lvm(7)							 Miscellaneous Information Manual						    lvm(7)

NAME

       lvm - Logical Volume Manager (LVM)

DESCRIPTION

       The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is a subsystem for managing disk space.  The HP LVM subsystem offers value-added features, such as mirror-
       ing (with the optional HP MirrorDisk/UX software), high availability (with the optional	HP  Serviceguard  software),  and  striping,  that
       enhance availability and performance.

       Unlike earlier arrangements where disks were divided into fixed-sized sections, LVM allows the user to consider the disks, also known as as
       a pool (or volume) of data storage, consisting of equal-sized extents.  The size of an extent can vary from 1 MB to 256 MB.

       An LVM system consists of arbitrary groupings of physical volumes, organized into A volume group can consist of one or more  physical  vol-
       umes.   There can be more than one volume group in the system.  Once created, the volume group, and not the disk, is the basic unit of data
       storage.  Thus, whereas earlier one would move disks from one system to another, with LVM, one would move a volume group from one system to
       another.  For this reason it is often convenient to have multiple volume groups on a system.

       Volume  groups can be subdivided into virtual disks, called A logical volume can span a number of physical volumes or represent only a por-
       tion of one physical volume.  The pool of disk space that is represented by a volume group can be apportioned into logical volumes of vari-
       ous  sizes.   The  size of a logical volume is determined by its number of extents.  Once created, logical volumes can be treated just like
       disk partitions.  Logical volumes can be assigned to file systems, used as swap or dump devices, or used for raw access.

   Commands
       LVM information can be created, displayed, and manipulated with the following commands:

	      Change logical volume characteristics
	      Stripe, create logical volume in volume group
	      Display information about logical volumes
	      Increase space, increase mirrors for logical volume
	      Prepare logical volume to be root, primary swap, or dump volume
	      Display limits associated with a volume group version
	      Decrease number of physical extents allocated to logical volume
	      Remove one or more logical volumes from volume group
	      Remove logical volume link to root, primary swap, or dump volume
	      Change characteristics of physical volume in volume group
	      Create physical volume for use in volume group
	      Display information about physical volumes within volume group
	      Move allocated physical extents from one physical volume to other physical volumes
	      Create or update volume group configuration backup file
	      Display or restore volume group configuration from backup file
	      Set volume group availability
	      Create volume group
	      Display information about volume groups
	      Export a volume group and its associated logical volumes
	      Extend a volume group by adding physical volumes
	      Import a volume group onto the system
	      Modify volume group attributes
	      Move data from old set of disks to a new set of disks
	      Remove physical volumes from a volume group
	      Remove volume group definition from the system
	      Scan physical volumes for volume groups
	      Migrate a volume group from one volume group version to another

       The following commands are also available if the HP MirrorDisk/UX software is installed:

	      Merge two logical volumes into one logical volume
	      Split mirrored logical volume into two logical volumes
	      Synchronize stale mirrors in logical volumes
	      Synchronize stale logical volume mirrors in volume groups

   Device Special Files
       Starting with HP-UX 11i Version 3, the Mass Storage Stack supports two naming conventions for the device special  files	used  to  identify
       devices (see intro(7)).	Devices can be represented using:

	      o Persistent device special files, or
	      o Legacy device special file names,

       While  LVM  supports  the  use  of both conventions within the same volume group, the examples shown in the LVM man pages are all using the
       legacy device special file convention.

   Alternate Links (PVLinks)
       In this release of HP-UX, LVM continues to support Alternate Links to a device to allow continued access to the device, if the primary link
       fails.	This multiple link or multipath solution increases data availability, but continues disallowing the use of multiple paths simulta-
       neously.

       A new feature was introduced in the Mass Storage Subsystem on HP-UX 11i Version 3 that supports multiple  paths	to  a  device  and  allows
       simultaneous  access  to  these	paths.	 The Mass Storage Subsystem will balance the I/O load across the valid paths.  Multipathing is the
       default unless the command is used to enable legacy multipathing and also the active path is a legacy device special file.  See scsimgr(1M)
       for details.

       Even  though  the Mass Storage Subsystem supports 32 multiple paths per physical volume on this version of HP-UX, LVM does not support more
       than eight paths to any physical volume.  As a result, commands like and will not succeed in adding more than eight paths per physical vol-
       ume.   Additionally,  and cannot write more than eight paths per physical volume in the file.  If users want to use any specific path other
       than these eight paths, then they have to one of the alternate paths in the volume group and add that specific path using

       It is no longer required or recommended to configure LVM with alternate links.  However, it is possible to  maintain  the  traditional  LVM
       behavior.  To do so, both of the following criteria must be met:

	      o Only the legacy device special file naming convention is used in the volume group configuration.

	      o The command is used to enable the legacy multipath behavior for each physical volume in the volume group.

   LVM's Volume Group Versions 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1
       LVM  now has three different volume group version, and The original version of LVM volume group is 1.0.	Versions 2.0 and 2.1 volume groups
       allows LVM to increase many of the limits constraining the size of volume groups, logical volumes, and so on.  To see a comparison of  lim-
       its for volume groups version 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1, use the command (see lvmadm(1M)).

       The procedures and command syntax for managing volume groups version 1.0 is unchanged.

       To  take  advantage of the improvements in volume groups version 2.0 or higher, a volume group is declared to be version 2.0 or 2.1 at cre-
       ation time using the new option to the command.

       The command will create the volume group directory and file if they do not already exist. This is independent of the volume group version.

       There are several differences in the procedure for creating a volume group which is to be version 2.0 or higher.

	      o  The volume group directory and group file will have a different major/minor number combination.  See vgcreate(1M) for details.

	      o  It is no longer necessary to set maximums for physical volumes, logical volumes, or extents per  physical  volume.   Instead  the
		 command expects a maximum size for the volume group.  This size of a volume group is the sum of the user data space on all physi-
		 cal volumes assigned to the volume group.

	      o  Extent size is now a required parameter.  For volume groups version 1.0, the default extent size is 4MB.  For volume groups  ver-
		 sion 2.0 or higher, extent size must be specified.

       Volume  group  versions	2.0 and higher do not support root, boot, swap, or dump.  Additionally, volume groups version 2.0 or higher do not
       support spare physical volumes.

       The maximum number of 1.0 version volume groups per system is 256.  The maximum number of 2.0 version volume groups per system is 512.  The
       maximum combined 2.0 and 2.1 volume groups is 2048.

       The  vgversion(1M)  command allows the migration between any two supported volume group versions, with the exception of moving back to ver-
       sion 1.0.

   Extent Sizing for Volume Group Version 2.0 and Higher
       In volume groups version 1.0, LVM metadata is required to fit into a single physical extent.  If large values for maximum physical volumes,
       logical volumes, and extents per physical volume were chosen, then a large extent size is required.

       In  volume  groups  version  2.0  and  higher,  metadata is not restricted to an extent.  There is an implementation limit to the number of
       extents in a volume group (see lvmadm(1M)), so the larger the extent size the larger the maximum volume group size which can be	supported.
       The  amount of space taken up on each physical volume by LVM metadata is dependent on the physical extent size and the maximum volume group
       size specified when the volume group is created.  LVM metadata for volume groups version 2.0 and higher may consume more space than on vol-
       ume groups version 1.0.

       The command has a new option which will show the relationship between extent size and maximum volume group size.

       A smaller extent size allows finer granularity in assigning space to logical volumes.  It also means that smaller blocks of data are marked
       stale when IOs to a mirror copy fail.  For small logical and physical volumes, a smaller extent size may result in less wasted space.

       Since there are limits to the number of extents in a logical or physical volume, a small extent size will limit the total size of a logical
       or physical volume.  Conversely a larger extent size allows creation of larger logical volumes and use of larger physical volumes.

   Auto Boot Disk Migration
       This  feature  is  intended  to	allow  users  to configure how LVM handles situations where the physical location of the boot disk changes
       between reboots.  This situation can occur during hardware configuration changes or if boot disk images are cloned.  In	those  situations,
       Auto Migration of Boot Disk will automatically update stale configuring entries for the root volume group in LVM configuration file and the
       Boot Data Reserved Areas for each bootable physical volume in the root volume group.  The configuration files  are  synchronized  with  the
       information from the kernel at the time of boot.

       The  Auto  Boot Disk Migration feature (defined by the AUTO_BOOT_MIGRATE flag in the file) is turned on by default on the system.  When the
       feature is turned on, any mismatch between the entries and the on-disk metadata structures for the root volume group in the kernel will	be
       automatically fixed during the boot process.

       The  Auto  Boot	Disk Migration feature can be turned off by editing the file and setting the flag AUTO_BOOT_MIGRATE to 0.  In those situa-
       tions, users need to check the file post boot activity and follow the instructions logged to the file, if any.

EXAMPLES

       The basic steps to take to begin using LVM are as follows:

	      o Identify the disks to be used for LVM.

	      o Create an LVM data structure on each identified disk (see pvcreate(1M)).

	      o Collect all the physical volumes to form a new volume group (see vgcreate(1M)).

	      o Create logical volumes from the space in the volume group (see lvcreate(1M)).

	      o Use each logical volume as if it were a disk section (create a file system, or use for raw access).

       To configure disk as part of a new volume groups version 1.0 named

       First, initialize the disk for LVM with the command.

       Then, create the pseudo device file that is used by the LVM subsystem.  The directory and file will be created automatically.   Optionally,
       these files can be created before doing the vgcreate, as follows:

       The minor number for the file should be unique among all the volume groups on the system.  It has the format where NN ranges from to

       Create the volume group, containing the physical volume, with the command.

       You can view information about the newly created volume group with the command.

       Create a logical volume of size 100 MB, named on this volume group with the command.

       This creates two device files for the logical volume, which is the block device file, and which is the character (raw) device file.

       You can view information about the newly created logical volume with the command.

       Any operation allowed on a disk partition is allowed on the logical volume.  Thus, you can use to hold a file system.

       To use a volume group version or higher in the above example only few changes are required.

       The volume group directory and file are created automatically in all supported versions.

       The  command  would be changed.	The following creates the volume group with an extent size of 32 megabytes and a maximum volume group size
       of 32 terabytes (see vgcreate(1M)).

	      or

SEE ALSO

       lvchange(1M), lvcreate(1M), lvdisplay(1M), lvextend(1M), lvlnboot(1M), lvmadm(1M), lvreduce(1M), lvremove(1M), lvrmboot(1M),  pvchange(1M),
       pvcreate(1M),  pvdisplay(1M), pvmove(1M), vgcfgbackup(1M), vgcfgrestore(1M), vgchange(1M), vgcreate(1M), vgdisplay(1M), vgexport(1M), vgex-
       tend(1M), vgimport(1M), vgmodify(1M), vgmove(1M), vgreduce(1M), vgremove(1M), vgscan(1M), vgversion(1M), intro(7).

       If HP MirrorDisk/UX is installed: lvmerge(1M), lvsplit(1M), lvsync(1M), vgsync(1M).

       If HP Serviceguard is installed: cmcheckconf(1M), cmquerycl(1M),

																	    lvm(7)