PVCREATE(8)							  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] [--version] [-Z|--zeroy/n]	 PhysicalVol-
       ume [PhysicalVolume...]

DESCRIPTION
       pvcreate	 initializes PhysicalVolume for later use by the Logical Vol-
       ume 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 PhysicalVol-
       ume, 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  restor-
	      ing  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  --restore-
	      file 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 set-
       ting format = "lvm2" in the global section of lvm.conf.	Each physical
       volume in the same volume group must use the same format, but  differ-
       ent  volume  groups  on a machine may use different formats simultane-
       ously: 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 meta-
	      data area.  (The size you specify may get rounded.)

       --metadatacopies copies
	      The number of metadata areas to set aside	 on  each  PV.	 Cur-
	      rently  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 meta-
	      data 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 con-
	      sistent with the contents of the file i.e. the physical extents
	      will  be in the same place and not get overwritten by new meta-
	      data.  This provides a mechanism to upgrade the metadata format
	      or to add/remove metadata areas. Use with care. See also vgcon-
	      vert(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), mdadd(8), vgcfgrestore(8), vgconvert(8)



Sistina Software UK		  LVM TOOLS			  PVCREATE(8)

UNIX/Linux commands referenced on this page:

1. id
2. which
3. dd
4. yes
5. file
6. more
7. groups
8. as
9. size
10. at
11. vgsplit