table of contents
LVCREATE(8) | System Manager's Manual | LVCREATE(8) |
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
--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|json_std
-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.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a striped LV.
lvcreate -i|--stripes Number
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a raid1 or mirror LV.
lvcreate -m|--mirrors Number
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a raid LV (a specific raid level must be used, e.g. raid1).
lvcreate --type raid -L|--size
Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -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 ]
—
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 ]
—
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] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin pool.
lvcreate --type thin-pool
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a cache pool.
lvcreate --type cache-pool
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a thin LV in a thin pool.
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV VG
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
lvcreate -s|--snapshot LV1
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV.
lvcreate --type thin --thinpool
LV LV
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a LV that returns VDO when used.
lvcreate --type vdo -L|--size
Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachepool
which converts the new LV to type cache.
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachepool LV VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachevol
which converts the new LV to type cache.
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachevol LV VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach a cachevol created from
the specified cache device, which converts the
new LV to type cache.
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachedevice PV VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachevol
which converts the new LV to type writecache.
lvcreate --type writecache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachevol LV VG
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach a cachevol created from
the specified cache device, which converts the
new LV to type writecache.
lvcreate --type writecache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachedevice PV VG
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Common options for command:
[ -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|json_std ]
[ --setautoactivation y|n ]
Common options for lvm:
[ -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 4 KiB and 512 KiB and the
default value is 4. For a cache pool the value must be between 32 KiB
and 1 GiB and the default value is 64. For a thin pool the value must
be between 64 KiB and 1 GiB and the default value starts with
64 and scales up to fit the pool metadata size within 128 MiB, if the
pool metadata size is not specified. The value must be a multiple of
64 KiB. 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
response 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 synchronization. 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|json_std
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. json_std produces
report output in JSON format which is more compliant with JSON standard. 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 4 KiB 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.
lvcreate --type error -L|--size
Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create an LV that returns zeros when read.
lvcreate --type zero -L|--size
Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a linear LV.
lvcreate --type linear
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a striped LV (also see lvcreate --stripes).
lvcreate --type striped
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a mirror LV (also see --type raid1).
lvcreate --type mirror
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -m|--mirrors Number ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --mirrorlog core|disk ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a COW snapshot LV of an origin LV
(also see --snapshot).
lvcreate --type snapshot
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] LV
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
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
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin pool.
lvcreate -T|--thin -L|--size
Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a thin pool named in --thinpool.
lvcreate -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 ]
—
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
[ -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 ]
—
Create a thin LV in a thin pool.
lvcreate --type thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV VG
[ 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] LV1
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin LV in the thin pool named in the first arg
(also see --thinpool for naming pool.)
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
LV1
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
lvcreate --type thin LV1
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
lvcreate -T|--thin LV1
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV.
lvcreate -s|--snapshot --thinpool
LV LV
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a VDO LV with VDO pool.
lvcreate --vdo -L|--size
Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a VDO LV with VDO pool.
lvcreate --vdopool LV_new
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -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 ]
—
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 VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
where the new thin pool is named by --thinpool.
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] -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 ]
—
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
[ -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 ]
—
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 -T|--thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG|LV_new
[ -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 ]
—
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it.
Create a sparse snapshot of a virtual origin LV
Chooses type thin or snapshot according to
config setting sparse_segtype_default.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -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 ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachepool
which converts the new LV to type cache.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--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 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachepool
which converts the new LV to type cache.
(variant, also use --cachepool).
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size
Size[m|UNIT] LV1
[ -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 ]
—
When the LV arg is a cachepool, then create a new LV and
attach the cachepool arg to it.
(variant, use --type cache and --cachepool.)
When the LV arg is not a cachepool, then create a new cachepool
and attach it to the LV arg (alternative, 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 ]
—
EXAMPLES¶
Create a striped LV with 3 stripes, a stripe size of 8 KiB
and a size of 100 MiB. The LV name is chosen by lvcreate.
lvcreate -i 3 -I 8 -L 100m vg00
Create a raid1 LV with two images, and a usable 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 usable 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 usable 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 1 TiB of virtual space, and actual
space just under 100 MiB.
lvcreate --snapshot --virtualsize 1t --size 100m --name mylv vg00
Create a linear LV with a usable size of 64 MiB 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 5 GiB, 3 stripes, a
stripe size of 64 KiB, 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
Create RAID10 LV with a usable size of 5 GiB, 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 1 TiB thin LV mythin, with 256 GiB thinpool
tpool0 in vg00.
lvcreate -T -V 1T --size 256G --name mythin vg00/tpool0
Create a 1 TiB thin LV, first creating a new thin pool for
it, where the thin pool has 100 MiB of space, uses 2 stripes, has a
64 KiB stripe size, and 256 KiB chunk size.
lvcreate --type thin --name mylv --thinpool mypool
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
Create a VDO LV vdo0 with VDOPoolLV size of 10 GiB and name
vpool1.
lvcreate --vdo --size 10G --name vdo0 vg00/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),
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), lvmcache(7), lvmraid(7), lvmthin(7), lvmvdo(7), lvmautoactivation(7)
LVM TOOLS 2.03.23(2) (2023-11-21) | Red Hat, Inc. |