LVM HOWTO

Maintainer: AJ Lewis lewis(at)sistina.com

1. Introduction

• 1.1 This Document
• 1.2 Latest Version
• 1.3 Disclaimer
• 1.4 Authors

2. What is LVM?

3. What is Logical Volume Management?

• 3.1 Why would I want it?
• 3.2 Benefits of Logical Volume Management on a Small System
• 3.3 Benefits of Logical Volume Management on a Large System

4. Anatomy of LVM

• 4.1 volume group (VG)
• 4.2 physical volume (PV)
• 4.3 logical volume (LV)
• 4.4 physical extent (PE)
• 4.5 logical extent (LE)
• 4.6 Tying it all together
• 4.7 mapping modes (linear/striped)
• 4.8 Snapshots

5. Acquiring LVM

• 5.1 FTP a source Tarball
• 5.2 Download the development source via CVS
• 5.3 Before You Begin
• 5.4 Initial Setup
• 5.5 Checking Out Source Code
• 5.6 Code Updates
• 5.7 Starting a Project
• 5.8 Hacking the Code
• 5.9 Conflicts

6. Building the kernel module

• 6.1 Building a patch for your kernel
• 6.2 Building the LVM module for Linux 2.2.17+
• 6.3 Building the LVM modules for Linux 2.4
• 6.4 Checking the proc file system
• 6.5 Boot time scripts
• 6.6 Caldera
• 6.7 Debian
• 6.8 Mandrake
• 6.9 Redhat
• 6.10 Slackware
• 6.11 SuSE

7. Building LVM from the Source

• 7.1 Make LVM library and tools
• 7.2 Install LVM library and tools
• 7.3 Removing LVM library and tools

8. Transitioning from previous versions of LVM to LVM 1.0.3

• 8.1 Upgrading to LVM 1.0.3 with a non-LVM root partition
• 8.2 Upgrading to LVM 1.0.3 with an LVM root partition and initrd

9. Common Tasks

• 9.1 Initializing disks or disk partitions
• 9.2 Creating a volume group
• 9.3 Activating a volume group
• 9.4 Removing a volume group
• 9.5 Adding physical volumes to a volume group
• 9.6 Removing physical volumes from a volume group
• 9.7 Creating a logical volume
• 9.8 Removing a logical volume
• 9.9 Extending a logical volume
• 9.10 Reducing a logical volume
• 9.11 Migrating data from one physical volume to another

10. Disk partitioning

• 10.1 Multiple partitions on the same disk
• 10.2 Sun disk labels

11. Setting up LVM on three SCSI disks

• 11.1 Preparing the disks
• 11.2 Setup a Volume Group
• 11.3 Creating the Logical Volume
• 11.4 Create the File System
• 11.5 Test the File System

12. Setting up LVM on three SCSI disks with striping

• 12.1 Preparing the disk partitions
• 12.2 Setup a Volume Group
• 12.3 Creating the Logical Volume
• 12.4 Create the File System
• 12.5 Test the File System

13. Add a new disk to a multi-disk SCSI system

• 13.1 Current situation
• 13.2 Prepare the disk partitions
• 13.3 Add the new disks to the volume groups
• 13.4 Extend the file systems
• 13.5 Remount the extended volumes

14. Taking a Backup Using Snapshots

• 14.1 Create the snapshot volume
• 14.2 Mount the snapshot volume
• 14.3 Do the backup
• 14.4 Remove the snapshot

15. Removing an Old Disk

• 15.1 Prepare the disk
• 15.2 Add it to the volume group
• 15.3 Move the data
• 15.4 Remove the unused disk

16. Moving a volume group to another system

• 16.1 Unmount the file system
• 16.2 Mark the volume group inactive
• 16.3 Export the volume group
• 16.4 Import the volume group
• 16.5 Mount the file system

17. Splitting a volume group

• 17.1 Determine free space
• 17.2 Move data off the disks to be used
• 17.3 Create the new volume group
• 17.4 Remove remaining volume
• 17.5 Create new logical volume
• 17.6 Make a file system on the volume
• 17.7 Mount the new volume

18. Converting a root filesystem to LVM

19. Dangerous Operations

• 19.1 Restoring the VG UUIDs using uuid_editor

20. Sharing LVM volumes

21. Reporting Errors and Bugs

22. Contact and Links

• 22.1 Mail lists
• 22.2 Links
• 22.3 Glossary