NAME
pvcreate — Initialize physical volume(s) for use by LVMSYNOPSIS
pvcreate position_args[ option_args ]
DESCRIPTION
pvcreate initializes a Physical Volume (PV) on a device so the device is recognized as belonging to LVM. This allows the PV to be used in a Volume Group (VG). An LVM disk label is written to the device, and LVM metadata areas are initialized. A PV can be placed on a whole device or partition. Use vgcreate(8) to create a new VG on the PV, or vgextend(8) to add the PV to an existing VG. Use pvremove(8) to remove the LVM disk label from the device. 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. Metadata location, size, and alignment The LVM disk label begins 512 bytes from the start of the device, and is 512 bytes in size. The LVM metadata area begins at an offset (from the start of the device) equal to the page size of the machine creating the PV (often 4 KiB.) The metadata area contains a 512 byte header and a multi-KiB circular buffer that holds text copies of the VG metadata. With default settings, the first physical extent (PE), which contains LV data, is 1 MiB from the start of the device. This location is controlled by default_data_alignment in lvm.conf, which is set to 1 (MiB) by default. The pe_start will be a multiple of this many MiB. This location can be checked with:USAGE
pvcreate PV ...[ -f|--force ]
[ -M|--metadatatype lvm2 ]
[ -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 ]
[ --devices PV ]
[ --devicesfile String ]
[ --driverloaded y|n ]
[ --journal String ]
[ --lockopt String ]
[ --longhelp ]
[ --nohints ]
[ --nolocking ]
[ --profile String ]
[ --version ]
OPTIONS
--bootloaderareasize
Size[m|UNIT]
Reserve space for the bootloader between the LVM metadata area and the first PE.
The bootloader area is reserved for bootloaders to embed their own data or
metadata; LVM will not use it. The bootloader area begins where the first PE
would otherwise be located. The first PE is moved out by the size of the
bootloader area, and then moved out further if necessary to match the data
alignment. The start of the bootloader area is always aligned, see also
--dataalignment and --dataalignmentoffset. The bootloader area may be larger
than requested due to the alignment, but it's never less than the requested
size. 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(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.
--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
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.
--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. 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.
--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: 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
Initialize a partition and a full device.SEE ALSO
lvm(8), lvm.conf(5), lvmconfig(8), lvmdevices(8), pvchange(8), pvck(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)LVM TOOLS 2.03.16(2) (2022-05-18) | Red Hat, Inc. |