PVCREATE(8)PVCREATE(8)NAMEpvcreate - initialize a disk or partition for use by LVM
SYNOPSISpvcreate [-d|--debug] [-f[f]|--force [--force]] [-y|--yes] [-h|--help]
[-t|--test] [-v|--verbose] [--labelsector] [-M|--metadatatypetype]
[--metadatacopies#copies] [--metadatasizesize] [--restorefilefile]
[--setphysicalvolumesizesize] [--version] [-Z|--zeroy/n] PhysicalVolume
[PhysicalVolume...]
DESCRIPTIONpvcreate initializes PhysicalVolume for later use by the Logical Volume
Manager (LVM). Each PhysicalVolume can be a disk partition, whole
disk, meta device, or loopback file. For DOS disk partitions, the par‐
tition id should be set to 0x8e using fdisk(8), cfdisk(8), or a equiva‐
lent. For whole disk devices only the partition table must be erased,
which will effectively destroy all data on that disk. This can be done
by zeroing the first sector with:
dd if=/dev/zero of=PhysicalVolume bs=512 count=1
Continue with vgcreate(8) to create a new volume group on PhysicalVol‐
ume, or vgextend(8) to add PhysicalVolume to an existing volume group.
OPTIONS
See lvm(8) for common options.
-f, --force
Force the creation without any confirmation. You can not recre‐
ate (reinitialize) a physical volume belonging to an existing
volume group. In an emergency you can override this behaviour
with -ff.
-u, --uuid uuid
Specify the uuid for the device. Without this option, pvcreate
generates a random uuid. All of your physical volumes must have
unique uuids. You need to use this option before restoring a
backup of LVM metadata onto a replacement device - see vgcfgre‐
store(8).
-y, --yes
Answer yes to all questions.
-Z, --zero y/n
Whether or not the first 4 sectors (2048 bytes) of the device
should be wiped. If this option is not given, the default is to
wipe these sectors unless either or both of the --restorefile or
--uuid options were specified.
NEW METADATA OPTIONS
LVM2 introduces a new format for storing metadata on disk. This new
format is more efficient and resilient than the format the original
version of LVM used and offers the advanced user greater flexibility
and control.
The new format may be selected on the command line with -M2 or by set‐
ting format = "lvm2" in the global section of lvm.conf. Each physical
volume in the same volume group must use the same format, but different
volume groups on a machine may use different formats simultaneously:
the tools can handle both formats. Additional formats can be added as
shared libraries.
Additional tools for manipulating the locations and sizes of metadata
areas will be written in due course. Use the verbose/debug options on
the tools to see where the metadata areas are placed.
--metadatasize size
The approximate amount of space to be set aside for each meta‐
data area. (The size you specify may get rounded.)
--metadatacopies copies
The number of metadata areas to set aside on each PV. Currently
this can be 0, 1 or 2. If set to 2, two copies of the volume
group metadata are held on the PV, one at the front of the PV
and one at the end. If set to 1 (the default), one copy is kept
at the front of the PV (starting in the 5th sector). If set to
0, no copies are kept on this PV - you might wish to use this
with VGs containing large numbers of PVs. But if you do this
and then later use vgsplit you must ensure that each VG is still
going to have a suitable number of copies of the metadata after
the split!
--restorefile file
In conjunction with --uuid, this extracts the location and size
of the data on the PV from the file (produced by vgcfgbackup)
and ensures that the metadata that the program produces is con‐
sistent with the contents of the file i.e. the physical extents
will be in the same place and not get overwritten by new meta‐
data. This provides a mechanism to upgrade the metadata format
or to add/remove metadata areas. Use with care. See also vgcon‐
vert(8).
--labelsector sector
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.
--setphysicalvolumesize size
Overrides the automatically-detected size of the PV. Use with
care.
Example
Initialize partition #4 on the third SCSI disk and the entire fifth
SCSI disk for later use by LVM:
pvcreate /dev/sdc4 /dev/sde
SEE ALSOlvm(8), vgcreate(8), vgextend(8), lvcreate(8), cfdisk(8), fdisk(8),
losetup(8), mdadd(8), vgcfgrestore(8), vgconvert(8)Sistina Software UK LVM TOOLS PVCREATE(8)
