LVCREATE(8) System Manager's Manual LVCREATE(8)
NAME
lvcreate — Create a logical volume
SYNOPSIS
lvcreate 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
--cachedevice PV
--cachemetadataformat auto|1|2
--cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough
--cachepolicy String
--cachepool LV
--cachesettings String
--cachesize Size[m|UNIT]
--cachevol LV
-c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT]
--commandprofile String
--compression y|n
--config String
-C|--contiguous y|n
-d|--debug
--deduplication y|n
--devices PV
--devicesfile String
--discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore
--driverloaded y|n
--errorwhenfull y|n
-l|--extents Number[PERCENT]
-h|--help
-K|--ignoreactivationskip
--ignoremonitoring
--integritysettings String
--journal String
--lockopt String
--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
--nohints
--nolocking
--nosync
--noudevsync
-p|--permission rw|r
-M|--persistent y|n
--pooldatavdo y|n
--poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT]
--poolmetadataspare y|n
--profile String
-q|--quiet
--raidintegrity y|n
--raidintegrityblocksize Number
--raidintegritymode String
-r|--readahead auto|none|Number
-R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT]
--reportformat basic|json|json_std
-k|--setactivationskip y|n
--setautoactivation 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|raid|mirror|thin|thin-pool|vdo|
vdo-pool|cache|cache-pool|writecache
--vdo
--vdopool LV
--vdosettings String
-v|--verbose
--version
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-W|--wipesignatures y|n
-y|--yes
-Z|--zero y|n
DESCRIPTION
lvcreate creates a new LV in a VG. For standard LVs, this requires allo-
cating logical extents from the VG's free physical extents. If there is
not enough free space, the VG can be extended with other PVs (vgex-
tend(8)), or existing LVs can be reduced or removed (lvremove(8), lvre-
duce(8)).
To control which PVs a new LV will use, specify one or more PVs as posi-
tion args at the end of the command line. lvcreate will allocate physi-
cal extents only from the specified PVs.
lvcreate can also create snapshots of existing LVs, e.g. for backup pur-
poses. The data in a new snapshot LV represents the content of the orig-
inal 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 combination
of a standard LV with a cache pool, used to cache active portions of the
LV to improve performance.
VDO LVs are also provisioned volumes from a VDO pool, and are created
with a virtual size rather than a physical size (see lvmvdo(7)).
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 specified, a new
LV name is generated with the "lvol" prefix and a unique numeric suffix.
In the usage section below, when creating a pool and the name is omitted
the new LV pool name is generated with the "vpool" for vdo-pools for
prefix and a unique numeric suffix.
Pool name can be specified together with VG name i.e.: vg00/mythinpool.
USAGE
Create a linear LV.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ --type linear ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a striped LV.
lvcreate -i|--stripes Number -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ --type striped ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a raid1 or mirror LV.
lvcreate -m|--mirrors Number -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ --type raid1|mirror ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --mirrorlog core|disk ]
[ --[raid]minrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]maxrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --raidintegrity y|n ]
[ --raidintegritymode String ]
[ --raidintegrityblocksize Number ]
[ --integritysettings String ]
[ 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] ]
[ --raidintegrity y|n ]
[ --raidintegritymode String ]
[ --raidintegrityblocksize Number ]
[ --integritysettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a raid10 LV.
lvcreate -m|--mirrors Number -i|--stripes Number
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ --type raid10 ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]minrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --[raid]maxrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --raidintegrity y|n ]
[ --raidintegritymode String ]
[ --raidintegrityblocksize Number ]
[ --integritysettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a COW snapshot LV of an origin LV.
lvcreate -s|--snapshot -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] LV
[ --type snapshot ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin pool.
lvcreate --type thin-pool -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --thinpool LV_new ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --pooldatavdo y|n ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a cache pool.
lvcreate --type cache-pool -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize 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 ... ]
—
Create a thin LV in a thin pool.
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] --thinpool LV VG
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
lvcreate -s|--snapshot LV1
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thin
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV.
lvcreate --type thin --thinpool LV LV
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a LV that returns VDO when used.
lvcreate --type vdo -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --vdo ]
[ --vdopool LV_new ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachepool
which converts the new LV to type cache.
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachepool LV VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize 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 ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachevol
which converts the new LV to type cache.
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachevol LV VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach a cachevol created from
the specified cache device, which converts the
new LV to type cache.
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachedevice PV VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachevol
which converts the new LV to type writecache.
lvcreate --type writecache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachevol LV VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach a cachevol created from
the specified cache device, which converts the
new LV to type writecache.
lvcreate --type writecache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--cachedevice PV VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ 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|json_std ]
[ --setautoactivation y|n ]
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
-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(5) activation/auto_activation_volume_list. ay implies
--zero n and --wipesignatures n. See lvmlockd(8) for more infor-
mation about activation options for shared 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 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.
-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 in-
formation about LVM caching.
--cachedevice PV
The name of a device to use for a cache.
--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 complete
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 associated
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 information.
--cachepolicy String
Specifies the cache policy for a cache LV. See lvmcache(7) for
more information.
--cachepool LV
The name of a cache pool.
--cachesettings String
Specifies tunable kernel options for dm-cache or dm-writecache
LVs. Use the form 'option=value' or 'option1=value option2=val-
ue', or repeat --cachesettings for each option being set. These
settings override the default kernel behaviors which are usually
adequate. To remove cachesettings and revert to the default ker-
nel behaviors, use --cachesettings 'default' for dm-cache or an
empty string --cachesettings '' for dm-writecache. See lvm-
cache(7) for more information.
--cachesize Size[m|UNIT]
The size of cache to use.
--cachevol LV
The name of a cache volume.
-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 4 KiB and
512 KiB and the default value is 4. For a cache pool the value
must be between 32 KiB and 1 GiB and the default value is 64.
For a thin pool the value must be between 64 KiB and 1 GiB and
the default value starts with 64 and scales up to fit the pool
metadata size within 128 MiB, if the pool metadata size is not
specified. The value must be a multiple of 64 KiB. 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.
--compression y|n
Controls whether compression is enabled or disable for VDO vol-
ume. See lvmvdo(7) for more information about VDO usage.
--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.
-C|--contiguous y|n
Sets or resets the contiguous allocation policy for LVs. Default
is no contiguous allocation based on a next free principle. 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).
--deduplication y|n
Controls whether deduplication is enabled or disable for VDO vol-
ume. See lvmvdo(7) for more information about VDO usage.
--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.
--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 al-
low 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 de-
notes 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 com-
mand 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.
--integritysettings String
Specifies tunable kernel options for dm-integrity. See lvm-
raid(7) for more information.
--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.
-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. mir-
rored 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 original
LV image, e.g. --mirrors 1 means there are two images of the da-
ta, 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(5) 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 automated
maintenance for the LV in response 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.
--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.
--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 after-
wards will cause parity blocks to be stored. This is useful for
skipping a potentially long and resource intensive initial 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 synchronization. The process will not wait for no-
tification from udev. It will continue irrespective of any possi-
ble 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.
--pooldatavdo y|n
Use VDO type volume for pool data volume.
--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'.
--raidintegrity y|n
Enable or disable data integrity checksums for raid images.
--raidintegrityblocksize Number
The block size to use for dm-integrity on raid images. The in-
tegrity block size should usually match the device logical block
size, or the file system block size. It may be less than the
file system block size, but not less than the device logical
block size. Possible values: 512, 1024, 2048, 4096.
--raidintegritymode String
Use a journal (default) or bitmap for keeping integrity checksums
consistent in case of a crash. The bitmap areas are recalculated
after a crash, so corruption in those areas would not be detect-
ed. A journal does not have this problem. The journal mode dou-
bles writes to storage, but can improve performance for scattered
writes packed into a single journal write. bitmap mode can in
theory achieve full write throughput of the device, but would not
benefit from the potential scattered write optimization.
-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 automatically. none
is equivalent to zero.
-R|--regionsize Size[m|UNIT]
Size of each raid or mirror synchronization region. lvm.conf(5)
activation/raid_region_size can be used to configure a default.
--reportformat basic|json|json_std
Overrides current output format for reports which is defined
globally by the report/output_format setting in lvm.conf(5). ba-
sic 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. json_std produces report output in JSON format
which is more compliant with JSON standard. 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 command.
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.
--setautoactivation y|n
Set the autoactivation property on a VG or LV. Display the prop-
erty with vgs or lvs "-o autoactivation". When the autoactiva-
tion property is disabled, the VG or LV will not be activated by
a command doing autoactivation (vgchange, lvchange, or pvscan us-
ing -aay.) If autoactivation is disabled on a VG, no LVs will be
autoactivated in that VG, and the LV autoactivation property has
no effect. If autoactivation is enabled on a VG, autoactivation
can be disabled for individual LVs.
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
Specifies the size of the new LV. The --size and --extents op-
tions 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. Unprovi-
sioned 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 allo-
cated 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 automatically ex-
tend the size to avoid running out of space.
-i|--stripes Number
Specifies the number of stripes in a striped LV. This is the num-
ber of PVs (devices) that a striped LV is spread across. Data
that appears sequential in the LV is spread across multiple de-
vices 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(5) allocation/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 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.
-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|raid|mirror|thin|thin-pool|vdo|vdo-pool|
cache|cache-pool|writecache
The LV type, also known as "segment type" or "segtype". See us-
age descriptions for the specific ways to use these types. For
more information about redundancy and performance (raid<N>, mir-
ror, 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 snapshots
(snapshot) see usage definitions. For VDO (vdo) see lvmvdo(7).
Several commands omit an explicit type option because the type is
inferred from other options or shortcuts (e.g. --stripes, --mir-
rors, --snapshot, --virtualsize, --thin, --cache, --vdo). Use
inferred types with care because it can lead to unexpected re-
sults.
--vdo
Specifies the command is handling VDO LV. See --type vdo. See
lvmvdo(7) for more information about VDO usage.
--vdopool LV
The name of a VDO pool LV. See lvmvdo(7) for more information
about VDO usage.
--vdosettings String
Specifies tunable VDO options for VDO LVs. Use the form 'op-
tion=value' or 'option1=value option2=value', or repeat --vdoset-
tings for each option being set. These settings override the de-
fault VDO behaviors. To remove vdosettings and revert to the de-
fault VDO behaviors, use --vdosettings 'default'. See lvmvdo(7)
for more information.
-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.
-V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
The virtual size of a new thin LV. See lvmthin(7) for more in-
formation about LVM thin provisioning. Using virtual size (-V)
and actual size (-L) together creates a sparse LV. lvm.conf(5)
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 created using the
zero target, and the LV has the suffix _vorigin. Snapshots are
less efficient than thin provisioning when creating 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(5)
allocation/wipe_signatures_when_zeroing_new_lvs. If blkid wiping
is used (lvm.conf(5) allocation/use_blkid_wiping) and LVM is com-
piled with blkid wiping support, then the blkid(8) library is
used to detect the signatures (use blkid -k to list the signa-
tures that are recognized). Otherwise, native LVM code is used
to detect signatures (only MD RAID, swap and LUKS signatures 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 4 KiB of data in the new LV. De-
fault is y. Snapshot COW volumes are always zeroed. For thin
pools, this controls zeroing of provisioned blocks. 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. LV1 indicates the LV must have a specific type, where the
accepted LV types are listed. (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 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.
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] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -m|--mirrors Number ]
[ -R|--regionsize Size[m|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 thin pool.
lvcreate -T|--thin -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ --type thin-pool ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --pooldatavdo y|n ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin pool named in --thinpool.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] --thinpool LV_new VG
[ --type thin-pool ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --pooldatavdo y|n ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare 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] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize 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 ... ]
—
Create a thin LV in a thin pool.
lvcreate --type thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV VG
[ -T|--thin ]
[ 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] LV1
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thinpool
—
Create a thin LV in the thin pool named in the first arg
(also see --thinpool for naming pool.)
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] LV1
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ -T|--thin ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thinpool
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
lvcreate --type thin LV1
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thin
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an existing thin LV.
lvcreate -T|--thin LV1
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
LV1 types: thin
—
Create a thin LV that is a snapshot of an external origin LV.
lvcreate -s|--snapshot --thinpool LV LV
[ --type thin ] (implied)
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
—
Create a VDO LV with VDO pool.
lvcreate --vdo -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ --type vdo ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --vdopool LV_new ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a VDO LV with VDO pool.
lvcreate --vdopool LV_new -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ --type vdo ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ 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.
lvcreate --type thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] --thinpool LV_new VG
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --pooldatavdo y|n ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it,
where the new thin pool is named by --thinpool.
lvcreate -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] -L|--size Size[m|UNIT]
--thinpool LV_new VG
[ --type thin ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --pooldatavdo y|n ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare 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] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --pooldatavdo y|n ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare 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 -T|--thin -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT]
-L|--size Size[m|UNIT] VG|LV_new
[ --type thin ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --pooldatavdo y|n ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a thin LV, first creating a thin pool for it.
Create a sparse snapshot of a virtual origin LV
Chooses type thin or snapshot according to
config setting sparse_segtype_default.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] -V|--virtualsize Size[m|UNIT] VG
[ --type thin|snapshot ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -s|--snapshot ]
[ -T|--thin ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --discards passdown|nopassdown|ignore ]
[ --errorwhenfull y|n ]
[ --pooldatavdo y|n ]
[ --compression y|n ]
[ --deduplication y|n ]
[ --vdosettings String ]
[ --poolmetadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
[ --poolmetadataspare y|n ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachepool
which converts the new LV to type cache.
lvcreate -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] --cachepool LV VG
[ --type cache ] (implied) [ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ --cachemode writethrough|writeback|passthrough ]
[ --cachepolicy String ]
[ --cachesettings String ]
[ --cachemetadataformat auto|1|2 ]
[ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
[ PV ... ]
—
Create a new LV, then attach the specified cachepool
which converts the new LV to type cache.
(variant, also use --cachepool).
lvcreate --type cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] LV1
[ -l|--extents Number[PERCENT] ]
[ -i|--stripes Number ]
[ -I|--stripesize Size[k|UNIT] ]
[ -H|--cache ]
[ -c|--chunksize 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 ... ]
LV1 types: cachepool
—
When the LV arg is a cachepool, then create a new LV and
attach the cachepool arg to it.
(variant, use --type cache and --cachepool.)
When the LV arg is not a cachepool, then create a new cachepool
and attach it to the LV arg (alternative, use lvconvert.)
lvcreate -H|--cache -L|--size Size[m|UNIT] LV
[ --type cache ] (implied) [ -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 8 KiB and a size of
100 MiB. The LV name is chosen by lvcreate.
lvcreate -i 3 -I 8 -L 100m vg00
Create a raid1 LV with two images, and a usable size of 500 MiB. This
operation requires two devices, one for each mirror image. RAID metadata
(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 usable 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 usable 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 1 TiB of virtual space, and actual space just
under 100 MiB.
lvcreate --snapshot --virtualsize 1t --size 100m --name mylv vg00
Create a linear LV with a usable size of 64 MiB on specific physical ex-
tents.
lvcreate -L 64m -n mylv vg00 /dev/sda:0-7 /dev/sdb:0-7
Create a RAID5 LV with a usable size of 5 GiB, 3 stripes, a stripe size
of 64 KiB, 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 cur-
rent 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 5 GiB, using 2 stripes, each on a
two-image mirror. (Note that the -i and -m arguments behave differently:
-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 1 TiB thin LV mythin, with 256 GiB thinpool tpool0 in vg00.
lvcreate -T -V 1T --size 256G --name mythin vg00/tpool0
Create a 1 TiB thin LV, first creating a new thin pool for it, where the
thin pool has 100 MiB of space, uses 2 stripes, has a 64 KiB stripe
size, and 256 KiB 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 de-
vice, then combining the new origin LV with an existing cache pool.
lvcreate --type cache --cachepool my_cpool -L 100G -n mylv vg00
/dev/slow1
Create a VDO LV vdo0 with VDOPoolLV size of 10 GiB and name vpool1.
lvcreate --vdo --size 10G --name vdo0 vg00/vpool1
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) LVCREATE(8)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 04:58:05 CET 2025.