LVM Basic Operations

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Overview of log­i­cal vol­ume man­age­ment (LVM)

• Source: Red Hat Docs > [9] > Con­fig­ur­ing and man­ag­ing log­i­cal vol­umes > Chap­ter 1

Log­i­cal vol­ume man­age­ment (LVM) cre­ates a lay­er of ab­strac­tion over phys­i­cal stor­age, which helps you to cre­ate log­i­cal stor­age vol­umes. This pro­vides much greater flex­i­bil­i­ty in a num­ber of ways than us­ing phys­i­cal stor­age di­rect­ly.

In ad­di­tion, the hard­ware stor­age con­fig­u­ra­tion is hid­den from the soft­ware so it can be re­sized and moved with­out stop­ping ap­pli­ca­tions or un­mount­ing file sys­tems. This can re­duce op­er­a­tional costs.

The fol­low­ing are the com­po­nents of LVM – they are il­lus­trat­ed on the di­a­gram shown at Fig­ure 1:

• Phys­i­cal vol­ume: A phys­i­cal vol­ume (PV) is a par­ti­tion or whole disk des­ig­nat­ed for LVM use. For more in­for­ma­tion, see Man­ag­ing LVM phys­i­cal vol­umes.

• Vol­ume group: A vol­ume group (VG) is a col­lec­tion of phys­i­cal vol­umes (PVs), which cre­ates a pool of disk space out of which log­i­cal vol­umes can be al­lo­cat­ed. For more in­for­ma­tion, see Man­ag­ing LVM vol­ume groups.

• Log­i­cal vol­ume: A log­i­cal vol­ume rep­re­sents a mount­able stor­age de­vice. For more in­for­ma­tion, see Man­ag­ing LVM log­i­cal vol­umes.

Phys­i­cal vol­umes (PV) Dis­play

pvdis­play – Dis­play var­i­ous at­trib­ut­es of phys­i­cal volume(s). pvdis­play shows the at­trib­ut­es of PVs, like size, phys­i­cal ex­tent size, space used for the VG de­scrip­tor area, etc.

sudo pvdisplay

--- Physical volume ---
PV Name               /dev/nvme0n1p3
VG Name              vg_name
PV Size               <930.54 GiB / not usable 4.00 MiB
Allocatable           yes 
PE Size               4.00 MiB
Total PE              238216
Free PE               155272
Allocated PE          82944
PV UUID               BKK3Cm-CAzY-rNah-o3Ox-L7FY-aNIY-ysUSIL

pvs – Dis­play in­for­ma­tion about phys­i­cal vol­umes. pvs is a pre­ferred al­ter­na­tive of pvdis­play that shows the same in­for­ma­tion and more, us­ing a more com­pact and con­fig­urable out­put for­mat.

sudo pvs

PV             VG        Fmt  Attr PSize   PFree  
/dev/nvme0n1p3 vg_name   lvm2 a--  930.53g 626.53g

# `lvdisplay` - Display information about a logical volume. Shows the attributes of LVs, like size, read/write status, snapshot information, etc.
# `lvs` is a preferred alternative that shows the same information and more, using a more compact and configurable output format.

## Extend VG  which is located on /dev/sda to encompass also /dev/sdb 
lsblk							# check the devices
sudo pvcreat /dev/sdb		    # create phisical volume at /dev/sdb
sudo pvdisplay					# check
sudo vgextend vg_name /dev/sdb 	# extend  the existing volume group
df -hT							# check
sudo vgdisplay					# check
# At this point you can create a new logical volume or extend an existing one

##  Extend logical volume - note there mus have enoug free space in the volume group where the existing LV is located
sudo lvextend -L +10G /dev/mapper/lv_name
sudo rsize2fs /dev/mapper/lv_name
df -h
### for swap file sudo mkswap /dev/mapper/xxxx-swap_1
### then edit /etc/fstab and chenge the UUID if it is mounted by it...

## Exten to all available space and resize the FS in the same time
sudo lvextend --reziefs -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/lv_name
df -h

# Shrink logical volume
    1  lsblk
    2  sudo apt update
    3  sudo apt install gnome-disk-utility
    4  ll
    5  lsblk
    6  ll /dev/kali-x-vg
    7  ll /dev/kali-x-vg/root
    8  ll /dev/dm-0
    9  sudo lvreduce --resizefs -L 60G kali-x-vg/root
   10  lsblk
   11  df -h


## Create a new volume group on newly attached block device /dev/sdc
lsblk 																						# check
sudo pvcreat /dev/sdbc						# crrate phisical volume
sudo vgcreate vg_name /dev/sdbc				# create volume group
sudo vgdisplay								# check

## Create a new logical volume
sudo lvcreate vg_name -L 5G -n lv_name		# create 5GB logical volume 		
sudo lvdisplay								# check
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name	# format the logical folume as Ext4

# mount the new logical volume
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/volume																															# create mount point
sudo mount /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name	/mnt/volume	# mount the volume
df -h																																												# check

# mount it permanently via /etc/fstab (we can munt it by using the mapped path, but it is preferable to use UUID)
sudo blkid /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name			# get the UUID (universal unique identifier) of the logical volume
> /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name: UUID="b6ddc49d-...-...c90" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4"

sudo cp /etc/fstab{,.bak}			# backup the fstab file
sudo umount /mnt/volume		# unmount the nel volume
df -h														# check

sudo nano /etc/fstab
># <file system>                            <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass> 
>     UUID=b6ddc49d-...-...c90 /mnt/volume     ext4        defaults			 0				  2

# Test /etc/fsstab for errors, by remount everything listed inside
sudo mount -a			# no output means everything is correctly mounted
df -h								# check

Snap­shots of Log­i­cal Vol­umes

Cre­ate a Snap­shot

lvcre­ate – Cre­ate a log­i­cal vol­ume.

#Ex­pla­na­tion

• -s, --snapshot – Cre­ate a snap­shot. Snap­shots pro­vide a "frozen im­age" of an ori­gin LV. The snap­shot LV can be used, e.g. for back­ups, while the ori­gin LV con­tin­ues to be used. This op­tion can cre­ate a COW (copy on write) snap­shot, or a thin snap­shot (in a thin pool.) Thin snap­shots are cre­at­ed when the ori­gin is a thin LV and the size op­tion is NOT spec­i­fied.
• -n, --name – Spec­i­fies the name of a new LV. When un­spec­i­fied, a de­fault name of lvol# is gen­er­at­ed, where # is a num­ber gen­er­at­ed by LVM.

Cre­ate 5GB snap­shot of a log­i­cal vol­ume named lv_​​​name from vol­ume group named vg_​​​name.

sudo lvcreate /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name -L 5G -s -n lv_name_ss_at_date_$(date +%y%m%d)

sudo lvs

LV                         VG        Attr       LSize   Pool Origin    Data%  Meta%  Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
lv_name                    vg_name owi-aos---  60.00g                                                    
lv_name_ss_at_date_220908  vg_name swi-a-s---   5.00g        lv_name   0.01

Mount a Snap­shot

The snap­shot could be mount­ed in or­der to fetch files in their snap­shot state. In this case it is good to mount them in read on­ly mode.

sudo mkdir /mnt/snapshot

sudo mount -r /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name_ss_at_date_220908 /mnt/snapshot

You can use a mount­ed snap­shot (of the root filesys­tem) to cre­ate a back­up while the OS is run­ning.

Re­store a Snap­shot

Note af­ter the restor­ing of a snap­shot with merge op­tion in use the snap­shot will be re­moved, so you must cre­ate an­oth­er snap­shot for a lat­er use of the same state of the log­i­cal vol­ume.

For restor­ing a snap­shot we will need to use the com­mands lv­con­vert and lvchange.

Lv­Con­vert: Con­vert-merge the snap­shot with the source LV

lv­con­vert – Change log­i­cal vol­ume lay­out.

#Ex­pla­na­tion

• --merge – An alias for --mergethin, --mergemirrors, or --mergesnapshot, de­pend­ing on the type of LV (log­i­cal vol­ume).
• --mergesnapshot – Merge COW snap­shot LV in­to its ori­gin. When merg­ing a snap­shot, if both the ori­gin and snap­shot LVs are not open, the merge will start im­me­di­ate­ly. Oth­er­wise, the merge will start the first time ei­ther the ori­gin or snap­shot LV are ac­ti­vat­ed and both are closed. Merg­ing a snap­shot in­to an ori­gin that can­not be closed, for ex­am­ple a root filesys­tem, is de­ferred un­til the next time the ori­gin vol­ume is ac­ti­vat­ed. When merg­ing starts, the re­sult­ing LV will have the origin's name, mi­nor num­ber and UUID. While the merge is in progress, reads or writes to the ori­gin ap­pear as be­ing di­rect­ed to the snap­shot be­ing merged. When the merge fin­ish­es, the merged snap­shot is re­moved. Mul­ti­ple snap­shots may be spec­i­fied on the com­mand line or a @tag may be used to spec­i­fy mul­ti­ple snap­shots be merged to their re­spec­tive ori­gin.

sudo umount  /lv_name-mountpoint

sudo lvconvert --merge /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name_ss_at_date_220908

If it is a root filesys­tem, and the source log­i­cal vol­ume is not op­er­a­tional at all, we need to boot in live Lin­ux ses­sion in or­der to per­form the steps, be­cause it must be un­mount­ed. It it is not a root filesys­tem, we need to un­mount the log­i­cal vol­ume first.

LvChange: De­ac­ti­vate, re­ac­ti­vate and re­mount the LV

lvchange – Change the at­trib­ut­es of log­i­cal volume(s).

#Ex­pl.

• -a|, --activate y|n|ay – Change the ac­tive state of LVs. An ac­tive LV can be used through a block de­vice, al­low­ing da­ta on the LV to be ac­cessed. y makes LVs ac­tive, or avail­able. n makes LVs in­ac­tive, or un­avail­able…

sudo lvchange -an /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name
sudo lvchange -ay /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name

If we are work­ing with­in a live Lin­ux ses­sion – i.e. we are restor­ing a root filesys­tem, – these steps will be per­formed at the next re­boot. Oth­er­wise we need to run the fol­low­ing steps in or­der to ap­ply the changes with­out re­boot.

sudo mount -a   # remount via /etc/fstab

df -h           # list the mounted devices

Re­move a Snap­shot

lvre­move – Re­move log­i­cal volume(s) from the sys­tem.

sudo lvremove /dev/vg_name/lv_name_ss_at_date_220908

sudo lvremove /dev/mapper/vg_name-lv_name_ss_at_date_220908

Ref­er­ences

• Red Hat Docs: Red Hat > [9] > Con­fig­ur­ing and man­ag­ing log­i­cal vol­umes
• Learn Lin­ux TV: Lin­ux Log­i­cal Vol­ume Man­ag­er (LVM) Deep Dive Tu­to­r­i­al
• Learn Lin­ux TV at YouTube: Lin­ux Log­i­cal Vol­ume Man­ag­er (LVM) Deep Dive Tu­to­r­i­al
• Lin­ux Hint: LVM: How to List and Se­lec­tive­ly Re­move Snap­shots

---

As­sum­ing we want to cre­ate LVM and we want to oc­cu­py the en­tire disk space at /​​​dev/​​​sdb. You can fdisk or gdisk to cre­ate a new GPT par­ti­tion ta­ble that will wipe all par­ti­tions and cre­ate new par­ti­tions you need:

• If the de­vice /​​​dev/​​​sdb will be used used as boot de­vice you can cre­ate two par­ti­tions one for /​​​boot – Lin­ux ext4 and one for the root fs / – Lin­ux LVM.
• If the de­vice /​​​dev/​​​sdb won't be used as boot de­vice you can cre­ate on­ly one for LVM.

Cre­ate par­ti­tion ta­ble:

sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

#fdisk

# create a new empty GPT partition table
Command (m for help): g

# add a new partition
Command (m for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1): 1
First sector (2048-488397134, default 2048):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-488397134, default 488397134): +1G

Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 1 GiB.

# add a new partition
Command (m for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2):
First sector (2099200-488397134, default 2099200):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2099200-488397134, default 488397134):

Created a new partition 2 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 231.9 GiB.

# change a partition type
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1,2, default 2): 2
Partition type (type L to list all types): 31

Changed type of partition 'Linux filesystem' to 'Linux LVM'.

# print the partition table
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 232.91 GiB, 250059350016 bytes, 488397168 sectors
Disk model: CT250MX500SSD1
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 005499CA-7834-434B-9C36-5306537C8CF1

Device       Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sdb1     2048   2099199   2097152     1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdb2  2099200 488397134 486297935 231.9G Linux LVM

Filesystem/RAID signature on partition 1 will be wiped.

#  verify the partition table
Command (m for help): v
No errors detected.
Header version: 1.0
Using 2 out of 128 partitions.
A total of 0 free sectors is available in 0 segments (the largest is (null)).

# write table to disk and exit
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

For­mat the first par­ti­tion /​​​dev/​​​sdb1 to ext4:

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

#mke2fs

mke2fs 1.45.5 (07-Jan-2020)
Creating filesystem with 262144 4k blocks and 65536 inodes
Filesystem UUID: a6a72cfe-46f1-4caa-b114-6bf03f1efe7f
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        32768, 98304, 163840, 229376

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (8192 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

Cre­ate LVM phys­i­cals vol­ume at the sec­ond par­ti­tion /​​​dev/​​​sdb1:

sudo pvcreate /dev/sdb2

#lvm2 pvc

Physical volume "/dev/sdb2" successfully created.

Cre­ate LVM vol­ume group at /​​​dev/​​​sdb1:

sudo vgcreate lvm-vm-group /dev/sdb2

#lvm2 vgc

Physical volume "/dev/sdb2" successfully created.

• lvm-vm-group is the name of the group, it is mater of your choice.

Cre­ate LVM log­i­cal vol­ume at lvm-vm-group:

sudo lvcreate -n vm-win-01 -L 60g lvm-vm-group

#lvm2 lvc

Logical volume "vm-win-01" created.

• vm-win-01 is the name of the log­i­cal de­vice, it is mater of your choice.

Check the re­sult:

 lsblk | grep -P 'sdb|lvm'

#Out­put

├─sdb1                           8:17   0     1G  0 part
└─sdb2                           8:18   0 231.9G  0 part
  └─lvm--vm--group-vm--win--01 253:0    0    60G  0 lvm

Ref­er­ences:

• Dig­i­talO­cean: How To Use LVM To Man­age Stor­age De­vices on Ubun­tu 18.04
• Ubun­tu Com­mu­ni­ty Wi­ki: Ubun­tu Desk­top LVM
• SleepLessBeastie's notes: How to fix de­vice ex­clud­ed by a fil­ter

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