  of  the  host
              running  the  command.  A  VG is normally created without this option, in which case the new VG is
              given the system ID of the host creating it. Using this option requires caution because the system
              ID  of  the  new  VG  may  not match the system ID of the host running the command, leaving the VG
              inaccessible to the host.  See lvmsystemid(7) for more information.

       -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.

       -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.

       --[vg]metadatacopies all|unmanaged|Number
              Number of copies of the VG metadata that are kept.  VG metadata is kept in VG  metadata  areas  on
              PVs  in  the VG, i.e. reserved space at the start and/or end of the PVs.  Keeping a copy of the VG
              metadata on every PV can reduce performance in VGs containing a large number of  PVs.   When  this
              number  is  set to a non-zero value, LVM will automatically choose PVs on which to store metadata,
              using the metadataignore flags on PVs to achieve the specified number.  The  number  can  also  be
              replaced  with  special  string  values:  unmanaged  causes LVM to not automatically manage the PV
              metadataignore flags.  all causes LVM to first clear the metadataignore flags on all PVs, and then
              to become unmanaged.

       -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

       VG     Volume Group name.  See lvm(8) for valid names.

       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: b|B is
              bytes, s|S is sectors of 512 bytes, k|K is KiB, m|M is MiB, g|G is GiB, t|T is TiB,  p|P  is  PiB,
              e|E  is  EiB.  (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

       Create a VG with two PVs, using the default physical extent size.
       vgcreate myvg /dev/sdk1 /dev/sdl1

SEE ALSO

       lvm(8), lvm.conf(5), lvmconfig(8), lvmdevices(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), vgimportdevices(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), blkdeactivate(8), lvmdump(8),

       dmeventd(8), lvmpolld(8), lvmlockd(8), lvmlockctl(8), cmirrord(8), lvmdbusd(8), fsadm(8),

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