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pvcreate(1M) pvcreate(1M)

NAMEpvcreate - create physical volume for use in LVM volume group

SYNOPSIS/usr/sbin/pvcreate   [-b] [-B] [-d   soft_defects ] [-s   disk_size ] [-f] [-t   disk_type ]

 pv_path

DESCRIPTIONThe   pvcreate command initializes a direct access storage device (a raw disk device) for use as a physi-cal volume in a volume group.

If   pv_path  contains a file system and the   -f option is not specified,   pvcreate  asks for confirmation.The request for confirmation avoids accidentally deleting a file system.

Furthermore, when the   -f option is not specified, the operation is denied if    pv_path  already belongs toanother LVM volume group, or the  pv_path refers to a disk device under the control of the VERITAS or

Oracle ASM Volume Manager.

 After using   pvcreate to create a physical volume, use   vgcreate to add it to a new volume group or

 vgextend to add it to an existing volume group (see  vgcreate (1M) and  vgextend (1M)).

Disks cannot be added to a volume group until they are properly initialized by   pvcreate.

 pv_path can be made into a bootable disk by specifying the  -B option, which reserves space on the physi-

cal volume for boot-related data. This is a prerequisite for creating root volumes on logical volumes. If the specified   pv_path  does not have any active, boot capable path, then   pvcreate  will fail. Refer tovgcreate (1M) , mkboot (1M) , lvlnboot (1M) , and lif (4) for more information.

Options and Arguments pvcreate recognizes the following options and arguments:

 pv_path   The character (raw) device path name of a physical volume.

-b   Read from standard input the numbers that correspond to the indexes of allknown bad blocks on the physical volume,   pv_path , that is being created.

Specify the indexes using decimal, octal, or hexadecimal numbers in standard

C-language notation, with numbers separated by newline, tab, or formfeedcharacters. If this option is not used,   pvcreate  assumes that the physical

 volume contains no bad blocks.

This option is being retained solely for backward compatibility reasons and is

currently ignored. It will be obsoleted in the next HP-UX release.

-B   Make a bootable physical volume (that is, a system disk). On PA-RISC sys-

tems,  pv_path  should be the path name for the whole disk. On HP Integrity

systems, pv_path should be the path name for the disk section containing theHP-UX partition (see  model (1), getconf (1)).

NOTE:  Booting from a volume group version 2.0 or 2.1 is not supported. Only volume groups version 1.0 and 2.2 or higher support boot. Therefore,a physi-

cal volume initialized with the   -B option cannot be added to a volume group version 2.0 or 2.1.

-d   soft_defects   Specify the minimum number of bad blocks that LVM should reserve in orderto perform software bad block relocation. This number can be no larger than

7039. If not specified, one block is reserved for each 8K of data blocks.

This option is being retained solely for backward compatibility reasons and iscurrently ignored. It will be obsoleted in the next HP-UX release.

-s   disk_size   Effective size of the physical volume to be created, specified in kilobytes (KB).

NOTE:  This option is only supported on version 1.0 volume groups. When a

physical volume is added to a volume group version 2.0 or higher any value setusing the   -s option is replaced with the full size of the disk (up to the max-

imum physical volume size).

-f   Force the creation of a physical volume (thus deleting any file system or

 volume manager information present) without first requesting confirmation.

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pvcreate(1M) pvcreate(1M)

Warning:  The -f option should only be used as a last resort to over write file

system or volume manager information that cannot properly be removed using 

the commands designed for that purpose. When invoked with   -f, the com-mand does minimal verification, so care should be taken to assure that the

disk is not already in use  prior to invoking the command.

-t   disk_type   Retrieve configuration information about the physical volume from the file

/etc/disktab.   disk_type specifies the device (for example, hp7959S).

The  disk_type only needs to be specified when   pvcreate fails to get the size

from the underlying disk driver. If the driver successfully returns the size of 

the device,  disk_type is ignored.

NoteThe user data size of the same physical volume may differ, when initialized by   pvcreate  commandunder different releases of HP-UX.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCESEnvironment Variables

LANG determines the language in which messages are displayed.

If  LANG is not specified or is null, it defaults to "C" (see  lang (5)).

If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, all internationalization variables defaultto "C" (see  environ (5)).

EXAMPLESCreate a physical volume on raw device   /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0, and force the creation without

confirmation:

 pvcreate -f /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0

Create a bootable physical volume for an HP Integrity system on raw device   /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s2,

and force the creation without confirmation:

 pvcreate -fB /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s2

WARNINGSIf you are using  pvcreate command on an HP Integrity system boot disk, ensure that the specified dev-

ice special file correspond to the HP-UX partition. For example,

 pvcreate /dev/rdsk/c1t1d0s2

 pvcreate initializes only the first 2,147,483,647 Kilobytes (2TB - 1KB) of disk space when the disk sizeexceeds this value. Disk space beyond this point will not be used by LVM.

FILES/etc/disktab   Disk geometry and disk partition characteristics for all disk devices on the system

SEE ALSOgetconf(1), model(1), idisk(1M), lvlnboot(1M), lvrmboot(1M), mkboot(1M), vgcreate(1M), vgextend(1M),

lif(4), intro(7), lvm(7).

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