LVM Cheatsheet v1.

4
The following is a command summary for the basic operation of Linux LVM including Physical
Disks (PVs), Volume Groups (VGs) and Logical Volumes (LVs). It is assumed that the reader is
familiar with the concepts of such a system.

Command Cheatsheet
Physical Volume Tools

pvdisplay [</dev/XXX>] - Display all PV details, or optionally by device

pvscan - Scan all disks for physical volumes

pvs - Terse display of PV information

pvcreate /dev/hdb1 - Initialise a disk or partition for use by LVM

pvmove /dev/sdb1 - Move data off PV (Eg. prior to removal).

pvmove /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdf1 - Move data off PV onto a new one.

pvremove /dev/sdb1 - Remove configuration for unused PV

pvck /dev/sdb1 - Check physical volume metadata

pvresize /dev/sdb1 - Resize PV to match changes in underlying

- storage (some caveats, read docs first).

Volume Group Tools

vgdisplay [<vgname>] - Display all VG details, or optionally by VG

vgscan - Scan all disks for VGs and rebuild caches

vgs - Display terse information on volume groups.

vgchange <options> <vgname> - Change attributes of a volume group

- Eg. vgchange -a y/n (activate/deactivate)

vgextend <vgname> /dev/hdc1 - Add PVs to a volume group

vgreduce <vgname> /dev/hda1 - Remove PVs from a volume group

vgcreate <newvg> /dev/sdc /dev/sdd - Create new volume group from SDC & SDD
vgexport <vgname> - Prepare VG for move to another machine.

vgimport <vgname> - Import previously exported VG

vgmerge <dest_vgname> <source_vgname> - Merge two existing volume groups

- (Note <source_vgname> must be inactive)

vgsplit {Too many options to list} - Split a VG in two, by moving one or more PV
- to a new VG (Study docs before proceeding!)

vgremove <vgname> - Remove unused VGs from the system

vgck <vgname> - Check volume group metadata

vgconvert <vgname> - Convert metadata type (Eg. LVM1 to LVM2)

- Note: You should never need to do this!

Logical Volume Tools

lvdisplay [<lvname>] - Display all LV details, or optionally by LV

lvscan - Scan (all disks) for Logical Volumes

lvs - Display terse information on logical volumes

lvchange - Change attributes of a logical volume

- Eg. lvchange -a y/n (activate/deactivate)

lvcreate -l<extents> -n<newlv> <vgname> - Create LV ‘newlv’ in VG ‘vgname’

lvcreate -L<size> -n<newlv> <vgname> - Create LV ‘newlv’ in VG ‘vgname’
- Note: <size> in K, M or G format (-L1.8G)

lvextend −L12G myvol - Extend LV to 12Gig (-l to specify in extents)

lvextend −L+1G myvol - Extend LV by 1G (-l to specify in extents)

lvreduce −L12G myvol - Reduce LV to 12Gig (-l to specify in extents)

lvreduce −L+1G myvol - Reduce LV by 1G (-l to specify in extents)
- Use Extreme Care, Eg. --resizefs option

lvremove <lvname> - Remove logical volume

lvrename <vgname> <lvname> <lvname> - Rename logical volume

lvresize <lvname> - Resize LV (Note: many options, study docs)

lvconvert [options] <lvname> - Change logical volume type

- Eg. From Linear to Mirrored volume
- Note: Study documentation before proceeding!

LVM Cheatsheet v1.4 J.Lewis 02/2017 - CCBYSA

Logical Volume Examples

lvcreate −L1500M −ntestlv testvg - Create a 1500MB linear LV named 'testlv'

lvcreate −i2 −I4 −l100 −ntestlv testvg - Create a LV 100 extents in size with
- 2 stripes and stripe size 4 KB

lvcreate −L1500M −ntestlv testvg /dev/sdg - An LV can be allocated from a specific

- PV or PVs in the specified VG if needed

LV’s can be reverred to by their /dev/ path name, as well as by name. (Eg. /dev/mapper/<lvname>)

To create an LV that uses the entire VG, use simething like vgdisplay testvg | grep "Total PE",
then take the “Total PE” value and proceed to populate a command like the following:-
lvcreate −l <Total PE> testvg −n mylv.

Remember to first unmount before you can remove an LV.

For Snapshot - Size is the max amount of change which we reserve space for.
lvcreate −L592M −s −n dbbackup databases
Always “lvremove” after use to recover space.

LVM Cheatsheet v1.4 J.Lewis 02/2017 - CCBYSA

Worked Example

Create Volume

First Initialise the volumes to use.

# pvcreate /dev/sdb1
# pvcreate /dev/sdc1

Create volume group with these physical volumes in.

# vgcreate Test_Vol /dev/sdb1/dev/sdc1

Activate Volume Group in Kernel

# vgchange -a y Test_Vol

Create Logical Volume inside the new Volume Group

# lvcreate -L500 -nTest_Disk Test_Vol

Write filesystem to Logical Volume

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/Test_Vol-Test_Disk

Mount filesystem so that it becomes accessible (or place in fstab)

# mount /dev/mapper/Test_Vol-Test_Disk /mnt

Grow Logical Volume by 1 gigabyte

# lvextend −L+1G /dev/mapper/Test_Vol-Test_Disk

Extend Filesystem into new, larger LV

# resize2fs /dev/mapper/Test_Vol-Test_Disk

Show that the new space is available

# df -h

Ensire no data is stoerd on /dev/sdb1

# pvmove /dev/sdb1

Remove /dev/sdb1 from volume

# vgreduce Test_Vol /dev/sdb1

After testing is complete, we may wish to remove volume

Deactivate and remove volume group

# vgchange −a n Test_Vol
# vgremove Test_Vol

LVM Cheatsheet v1.4 J.Lewis 02/2017 - CCBYSA

Additional Thoughts

LVM and TRIM on SSD

Using TRIM via LVM on striped or mirrored LV’s does work, but at the time of writing, it does not
work if LVM is nested on top of MDRAID, so please bear this in mind when reading the example
below..
# pvcreate --metadatasize 250k /dev/sdg2

# pvcreate --metadatasize 250k /dev/sdh2

# vgcreate vgssd /dev/sdg2 /dev/sdh2

# vgdisplay vgssd | grep Total

Total PE 42806

(you'll need to adjust --extents according to the size of your device, this one is for 90GB)
# lvcreate -i2 -I128 -n lvssd vgssd --extents 42806

# mkfs.ext4 -v -m 0.1 -E stride=32,stripe-width=64 /dev/vgssd/lvssd

Create EXT4 filesystem:

# mkfs.ext4 -v -m 0.1 -E stride=32,stripe-width=64 /dev/vgssd/lvssd

Turn off periodic fsck:

# tune2fs -c 0 /dev/vgssd/lvssd

Set elevator to 'deadline', and increase queue size. I put this into my /etc/rc.local:-
echo deadline >/sys/block/sdg/queue/scheduler
echo deadline >/sys/block/sdh/queue/scheduler
find /sys/devices -name nr_requests -exec sh -c 'echo 4096 > {}' \;

Add noatime and discard (required for TRIM support) mount options to /etc/fstab

LVM Cheatsheet v1.4 J.Lewis 02/2017 - CCBYSA