VGSPLIT(8) System Manager's Manual VGSPLIT(8)
NAME
vgsplit — Move physical volumes into a new or existing volume group
SYNOPSIS
vgsplit option_args position_args
[ option_args ]
DESCRIPTION
vgsplit moves one or more PVs from a source VG (the first VG arg) to a
destination VG (the second VG arg). The PV(s) to move are named after
the source and destination VGs, or an LV is named, in which case the PVs
underlying the LV are moved.
If the destination VG does not exist, a new VG is created (command op-
tions can be used to specify properties of the new VG, also see vgcre-
ate(8)).
LVs cannot be split between VGs; each LV must be entirely on the PVs in
the source or destination VG.
vgsplit can only move complete PVs. (See pvmove(8) for moving part of a
PV.)
USAGE
Split a VG by specified PVs.
vgsplit VG VG PV ...
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
Split a VG by PVs in a specified LV.
vgsplit -n|--name LV VG VG
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
Common options for command:
[ -A|--autobackup y|n ]
[ -l|--maxlogicalvolumes Number ]
[ -p|--maxphysicalvolumes Number ]
[ -M|--metadatatype lvm2 ]
[ --alloc contiguous|cling|cling_by_tags|normal|anywhere|inherit
]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ --[vg]metadatacopies all|unmanaged|Number ]
Common options for lvm:
[ -d|--debug ]
[ -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
--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 alloca-
tion policy which can be changed with vgchange/lvchange, or over-
ridden on the command line. normal applies common sense rules
such as not placing parallel stripes on the same PV. inherit ap-
plies 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.
--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(5) set-
tings. The String arg uses the same format as lvm.conf(5), or
may use section/field syntax. See lvm.conf(5) for more informa-
tion about config.
-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).
--devices PV
Restricts the devices that are visible and accessible to the com-
mand. 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) com-
mand. This overrides the lvm.conf(5) devices/devicesfile and de-
vices/use_devicesfile settings.
--driverloaded y|n
If set to no, the command will not attempt to use device-mapper.
For testing and debugging.
-h|--help
Display help text.
--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 lvm-
lockd(8) for more information.
--longhelp
Display long help text.
-l|--maxlogicalvolumes Number
Sets the maximum number of LVs allowed in a VG.
-p|--maxphysicalvolumes Number
Sets the maximum number of PVs that can belong to the VG. The
value 0 removes any limitation. For large numbers of PVs, also
see options --pvmetadatacopies, and --vgmetadatacopies for im-
proving performance.
-M|--metadatatype lvm2
Specifies the type of on-disk metadata to use. lvm2 (or just 2)
is the current, standard format. lvm1 (or just 1) is no longer
used.
-n|--name String
Move only PVs used by the named LV.
--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 pro-
duce incorrect results.
--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'.
-t|--test
Run in test mode. Commands will not update metadata. This is im-
plemented by disabling all metadata writing but nevertheless re-
turning 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.
-v|--verbose ...
Set verbose level. Repeat from 1 to 4 times to increase the de-
tail of messages sent to stdout and stderr.
--version
Display version information.
--[vg]metadatacopies all|unmanaged|Number
Number of copies of the VG metadata that are kept. VG metadata
is kept in VG metadata areas on PVs in the VG, i.e. reserved
space at the start and/or end of the PVs. Keeping a copy of the
VG metadata on every PV can reduce performance in VGs containing
a large number of PVs. When this number is set to a non-zero
value, LVM will automatically choose PVs on which to store meta-
data, using the metadataignore flags on PVs to achieve the speci-
fied number. The number can also be replaced with special string
values: unmanaged causes LVM to not automatically manage the PV
metadataignore flags. all causes LVM to first clear the meta-
dataignore flags on all PVs, and then to become unmanaged.
-y|--yes
Do not prompt for confirmation interactively but always assume
the answer yes. Use with extreme caution. (For automatic no, see
-qq.)
VARIABLES
VG Volume Group name. See lvm(8) for valid names.
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 ex-
tents (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 in-
put unit is specified by letter, followed by |UNIT. UNIT repre-
sents 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 pa-
rameter.
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)
Red Hat, Inc. LVM TOOLS 2.03.31(2) (2025-02-27) VGSPLIT(8)
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