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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]
       [--[pv]metadatacopies#copies]                      [--metadatasizesize]
       [--dataalignmentalignment]      [--dataalignmentoffsetalignment_offset]
       [--restorefilefile]    [--setphysicalvolumesizesize]    [-u|--uuiduuid]
       [--version] [-Z|--zeroy|n] PhysicalVolume [PhysicalVolume...]

DESCRIPTION

       pvcreate initializes PhysicalVolume for later use by the Logical Volume
       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
       PhysicalVolume,  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 restoring 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 --restorefile 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
       setting format = "lvm2"  in  the  global  section  of  lvm.conf.   Each
       physical  volume in the same volume group must use the same format, but
       different  volume  groups  on  a  machine  may  use  different  formats
       simultaneously:  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
              metadata area.  (The size you specify may get rounded.)

       --dataalignment alignment
              Align  the  start of the data to a multiple of this number.  You
              should  also  specify  an  appropriate  PhysicalExtentSize  when
              creating the Volume Group with vgcreate.

              To  see the location of the first Physical Extent of an existing
              Physical Volume use pvs -o +pe_start .  It will be a multiple of
              the  requested  alignment.   In  addition  it  may be shifted by
              alignment_offset   from   data_alignment_offset_detection    (if
              enabled in lvm.conf) or --dataalignmentoffset.

       --dataalignmentoffset alignment_offset
              Shift   the   start   of   the  data  area  by  this  additional
              alignment_offset.

       --[pv]metadatacopies copies
              The number of metadata areas to set aside on each PV.  Currently
              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 metadata  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
              consistent with the contents  of  the  file  i.e.  the  physical
              extents will be in the same place and not get overwritten by new
              metadata.  This provides a mechanism  to  upgrade  the  metadata
              format  or to add/remove metadata areas. Use with care. See also
              vgconvert(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.

EXAMPLES

       Initialize partition #4 on the third SCSI disk  and  the  entire  fifth
       SCSI disk for later use by LVM:

       pvcreate /dev/sdc4 /dev/sde

       If the 2nd SCSI disk is a 4KB sector drive that compensates for windows
       partitioning (sector 7 is the lowest aligned  logical  block,  the  4KB
       sectors start at LBA -1, and consequently sector 63 is aligned on a 4KB
       boundary) manually account for this when initializing for use by LVM:

       pvcreate --dataalignmentoffset 7s /dev/sdb

SEE ALSO

       lvm.conf(5), lvm(8), vgcreate(8), vgextend(8), lvcreate(8),  cfdisk(8),
       fdisk(8), losetup(8), mdadm(8), vgcfgrestore(8), vgconvert(8)