VGCREATE(8) System Manager's Manual VGCREATE(8)
NAME
vgcreate — create a volume group
SYNOPSIS
vgcreate [--addtag Tag] [--alloc AllocationPolicy] [-A|--autobackup {y|n}] [-c|--clustered {y|n}] [--command‐
profile ProfileName] [-d|--debug] [-h|--help] [-l|--maxlogicalvolumes MaxLogicalVolumes] [-M|--metadatatype
type] [--metadataprofile ProfileName] [-p|--maxphysicalvolumes MaxPhysicalVolumes] [--[vg]metadatacopies Num‐
berOfCopies|unmanaged|all] [-s|--physicalextentsize PhysicalExtentSize[bBsSkKmMgGtTpPeE]] [--reportformat
{basic|json}] [--shared] [--systemid SystemID] [-t|--test] [-v|--verbose] [--version] [PHYSICAL DEVICE
OPTIONS] VolumeGroupName PhysicalDevicePath [PhysicalDevicePath...]
DESCRIPTION
vgcreate creates a new volume group called VolumeGroupName using the block special device PhysicalDevicePath.
If PhysicalDevicePath was not previously configured for LVM with pvcreate(8), the device will be initialized
with the same default values used with pvcreate(8). If non-default pvcreate values are desired, they may be
given on the commandline with the same options as pvcreate(8). See PHYSICAL DEVICE OPTIONS for available
options. Note that the restore-related options such as --restorefile, --uuid and --physicalvolumesize are not
available. If a restore operation is needed, use pvcreate(8) and vgcfgrestore(8).
OPTIONS
See lvm(8) for common options.
-c, --clustered {y|n}
If clustered locking is enabled, this defaults to y indicating that this Volume Group is shared with
other nodes in the cluster.
If the new Volume Group contains only local disks that are not visible on the other nodes, you must
specify --clustered n. If the cluster infrastructure is unavailable on a particular node at a particu‐
lar time, you may still be able to use such Volume Groups.
-l, --maxlogicalvolumes MaxLogicalVolumes
Sets the maximum number of logical volumes allowed in this volume group. The setting can be changed
with vgchange(8). For volume groups with metadata in lvm1 format, the limit and default value is 255.
If the metadata uses lvm2 format, the default value is 0 which removes this restriction: there is then
no limit.
-p, --maxphysicalvolumes MaxPhysicalVolumes
Sets the maximum number of physical volumes that can belong to this volume group. The setting can be
changed with vgchange. For volume groups with metadata in lvm1 format, the limit and default value is
255. If the metadata uses lvm2 format, the value 0 removes this restriction: there is then no limit.
If you have a large number of physical volumes in a volume group with metadata in lvm2 format, for tool
performance reasons, you should consider some use of --pvmetadatacopies 0 as described in pvcreate(8),
and/or use --vgmetadatacopies.
--[vg]metadatacopies NumberOfCopies|unmanaged|all
Sets the desired number of metadata copies in the volume group. If set to a non-zero value, LVM will
automatically manage the 'metadataignore' flags on the physical volumes (see pvcreate(8) or pvchange
--metadataignore) in order to achieve NumberOfCopies copies of metadata. If set to unmanaged, LVM will
not automatically manage the 'metadataignore' flags. If set to all, LVM will first clear all of the
'metadataignore' flags on all metadata areas in the volume group, then set the value to unmanaged. The
vgmetadatacopies option is useful for volume groups containing large numbers of physical volumes with
metadata as it may be used to minimize metadata read and write overhead. The default value is unman‐
aged.
--metadataprofile ProfileName
restoring data on any logical volumes. However, if no extents need moving for the new value to apply,
it can be altered using vgchange -s.
If the volume group metadata uses lvm1 format, extents can vary in size from 8KiB to 16GiB and there is
a limit of 65534 extents in each logical volume. The default of 4 MiB leads to a maximum logical vol‐
ume size of around 256GiB.
If the volume group metadata uses lvm2 format those restrictions do not apply, but having a large num‐
ber of extents will slow down the tools but have no impact on I/O performance to the logical volume.
The smallest PE is 1KiB
The 2.4 kernel has a limitation of 2TiB per block device.
--shared
Create a shared VG using lvmlockd if LVM is compiled with lockd support.
lvmlockd will select lock type sanlock or dlm depending on which lock manager is running. This allows
multiple hosts to share a VG on shared devices. lvmlockd and a lock manager must be configured and
running. See lvmlockd(8).
--systemid SystemID
Specifies the system ID that will be given to the new VG, overriding the system ID of the host running
the command. A VG is normally created without this option, in which case the new VG is given the sys‐
tem ID of the host creating it. Using this option requires caution because the system ID of the new VG
may not match the system ID of the host running the command, leaving the VG inaccessible to the host.
See lvmsystemid(7).
PHYSICAL DEVICE OPTIONS
The following options are available for initializing physical devices in the volume group. These options are
further described in the pvcreate(8) man page.
-f, --force
-y, --yes
-Z, --zero {y|n}
--labelsector sector
--metadatasize size
--pvmetadatacopies copies
--dataalignment alignment
--dataalignmentoffset alignment_offset
Examples
Creates a volume group named "test_vg" using physical volumes "/dev/sdk1" and "/dev/sdl1" with default physi‐
cal extent size of 4MiB:
vgcreate test_vg /dev/sdk1 /dev/sdl1
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