NAME
lvcreate — Create a logical volumeSYNOPSIS
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
--cachedevice PV
--cachemetadataformat auto|1|2
--cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough
--cachepolicy String
--cachepool LV
--cachesettings String
--cachesize Size[m|UNIT]
--cachevol LV
-c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT]
--commandprofile String
--compression y|n
--config String
-C|--contiguous y|n
-d|--debug
--deduplication y|n
--devices PV
--devicesfile String
--discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore
--driverloaded y|n
--errorwhenfull y|n
-l|--extents Number[PERCENT]
-h|--help
-K|--ignoreactivationskip
--ignoremonitoring
--journal String
--lockopt String
--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
--nohints
--nolocking
--nosync
--noudevsync
-p|--permission rw|r
-M|--persistent y|n
--poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT]
--poolmetadataspare y|n
--profile String
-q|--quiet
--raidintegrity y|n
--raidintegrityblocksize Number
--raidintegritymode String
-r|--readahead auto|none|Number
-R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT]
--reportformat basic|json
-k|--setactivationskip y|n
--setautoactivation 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|raid|mirror| thin| thin-pool|vdo|vdo-pool|cache|cache-pool| writecache
--vdo
--vdopool LV
--vdosettings String
-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. VDO LVs are also provisioned volumes from a VDO pool, and are created with a virtual size rather than a physical size (see lvmvdo(7)).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. In the usage section below, when creating a pool and the name is omitted the new LV pool name is generated with the "vpool" for vdo-pools for prefix and a unique numeric suffix. Pool name can be specified together with VG name i.e.: vg00/mythinpool.USAGE
Create a linear LV.[ --type linear ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a striped LV.
[ --type striped ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a raid1 or mirror LV.
[ --type raid1|mirror ]
(implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -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).
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -m|--mirrors Number ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]minrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]maxrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --raidintegrity y|n ]
[ --raidintegritymode String ]
[ --raidintegrityblocksize Number ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a raid10 LV.
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ --type raid10 ] (implied)
[ -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.
[ --type snapshot ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin pool.
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --thinpool LV_new ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a cache pool.
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize 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 ... ]
—
Create a thin LV in a thin pool.
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thin
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV.
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a LV that returns VDO when used.
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --vdo ]
[ --vdopool LV_new ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachepool
--cachepool LV VG
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize 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 ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachevol
--cachevol LV VG
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach a cachevol created from
--cachedevice PV VG
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachevol
--cachevol LV VG
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach a cachevol created from
--cachedevice PV VG
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ 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 ]
[ --setautoactivation y|n ]
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
-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(5) activation/auto_activation_volume_list. ay
implies --zero n and --wipesignatures n. See lvmlockd(8) for more
information about activation options for shared 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 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.
-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.
--cachedevice
PV
The name of a device to use for a cache.
--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.
--cachesettings
String
Specifies tunable kernel options for dm-cache or dm-writecache LVs. Use the form
'option=value' or 'option1=value option2=value', or repeat --cachesettings for
each option being set. These settings override the default kernel behaviors
which are usually adequate. To remove cachesettings and revert to the default
kernel behaviors, use --cachesettings 'default' for dm-cache or an empty
string --cachesettings '' for dm-writecache. See lvmcache(7) for more
information.
--cachesize
Size[m|UNIT]
The size of cache to use.
--cachevol
LV
The name of a cache volume.
-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.
--compression
y|n
Controls whether compression is enabled or disable for VDO volume. See
lvmvdo(7) for more information about VDO usage.
--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.
-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).
--deduplication
y|n
Controls whether deduplication is enabled or disable for VDO volume. See
lvmvdo(7) for more information about VDO usage.
--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.
--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.
--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.
--lockopt
String
Used to pass options for special cases to lvmlockd. See lvmlockd(8) for
more information.
--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(5) 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.
--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.
--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'.
--raidintegrity
y|n
Enable or disable data integrity checksums for raid images.
--raidintegrityblocksize
Number
The block size to use for dm-integrity on raid images. The integrity block size
should usually match the device logical block size, or the file system block
size. It may be less than the file system block size, but not less than the
device logical block size. Possible values: 512, 1024, 2048, 4096.
--raidintegritymode
String
Use a journal (default) or bitmap for keeping integrity checksums consistent in
case of a crash. The bitmap areas are recalculated after a crash, so
corruption in those areas would not be detected. A journal does not have this
problem. The journal mode doubles writes to storage, but can improve
performance for scattered writes packed into a single journal write. bitmap
mode can in theory achieve full write throughput of the device, but would not
benefit from the potential scattered write optimization.
-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(5)
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(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.
-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.
--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.
-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(5)
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|raid|mirror|thin|thin-pool|vdo|vdo-pool|cache|cache-pool|writecache
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. For VDO
( vdo) see lvmvdo(7). 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, --vdo). Use
inferred types with care because it can lead to unexpected results.
--vdo
Specifies the command is handling VDO LV. See --type vdo. See lvmvdo(7)
for more information about VDO usage.
--vdopool
LV
The name of a VDO pool LV. See lvmvdo(7) for more information about VDO
usage.
--vdosettings
String
Specifies tunable VDO options for VDO LVs. Use the form 'option=value' or
'option1=value option2=value', or repeat --vdosettings for each option being
set. These settings override the default VDO behaviors. To remove vdosettings
and revert to the default VDO behaviors, use --vdosettings 'default'. See
lvmvdo(7) 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.
-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(5)
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(5) allocation/wipe_signatures_when_zeroing_new_lvs. If
blkid wiping is used ( lvm.conf(5) 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. For thin pools, this controls zeroing
of provisioned blocks. 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. LV1 indicates the LV must have a specific type, where the accepted LV types are listed. (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: 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.ADVANCED USAGE
Alternate command forms, advanced command usage, and listing of all valid syntax for completeness. Create an LV that returns errors when used.[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create an LV that returns zeros when read.
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a linear LV.
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a striped LV (also see lvcreate --stripes).
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a mirror LV (also see --type raid1).
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -m|--mirrors Number ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --mirrorlog core|disk ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a COW snapshot LV of an origin 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
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin pool.
[ --type thin-pool ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin pool named in --thinpool.
[ --type thin-pool ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a cache pool named by the --cachepool arg
--cachepool LV_new VG
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize 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 ... ]
—
Create a thin LV in a thin pool.
--thinpool LV VG
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin LV in a thin pool named in the first arg
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thinpool
—
Create a thin LV in the thin pool named in the first arg
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thinpool
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thin
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thin
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV.
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a VDO LV with VDO pool.
[ --type vdo ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --vdopool LV_new ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a VDO LV with VDO pool.
[ --type vdo ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] --thinpool LV_new VG
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
--thinpool LV_new VG
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG|LV_new
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG|LV_new
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it.
[ --type thin|snapshot ]
(implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachepool
[ --type cache ] (implied)
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachepool
[ -l|--extents
Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize 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 ... ]
LV1 types: cachepool
—
When the LV arg is a cachepool, then create a new LV and
[ --type cache ] (implied)
[ -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.--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).
-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).
-L 100G -n mylv vg00 /dev/slow1
Create a VDO LV vdo0 with VDOPoolLV size of 10GiB and name vpool1.
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), , 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)LVM TOOLS 2.03.16(2) (2022-05-18) | Red Hat, Inc. |