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}] [-d|--debug] [-h|--help] [-l|--maxlogi-
       calvolumes MaxLogicalVolumes] [-M|--metadatatypetype] [-p|--maxphysicalvolumes MaxPhysicalVolumes] [-s|--physicalextentsize PhysicalExtent-
       Size[bBsSkKmMgGtTpPeE]]	[-t|--test] [-v|--verbose] [--version] [ PHYSICAL DEVICE OPTIONS ] VolumeGroupName PhysicalDevicePath [PhysicalDe-
       vicePath...]

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.  If non-default pvcreate values are are desired, they may be given on the commandline with the same options as pvcre-
       ate.  See PHYSICAL DEVICE OPTIONS for available options.  Note that the restore-related options such as --restorefile, --uuid, and --physi-
       calvolumesize are not available.  If a restore operation is needed, use pvcreate (8) and vgcfgrestore (8).

OPTIONS

       See lvm 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 particular 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.   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 default value
	      is 0 which 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 pvcre-
	      ate(8).

       -s, --physicalextentsize PhysicalExtentSize[bBsSkKmMgGtTpPeE]
	      Sets the physical extent size on physical volumes of this volume group.  A size suffix (k for kilobytes up to t  for  terabytes)	is
	      optional, megabytes is the default if no suffix is present.  The default is 4 MB and it must be at least 1 KB and a power of 2.

	      Once  this  value  has been set, it is difficult to change it without recreating the volume group which would involve backing up and
	      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 8KB to 16GB and there is a limit of 65534 extents in
	      each logical volume.  The default of 4 MB leads to a maximum logical volume size of around 256GB.

	      If the volume group metadata uses lvm2 format those restrictions do not apply, but having a large number of extents will	slow  down
	      the tools but have no impact on I/O performance to the logical volume.  The smallest PE is 1KB.

	      The 2.4 kernel has a limitation of 2TB per block device.

PHYSICAL DEVICE OPTIONS

       The  following  options	are  available	for initializing physical devices in the volume group.	These options are further described in the
       pvcreate man page.

       -f, --force

       -y, --yes

       -Z, --zero y|n

       --labelsector sector

       --metadatasize size

       --pvmetadatacopies copies

       --dataalignment alignment

       --dataalignmentoffset alignment_offset

EXAMPLES

       To create a volume group named test_vg using physical volumes /dev/sdk1, and /dev/sdl1 with default physical extent size of 4MB:

	    vgcreate test_vg /dev/sdk1 /dev/sdl1

SEE ALSO

       lvm(8), pvdisplay(8), pvcreate(8), vgdisplay(8), vgextend(8), vgreduce(8), lvcreate(8), lvdisplay(8), lvextend(8), lvreduce(8)

Sistina Software UK					 LVM TOOLS 2.02.67(2) (2010-06-04)					       VGCREATE(8)