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PVCREATE(8)                 System Manager's Manual                PVCREATE(8)



NAME
       pvcreate - initialize a disk or partition for use by LVM

SYNOPSIS
       pvcreate [-d|--debug] [-f[f]|--force [--force]] [-y|--yes] [-h|--help]
       [-t|--test] [-v|--verbose] [--labelsector] [-M|--metadatatypetype]
       [--metadatacopies#copies] [--metadatasizesize] [--restorefilefile]
       [--setphysicalvolumesizesize] [-u|--uuiduuid] [--version]
       [-Z|--zeroy|n] PhysicalVolume [PhysicalVolume...]

DESCRIPTION
       pvcreate initializes PhysicalVolume for later use by the Logical Volume
       Manager (LVM).  Each PhysicalVolume can be a disk partition, whole
       disk, meta device, or loopback file.  For DOS disk partitions, the
       partition id should be set to 0x8e using fdisk(8), cfdisk(8),  or a
       equivalent.  For whole disk devices only the partition table must be
       erased, which will effectively destroy all data on that disk.  This can
       be done by zeroing the first sector with:

       dd if=/dev/zero of=PhysicalVolume bs=512 count=1

       Continue with vgcreate(8) to create a new volume group on
       PhysicalVolume, or vgextend(8) to add PhysicalVolume to an existing
       volume group.

OPTIONS
       See lvm(8) for common options.

       -f, --force
              Force the creation without any confirmation.  You can not
              recreate (reinitialize) a physical volume belonging to an
              existing volume group.  In an emergency you can override this
              behaviour with -ff.

       -u, --uuid uuid
              Specify the uuid for the device.  Without this option, pvcreate
              generates a random uuid.  All of your physical volumes must have
              unique uuids.  You need to use this option before restoring a
              backup of LVM metadata onto a replacement device - see
              vgcfgrestore(8).

       -y, --yes
              Answer yes to all questions.

       -Z, --zero y|n
              Whether or not the first 4 sectors (2048 bytes) of the device
              should be wiped.  If this option is not given, the default is to
              wipe these sectors unless either or both of the --restorefile or
              --uuid options were specified.

NEW METADATA OPTIONS
       LVM2 introduces a new format for storing metadata on disk.  This new
       format is more efficient and resilient than the format the original
       version of LVM used and offers the advanced user greater flexibility
       and control.

       The new format may be selected on the command line with -M2 or by
       setting format = "lvm2" in the global section of lvm.conf.  Each
       physical volume in the same volume group must use the same format, but
       different volume groups on a machine may use different formats
       simultaneously: the tools can handle both formats.  Additional formats
       can be added as shared libraries.

       Additional tools for manipulating the locations and sizes of metadata
       areas will be written in due course.  Use the verbose/debug options on
       the tools to see where the metadata areas are placed.

       --metadatasize size
              The approximate amount of space to be set aside for each
              metadata area.  (The size you specify may get rounded.)

       --metadatacopies copies
              The number of metadata areas to set aside on each PV.  Currently
              this can be 0, 1 or 2.  If set to 2, two copies of the volume
              group metadata are held on the PV, one at the front of the PV
              and one at the end.  If set to 1 (the default), one copy is kept
              at the front of the PV (starting in the 5th sector).  If set to
              0, no copies are kept on this PV - you might wish to use this
              with VGs containing large numbers of PVs.  But if you do this
              and then later use vgsplit you must ensure that each VG is still
              going to have a suitable number of copies of the metadata after
              the split!

       --restorefile file
              In conjunction with --uuid, this extracts the location and size
              of the data on the PV from the file (produced by vgcfgbackup)
              and ensures that the metadata that the program produces is
              consistent with the contents of the file i.e. the physical
              extents will be in the same place and not get overwritten by new
              metadata.  This provides a mechanism to upgrade the metadata
              format or to add/remove metadata areas. Use with care. See also
              vgconvert(8).

       --labelsector sector
              By default the PV is labelled with an LVM2 identifier in its
              second sector (sector 1).  This lets you use a different sector
              near the start of the disk (between 0 and 3 inclusive - see
              LABEL_SCAN_SECTORS in the source).  Use with care.

       --setphysicalvolumesize size
              Overrides the automatically-detected size of the PV.  Use with
              care.

Example
       Initialize partition #4 on the third SCSI disk and the entire fifth
       SCSI disk for later use by LVM:

       pvcreate /dev/sdc4 /dev/sde


SEE ALSO
       lvm(8), vgcreate(8), vgextend(8), lvcreate(8), cfdisk(8), fdisk(8),
       losetup(8), mdadm(8), vgcfgrestore(8), vgconvert(8)



Sistina Software UK    LVM TOOLS 2.02.44-cvs (02-17-09)            PVCREATE(8)