LVM (Logical Volume Manager) Cheat Sheet

1. Basic Terms

• Physical Volume (PV): The physical disk or partition.
• Volume Group (VG): A combination of multiple PVs into a storage pool.
• Logical Volume (LV): A virtual partition within a VG.

2. Create PV

pvcreate /dev/sdX  # Create a PV on /dev/sdX
pvdisplay          # Display PV information

3. Create VG

vgcreate vg_name /dev/sdX /dev/sdY  # Create a VG from two PVs
vgdisplay                           # Display VG information

4. Create LV

lvcreate -L 10G -n lv_name vg_name  # Create an LV with 10 GB in the VG
lvdisplay                           # Display LV information

5. Create filesystem on LV and mount

mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg_name/lv_name        # Create an ext4 filesystem
mount /dev/vg_name/lv_name /mnt/point # Mount the LV

6. Extend LV

lvextend -L +5G /dev/vg_name/lv_name      # Extend the LV by 5 GB
resize2fs /dev/vg_name/lv_name            # Resize the filesystem (ext4)

7. Shrink LV

umount /dev/vg_name/lv_name            # Unmount the LV first
resize2fs /dev/vg_name/lv_name 10G     # Shrink the filesystem
lvreduce -L 10G /dev/vg_name/lv_name   # Reduce the LV to 10 GB
mount /dev/vg_name/lv_name /mnt/point  # Remount the LV

8. Remove LV

umount /dev/vg_name/lv_name  # Unmount the LV
lvremove /dev/vg_name/lv_name  # Remove the LV

9. Extend VG

vgextend vg_name /dev/sdZ  # Add a new PV to a VG

10. Remove VG

vgremove vg_name  # Remove the VG

11. Remove PV

pvremove /dev/sdX  # Remove the PV