ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

vgcreate

VGCREATE(8)                                                        VGCREATE(8)



NAME
       vgcreate - create a volume group

SYNOPSIS
       vgcreate [-A|--autobackup {y|n}] [-d|--debug] [-h|--help] [-l|--maxlog-
       icalvolumes MaxLogicalVolumes] [-p|--maxphysicalvolumes MaxPhysicalVol-
       umes] [-s|--physicalextentsize PhysicalExtentSize[kKmMgGtT]] [-v|--ver-
       bose]  [--version]  VolumeGroupName  PhysicalVolumePath   [PhysicalVol-
       umePath...]

DESCRIPTION
       vgcreate  creates  a  new volume group called VolumeGroupName using the
       block special device PhysicalVolumePath previously configured  for  LVM
       with pvcreate(8).

   OPTIONS
       -A, --autobackup {y|n}
              Controls  automatic  backup of VG metadata after the change (see
              vgcfgbackup(8)).  Default is yes.

       -d, --debug
              Enables additional debugging output (if compiled with DEBUG).

       -h, --help
              Print a usage message on standard output and exit  successfully.

       -l, --maxlogicalvolumes MaxLogicalVolumes
              Sets  the  maximum  possible logical volume count.  More logical
              volumes can't be created in this volume group.  Absolute maximum
              is 256.

       -p, --maxphysicalvolumes MaxPhysicalVolumes
              Sets  the maximum possible physical volume count.  More physical
              volumes can't be included in this volume group.  Absolute  maxi-
              mum is 256.

       -s, --physicalextentsize PhysicalExtentSize[kKmMgGtT]
              Sets the physical extent size on physical volumes of this volume
              group.  A size suffix (k for kilobytes up to t for terabytes) is
              optional,  megabytes  is  the  default  if no suffix is present.
              Values can be from 8 KB to 16 GB in powers of 2. The default  of
              4  MB  causes maximum LV sizes of ~256GB because as many as ~64k
              extents are supported per LV. In case larger  maximum  LV  sizes
              are  needed  (later),  you  need  to set the PE size to a larger
              value as well. Later changes of the PE size in  an  existing  VG
              are not supported.

       -v, --verbose
              Display verbose runtime information about vgcreate's activities.

       --version
              Display tool and IOP version and exit successfully.

EXAMPLES
       To  create  a  volume  group  named  test_vg  using  physical   volumes
       /dev/hdk1,  /dev/hdl1,  and /dev/hdm1 with default physical extent size
       of 4MB:

            vgcreate test_vg /dev/sd[k-m]1

       NOTE: If you are using devfs it is essential to use the full devfs name
       of  the  device  rather  than the symlinked name in /dev. so: the above
       could be

            vgcreate test_vg /dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target[1-3]/lun0/part1


       To limit kernel memory usage,  there  is  a  limit  of  65536  physical
       extents  (PE) per logical volume, so the PE size determines the maximum
       logical volume size.  The default PE size of 4MB limits a single  logi-
       cal  volume to 256GB (see the -s option to raise that limit).  There is
       also (as of Linux 2.4) a kernel limitation of 2TB per block device.

DIAGNOSTICS
       vgcreate returns an exit code of 0 for success and > 0 for error;

       1  no volume group and physical volume names on command line
       2  no physical volume names on command line
       3  invalid volume group name
       4  error checking existence of volume group
       5  maximum number of volume groups exceeded
       6  error reading physical volume(s)
       7  invalid physical volume name
       8  error getting physical volume size
       9  no new physical volume
       10 physical volume occurs multiple times on command line
       11 memory reallocation error
       12 no valid physical volumes on command line
       13 some invalid physical volumes on command line
       14 physical volume is too small
       15 error setting up VGDA
       16 error writing VGDA to physical volumes
       17 error creating VGDA in kernel
       18 error inserting volume group into lvmtab
       19 error doing backup of VGDA
       20 error writing VGDA to lvmtab
       21 volume group directory already exists in /dev

       95 driver/module not in kernel
       96 invalid I/O protocol version
       97 error locking logical volume manager
       98 invalid lvmtab (run vgscan(8))
       99 invalid command line

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       LVM_AUTOBACKUP
              If this variable is set to "no" then the automatic backup of  VG
              metadata is turned off.

       LVM_VG_MAX_BACKUPS
              This  variable  determines the backup history depth of kept VGDA
              copy files in /etc/lvmconf.  It can be set to a positive  number
              between  0 and 999.  The higher this number is, the more changes
              you can restore using vgcfgrestore(8).


SEE ALSO
       lvm(8), pvdisplay(8),  pvcreate(8),  vgdisplay(8),  vgextend(8),  vgre-
       duce(8), lvcreate(8), lvdisplay(8), lvextend(8), lvreduce(8)

AUTHOR
       Heinz Mauelshagen <Linux-LVM@Sistina.com>



Heinz Mauelshagen                  LVM TOOLS                       VGCREATE(8)