lvcreate is a Linux command used to create a logical volume (LV) in a Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM) setup. A logical volume is a virtual block device that provides a layer of abstraction between the physical storage and the file system. This allows for more flexible and dynamic management of storage, such as resizing and moving of volumes without affecting the data.
lvcreate command is used basically to create a new logical volume in LVM. To create a basic LVM volume, you can use the below command:
$ sudo lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n lvtest Vol1 Logical volume “lvtest” created
If you want to see the details of what you created, use the lvdisplay command:
$ sudo lvdisplay Vol1 --- Logical volume --- LV Path /dev/Vol1/lvtest LV Name lvtest VG Name Vol1 LV UUID 4W2369-pLXy-jWmb-lIFN-SMNX-xZnN-3KN208 LV Write Access read/write LV Creation host, time … -0400 LV Status available # open 0 LV Size 2.00 GiB Current LE 513 Segments 1 Allocation inherit Read ahead sectors auto - currently set to 256 Block device 253:2
The -l parameter defines how much of the available space on the volume group specified to use for the logical volume. Notice that you can specify the value as a percent of the free space in the volume group. This example used all (100%) of the free space for the new logical volume.
You can use the -l parameter to specify the size as a percentage of the available space or the -L parameter to specify the actual size in bytes, kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes (GB). The -n parameter allows you to provide a name for the logical volume (called lvtest in this example).
LVM command options are as shown below:
If you encounter the below error while running the command lvcreate:
lvcreate: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| Debian | apt-get install lvm2 |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install lvm2 |
| Alpine | apk add lvm2 |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S lvm2 |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install lvm2 |
| CentOS | yum install lvm2 |
| Fedora | dnf install lvm2 |
| Raspbian | apt-get install lvm2 |
lvcreate Command Examples
1. Create a logical volume of 10 gigabytes in the volume group vg1:
# lvcreate -L 10G vg1
2. Create a 1500 megabyte linear logical volume named mylv in the volume group vg1:
# lvcreate -L 1500 -n mylv vg1
3. Create a logical volume called mylv that uses 60% of the total space in volume group vg1:
# lvcreate -l 60%VG -n mylv vg1
4. Create a logical volume called mylv that uses all the unallocated space in the volume group vg1:
# lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n mylv vg1