LVCREATE(8)LVCREATE(8)NAMElvcreate - Create a logical volume
SYNOPSISlvcreate 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
--cachemetadataformat auto|1|2
--cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough
--cachepolicy String
--cachepool LV
--cachesettings String
-c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT]
--commandprofile String
--config String
-C|--contiguous y|n
-d|--debug
--discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore
--driverloaded y|n
--errorwhenfull y|n
-l|--extents Number[PERCENT]
-h|--help
-K|--ignoreactivationskip
--ignoremonitoring
--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
--nosync
--noudevsync
-p|--permission rw|r
-M|--persistent y|n
--poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT]
--poolmetadataspare y|n
--profile String
-q|--quiet
-r|--readahead auto|none|Number
-R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT]
--reportformat basic|json
-k|--setactivationskip 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|mir‐
ror|raid|thin|cache|thin-pool|cache-pool
-v|--verbose
--version
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-W|--wipesignatures y|n
-y|--yes
-Z|--zero y|n
DESCRIPTIONlvcreate 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 combina‐
tion of a standard LV with a cache pool, used to cache active portions
of the LV to improve performance.
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 speci‐
fied, a new LV name is generated with the "lvol" prefix and a unique
numeric suffix.
USAGE
Create a linear LV.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ --type linear ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a striped LV (infers --type striped).
lvcreate -i|--stripes Number -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a raid1 or mirror LV (infers --type raid1|mirror).
lvcreate -m|--mirrors Number -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -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).
lvcreate--type raid -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -m|--mirrors Number ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -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 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 ]
[ PV ... ]
-
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] ]
[ --type snapshot ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin pool.
lvcreate--type thin-pool -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --thinpool LV_new ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a cache pool.
lvcreate--type cache-pool -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV in a thin pool (infers --type thin).
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] --thinpool LV_thinpool VG
[ -T|--thin ]
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV
(infers --type thin).
lvcreate -s|--snapshot LV_thin
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV.
lvcreate--type thin --thinpool LV_thinpool LV
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ 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
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a cache LV, first creating a new origin LV,
then combining it with the existing cache pool named
by the --cachepool arg.
lvcreate--type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachepool LV_cachepool VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ 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 ]
Common options for lvm:
[ -d|--debug ]
[ -h|--help ]
[ -q|--quiet ]
[ -t|--test ]
[ -v|--verbose ]
[ -y|--yes ]
[ --commandprofile String ]
[ --config String ]
[ --driverloaded y|n ]
[ --longhelp ]
[ --profile String ]
[ --version ]
OPTIONS
-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 snap‐
shots 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 activation/auto_activation_volume_list. ay implies
--zero n and --wipesignatures n. See lvmlockd(8) for more
information about activation options for shared VGs. See
clvmd(8) for more information about activation options for clus‐
tered 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 allo‐
cate Physical Extents (PEs) from the VG. Each VG and LV has an
allocation policy which can be changed with vgchange/lvchange,
or overriden 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 infor‐
mation 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.
--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 com‐
plete. writeback considers a write complete as soon as it is
stored in the cache pool. writethough considers a write com‐
plete 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 associ‐
ated 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 informa‐
tion.
--cachepolicy String
Specifies the cache policy for a cache LV. See lvmcache(7) for
more information.
--cachepool LV
The name of a cache pool LV.
--cachesettings String
Specifies tunable values for a cache LV in "Key = Value" form.
Repeat this option to specify multiple values. (The default
values should usually be adequate.) The special string value
default switches settings back to their default kernel values
and removes them from the list of settings stored in LVM meta‐
data. See lvmcache(7) for more information.
-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 meta‐
data size within 128MiB, if the pool metadata size is not speci‐
fied. 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.
--config String
Config settings for the command. These override lvm.conf set‐
tings. The String arg uses the same format as lvm.conf, or may
use section/field syntax. See lvm.conf(5) for more information
about config.
-C|--contiguous y|n
Sets or resets the contiguous allocation policy for LVs.
Default is no contiguous allocation based on a next free princi‐
ple. 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).
--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.
--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. Set‐
ting 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. Set‐
ting 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 sepa‐
rate device from the data being mirrored. core is not persis‐
tent; 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 origi‐
nal 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 global/mirror_segtype_default and global/raid10_seg‐
type_default to configure the default types. See the --nosync
option for avoiding initial image synchronization. See lvm‐
raid(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 auto‐
mated 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.
--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 use‐
ful for skipping a potentially long and resource intensive ini‐
tial 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 --ver‐
bose. Repeat once to also suppress any prompts with answer
'no'.
-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 automati‐
cally. none is equivalent to zero.
-R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT]
Size of each raid or mirror synchronization region. lvm.conf
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. 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 com‐
mand. 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.
-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 ori‐
gin 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 (shrink‐
ing 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 automati‐
cally 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 alloca‐
tion/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|mir‐
ror|raid|thin|cache|thin-pool|cache-pool
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 snap‐
shots (snapshot) see usage definitions. 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). Use inferred types with care
because it can lead to unexpected results.
-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 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 cre‐
ated using the zero target, and the LV has the suffix _vorigin.
Snapshots are less efficient than thin provisioning when creat‐
ing 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 allocation/wipe_signatures_when_zeroing_new_lvs. If
blkid wiping is used (lvm.conf 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 signa‐
tures 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. 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 posi‐
tional arg generally includes the VG name and LV name, e.g.
VG/LV. LV followed by _<type> indicates that an LV of the given
type is required. (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 con‐
tent.
Size[UNIT]
Size is an input number that accepts an optional unit. Input
units are always treated as base two values, regardless of capi‐
talization, e.g. 'k' and 'K' both refer to 1024. The default
input unit is specified by letter, followed by |UNIT. UNIT rep‐
resents other possible input units: bBsSkKmMgGtTpPeE. b|B is
bytes, s|S is sectors of 512 bytes, k|K is kilobytes, m|M is
megabytes, g|G is gigabytes, t|T is terabytes, p|P is petabytes,
e|E is exabytes. (This should not be confused with the output
control --units, where capital letters mean multiple of 1000.)
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See lvm(8) for information about environment variables used by lvm.
For example, LVM_VG_NAME can generally be substituted for a required VG
parameter.
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
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create an LV that returns zeros when read.
lvcreate--type zero -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a linear LV.
lvcreate--type linear -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a striped LV (also see lvcreate --stripes).
lvcreate--type striped -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a mirror LV (also see --type raid1).
lvcreate--type mirror -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -m|--mirrors Number ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --mirrorlog core|disk ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a COW snapshot LV of an origin LV
(also see --snapshot).
lvcreate--type snapshot -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] 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
(also see --snapshot).
lvcreate--type snapshot -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a sparse COW snapshot LV of a virtual origin LV.
lvcreate -s|--snapshot -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type snapshot ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin pool (infers --type thin-pool).
lvcreate -T|--thin -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type thin-pool ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin pool named by the --thinpool arg
(infers --type thin-pool).
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] --thinpool LV_new VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type thin-pool ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
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
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV in a thin pool.
lvcreate--type thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV_thinpool VG
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ 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] LV_thinpool
[ -T|--thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV in the thin pool named in the first arg
(variant, infers --type thin, also see --thinpool for
naming pool.)
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] LV_thinpool
[ -T|--thin ]
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
lvcreate--type thin LV_thin
[ -T|--thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV
(infers --type thin).
lvcreate -T|--thin LV_thin
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV
(infers --type thin).
lvcreate -s|--snapshot --thinpool LV_thinpool LV
[ --type thin ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
-
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
where the new thin pool is named by the --thinpool arg
(variant, infers --type thin).
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV_new
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
where the new thin pool is named by the --thinpool arg
(variant, infers --type thin).
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV_new VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
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
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
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 (variant, infers --type thin).
lvcreate -T|--thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG|LV_new
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it
(infers --type thin).
Create a sparse snapshot of a virtual origin LV
(infers --type snapshot).
Chooses --type thin or --type snapshot according to
config setting sparse_segtype_default.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type snapshot ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a cache LV, first creating a new origin LV,
then combining it with the existing cache pool named
by the --cachepool arg (variant, infers --type cache).
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] --cachepool LV_cachepool VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --type cache ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
Create a cache LV, first creating a new origin LV,
then combining it with the existing cache pool named
in the first arg (variant, also use --cachepool).
lvcreate--type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] LV_cachepool
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
-
When LV is a cache pool, create a cache LV,
first creating a new origin LV, then combining it with
the existing cache pool named in the first arg
(variant, infers --type cache, also use --cachepool).
When LV is not a cache pool, convert the specified LV
to type cache after creating a new cache pool LV to use
(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 ]
[ 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.
lvcreate-i 3 -I 8 -L 100m vg00
Create a raid1 LV with two images, and a useable size of 500 MiB. This
operation requires two devices, one for each mirror image. RAID meta‐
data (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 useable 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 useable 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 1TiB of virtual space, and actual space just
under 100MiB.
lvcreate--snapshot --virtualsize 1t --size 100m --name mylv vg00
Create a linear LV with a usable size of 64MiB 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 5GiB, 3 stripes, a stripe size
of 64KiB, 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
--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 differ‐
ently: -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 1TiB thin LV, first creating a new thin pool for it, where the
thin pool has 100MiB of space, uses 2 stripes, has a 64KiB stripe size,
and 256KiB chunk size.
lvcreate--type thin --name mylv --thinpool mypool
-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).
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
-L 100G -n mylv vg00 /dev/slow1
SEE ALSOlvm(8)lvm.conf(5)lvmconfig(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) vgcon‐
vert(8)vgdisplay(8)vgexport(8)vgextend(8)vgimport(8) vgimport‐
clone(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) lvre‐
duce(8)lvremove(8)lvrename(8)lvresize(8)lvs(8)lvscan(8)lvm-fullreport(8)lvm-lvpoll(8)lvm2-activation-generator(8) blkdeacti‐
vate(8)lvmdump(8)dmeventd(8)lvmetad(8)lvmpolld(8)lvmlockd(8)lvmlockctl(8)clvmd(8)cmirrord(8)lvmdbusd(8)lvmsystemid(7)lvmreport(7)lvmraid(7)lvmthin(7)lvmcache(7)Red Hat, Inc. LVM TOOLS 2.02.176(2) (2017-11-03) LVCREATE(8)
