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

NAME

       lvmcreate_initrd - create an initial ramdisk to boot with root on a logical volume

SYNOPSIS

       lvcmreate_initrd [-i|--iop IOP] [-D|--devfs] [-v|--verbose] [-V|--version] [KernelVersion]

DESCRIPTION

       lvmcreate_initrd  creates  a  new compressed initial ramdisk /boot/initrd-lvm-KernelVersion.gz.	The initial ramdisk contains all necessary
       binaries, shared libraries and a linuxrc file to switch to a logical volume based root filesystem.  To build an initial ramdisk for a  ker-
       nel other than the one currently running add the KernelVersion parameter (e.g.  lvmcreate_initrd 2.3.25) on the command line.

   OPTIONS
       -h, --help
	      Print a usage message on standard output and exit.

       -i, --iop IOP
	      Specify  the LVM kernel IOP version if you are using wrapper scripts in /sbin.  This is only necessary if you are building an initrd
	      for a kernel other than the current one, and you have tools for multiple IOP versions installed.

       -D, --devfs
	      Force the use of devfs when building the initrd.	lvmcreate_initrd by default probes for devfs by checking for  /dev/.devfsd,  which
	      is created by devfsd when it is running. This option will force lvmcreate_initrd to do this, when devfsd is not currently running.

       -v, --verbose
	      Gives verbose runtime information about the creation of the ram disk image.

       -V, --version
	      Print version number and exit successfully.

       The necessary actions to change your system into a "root on logical volume" one are:

       Create  a  small  (~20MB)  partition which is BIOS reachable to hold the /boot filesystem (if you already have a small partition based root
       filesystem this can be used instead). If you want to boot standalone from this partition in an emergency, copy all the  necessary  binaries
       and libraries to that filesystem as well and create a corresponding /etc/lilo.conf entry. In order to be able to edit lilo.conf when booted
       standalone, you should move /etc/lilo.conf to /boot/lilo.conf and create a symbolic link to it in /etc.	This is not needed if you  have  a
       boot/root floppy which contains the LVM binaries and the library.

       Create  all logical volumes you need (for root, usr, opt etc.), create filesystems in them, mount them and transfer all files from the par-
       tition based filesystems into the logical volume based ones.

       Set up your /etc/lilo.conf with a boot configuration like:

       image = /boot/vmlinuz
       initrd = /boot/initrd-lvm-KernelVersion.gz
       root = /dev/YourVG/YourRootLV
       label = rootonlv
       append = 'ramdisk_size=8192'

       Replace YourVG and YourRootLV by your actual volume group and root logical volume names.  You also need to change the ramdisk size to be at
       least  as  large as that reported while lvmcreate_initrd is run.  If you have enough memory, it is OK if the ramdisk size in /etc/lilo.conf
       is larger than what lvmcreate_initrd reports (the memory is freed after booting).  Also, your /etc/fstab in the root logical volume  should
       contain entries for the root LV, and the boot partition, along with any other LVs you have configured:

       /dev/YourVG/YourRootLV	   /	 ext2	defaults   0   1
       /dev/YourBootPartition	   /boot ext2	defaults   0   2
       /dev/YourVG/YourUsrLV	   /usr  ext2	defaults   0   3
       /dev/YourVG/YourOptLV	   /opt  ext2	defaults   0   4
       etc.

       You  can  use  other supported filesystem types as well (e.g. reiserfs) if you have support for those in your kernel.  Run lilo, reboot and
       try...

       The partitions containing the former /usr, /opt etc. filesystems can now be used as physical volumes.  Use pvcreate(8) to  turn	them  into
       PVs and then use vgextend(8) to add them to e.g.  YourVG.

DIAGNOSTICS

       lvcmcreate_initrd returns 0 for success.  1 is returned in all other cases.

SEE ALSO

       lilo(8), lilo.conf(5), fstab(5), lvm(8), pvcreate(8), vgextend(8), lvcreate(8), vgcreate(8)

AUTHOR

       Heinz Mauelshagen <Linux-LVM@Sistina.com>

Heinz Mauelshagen						     LVM TOOLS						       LVMCREATE_INITRD(8)