AIX Logical Volume Manager (LVM)

This is a quick cheat sheet on LVM using AIX, I have highlighted many of the common attributes for
each command however this is not an extensive list, make sure you look up the command.
First a quick review on some of the terminology that AIX LVM uses
Examples
PHYSICAL VOLUME
(PV)

What it means
Represents a hard disk (hdisk0).

PHYSICAL PARTITION The smallest allocation unit in the LVM. All PPs within a VG are the
(PP)
same size, usually 4 or 8 MB.
VOLUME GROUP (VG)

A set of one or more PVs which form a single storage pool. You can
define multiple VGs on each AIX system.

LOGICAL VOLUME
(LV)

One or more PPs. A file system resides on top of an LV. Only one LV is
mapped to a file system. A LV can't span across a VG. Up to 255 LVs in a
VG

LOGICAL PARITITION One or more PPs. LP represents a mirrored copy of a PP. Up to two
(LP)
copies of a PP can be mirrored resulting in a LP count of three (2 mirrors
plus original).
Volume Group Descriptor Information about all the LVs and PVs within a VG. The first 64K of a
Area (VGDA)
PV is reserved for this area - defined in <sys/bootrecord.h>.
The VGDA consists of
BOOTRECORD: - first 512 bytes. Allows the Read Only
System (ROS) to boot system
BAD BLK DIRECTORY - found in <sys/bddir.h>
LVM RECORD - found in <lvmrec.h>
Volume Group Status Area Information about which PPs that are stale and which PVs are missing
(VGSA)
within a VG. The LVM and SCSI driver reserves somewhere between 710% of the available disk space for LVM maps, etc.
Physical Volume ID
(PVID)

The PVID is an amalgamation of the machines serial number (from the

systems EPROMs) and the date that the PVID is being generated. This
combination insures theextremely low chance of two disks being created
with the same PVID. Finally, when a system is booted, the disk
congurator goes and looks at the PVID sitting on each disk platter and
then compares that to an entry in ODM. If the entry is found, then the
disk is given the hdiskX name that is associated with the ODM entry for
the PVID.

Quorum

Quorum is a sort of sanity check that LVM uses to resolve possible

data coniction and prevent data corruption. Quorum
is a method by which 51% or more quorum votes must be available to a
volume group before LVM actions can continue.
Quorum is issued to a disk in a volume group according to how the disk

was created within the volume group. When a

volume group consists of one disk, there are two VGDAs on that disk.
Thus, this single disk volume group has a quorum
vote of 2. When another disk is added to the volume group with an
extendvg, then this new disk gets one VGDA, but the
original, rst disk still retains the two VGDAs. When the volume group
has been extended to three disks, the third disk
gets the spare VGDA sitting on the rst disk and then each disk has a
quorum vote of 1. Every disk after the third disk is
automatically given one VGDA, and thus one vote.
Volume Group ID (VGID) Just as the PVID is a soft serial number for a disk, the VGID is the soft
serial number for the volume group. It is this serial
number, not the volume groups ascii name, which all low level LVM
commands reference. Additionally, it is the basis for
the LVIDs created on that VGID.
Logical Volume Control
Block (LVCB)

The logical volume control block (lvcb) consists of the rst 512 bytes of
a logical volume. This area holds important
information such as the creation date of the logical volume, information
about mirrored copies, and possible mount points
in a journaled lesystem.

Logical Volume ID (LVID) The LVID is the soft serial number used to represent the logical volume
to the LVM libraries and low level commands. The
LVID is created from the VGID of the volume group, a decimal point,
and a number which represents the order which the
logical volume was created on the volume group.
Now for the cheet sheet
Directory and Files
Directories and Files
Tools
diag - used to hot swap the disk
cfgmgr - used mak sure the new disk is seen
diagnostic
# to add new disk from the scsi0 controller
cfgmgr -l scsi0
cfgmgr -l scsi0
Create/Remove hard
mkdev -c disk -l <pv>
disk
rmdev -dl <pv>
Physical Volumes
display

lspv
lspv <pv>
lspv -l <pv>
lspv -p <pv>

PVID

chdev -l <pv> -a pv=yes

(detailed)
(list logical volumes)
(physical partition usage)

chdev -l <pv> -a pv=clear

Note: PVID's are automatically added when the disk is placed into a vg
adding

chdev -l <pv> -a pv=yes (new)

chpv -v a <pv>
(adds back the removed disk)

removing

chpv -v r <pv>

change physical
attributes

chpv -a y <pv>
chpv -a n <pv>

moving

migratepv <old pv> <new pv>

(changes allocatable state to YES)

(changes allocatable state to NO)
Volume Groups

lsvg
lsvg <vg>
(detailed)
lsvg -l <vg>
(list all logical volumes in goup)
lsvg -p <vg>
(list all physical volumes in group)
lsvg -o
(lists all varied on)
lsvg -M <vg>
(lists assicated disks and state)
display

## Details volume group info for the hard disk

lqueryvg -Atp <pv>
lqueryvg -p <disk> -v
(Determine the VG ID# on disk)
lqueryvg -p <disk> -L
(Show all the LV ID#/names in the VG on
disk)
lqueryvg -p <disk> -P
(Show all the PV ID# that reside in the VG on
disk)
varyonvg <vg>
varyonvg -f <vg> (force)
varyonvg -s <vg> (maintenance mode can use VG commands but lv 's
cannot be opened for i/o access)

varyon

varyoffvg <vg>
Note: the varyon command activiates the volume goup which means it is
available for use
## Determine if the ODM and VGDA are correct (in sync)
getlvodm -u <vg>

ODM related

## tries to resync VGDA, LV control blocks and ODM

synclvodm <vg>
## If the message 0516-366 lsvg: Volume group <vg> is locked is ever seen
putlvodm -K `gtlvodm -v <vg>`

creating

mkvg -y <vg> -s <PP size> <pv>

mkvg -y datavg -s 4 hdisk1

Note: the PP size will be the size of the physical partition size you want 4MB,
8MB
extending

extendvg <vg> <pv>

reducevg -d <vg> <pv>

reducing

## removes the PVID from the VGDA when a disk has vanished without
using the reducevg command
reducevg <vg> <PVID>
varyoffvg <vg>
exportvg <vg>

removing
Note: the export command nukes everything regardingthe volume goup in the
ODM and /etc/filesystems
## check to see if underlying disk has grown in size
chvg -g <vg>
checking

change volume
attributes

Note: use this command if you are using SAN LUN's that have increased in
size
## auto vary on a volume at system start
chvg -a y
# Turns on/off quorum checking on a volume group
chvg -Q [y|n] <vg>

renaming

varyoffvg <old vg name>

lsvg -p <old vg name>
exportvg <old vg name>
import -y <new vg name> <pv>
varyonvg <new vg name>
mount -a

importing

importvg -y <vg> <pv>

importvg <pv>

exporting

(obtain disk names)

(will use rootvg as default vg)

varyoffvg <vg>
exportvg <vg>
Note: if the volume has an active paging space this must be turned off before
Logical Volumes

display

lslv <lv>
lslv -l <lv>
lslv -m <lv>

(list all physical volumes in logical volume)

(list ppartition mapping)

## Display lv control block information

getlvcb -AT <lv>

mklv <vg> <# of PP's> <pv>
mklv -y <lv name> <vg> <# of PP's> <pv>
creating

## Create a mirrored named logical volume

mklv -y <lv> -c <copies 2 or 3> <vg> <# of PP's> <pv>
## create a JFSlog logical Volume
mklv -y <lv name> -t jfslog <vg> <# of PP's> <pv>

extending

extendlv <lv> <additonal # of PP's>

extendlv <lv> <size of volume in B||M|G>

reducing/resizing

see filesystem below

removing

rmlv <lv>

moving

migratepv -l <lv> <old pv> <new pv>

adding a mirror to a
mklvcopy -s n <lv> <copies 2 or 3> <pv>
non-mirrored volume
rmlvcopy <lv> <copies 1 or 2>
removing a mirror
rmlvcopy <lv> <copies 1 or 2> <pv>
copy from a mirrored
volume
unmirrorvg <vg> <pv>
synchronize logical
volume

syncvg -p <pv>
syncvg -v <vg>
syncvg -l <lv>

mirror any
unmirrored volumes

mirrorvg <vg> <pv>

change volume
attributes

(specified pv)

## Enable the bad-block relocation policy

chlv -b [y|n] <lv>

renaming

chlv -n <new lv name> <old lv name>

Miscellaneous

## Initialises an LV for use as an JFSlog

logform </dev/lv>
Filesystems
lsfs
lsfs -q <fs>

(detailed)

display
Note: use the '-q' to see if the logical volume size is bigger than the filesystem
size
create

## create new filesystem, -A means to mount after restart

crfs -v jfs -d <lv> -m <mountpoint> -A yes
## Create logical volume, filesystem, mountpoint, add entry to

/etc/filesystems at the specified size

crfs -v jfs2 -g <vg> -m <mountpoint> -a size=<size in 512k blocks|M|G) -A
yes
Note: there are two types of filesystems jfs and jfs2, jfs2 allows you to
decrease the filesystem size , you cannot reduce a jfs filesystem
rmfs <fs>
remove

Note: if all filesystems have been removed from a logical volume then the
logical volume is removed as well.
chfs -a size=<new size> <fs>

resize

chfs -a size=1G /var

chfs -a size=+1G /var
chfs -a size=-1GB /var

(specific size, can be used to increase and decrease)

(increase by 1GB)
(reduce by 1GB)

Note: this will automatically increase or decrease the underlying logical

volume as well
freeze/unfreeze

chfs -a freeze=<time in seconds> <fs>

chfs -a freeze=off <fs>
chfs -a splitcopy=<split copy mountpoint>-a copy=2 <fs>

split mirrored copy

chfs -a splitcopy=/backup -a copy=2 /testfs
## Change the mountpoint
chfs -m <new mountpoint> <fs>
change

## Do not mount after a restart

chfs -A no <fs>
## Mount read-only
chfs -p ro <fs>

mount

mount
mount [<fs>|<lv>]
mount -a
mount all

defrag

defragfs -q <fs>
defragfs -r <fs>
defragfs <fs>

checking and
repairing

fsck [-y|-n] <fs>

fsck -p <fs>
corrupt)

(report defrag status)

(runs in report only mode - no action)
(actually defrags the filesystem)
(check a filesystem)
(restores primary superblock from backup copy if
Miscellaneous

Complete VG, LV and ## Create the volume group

mkvg -s 256 -y datavg hdisk2

## Create the jfs2 log logical volume and initialize it this for the volume group
mklv -t jfs2log -y dataloglv datavg 1
logform /dev/dataloglv
## Create the logical volume
mklv -t jfs2 -y data01lv datavg 8
## Create the filesystems that will use the logical volume
crfs -v jfs -d data01lv -m /data01 -A yes
## Add an additional hard disk to the volume group
extendvg datavg hdisk3
FS with mirroring
example

## Now mirror both the volume group log logical volume and the logical
volume
mklvcopy dataloglv 2
mklvcopy data01lv 2
## Make sure everything is sync'ed both the log and the logical volume
syncvg -v datavg
## Make sure everything is OK
lsvg -l datavg
## a quick way to perform the above in two steps
mklv -c 2 -t jfs2 -y data02lv datavg 8
crfs -v jfs -d data02lv -m /data02 -A yes
## mount everything and check
mount -a

Replaced failed
mirror drive

## break the mirror (two ways to do this)

rmlvcopy <lv name> 1 <broken disk>
unmirrorvg <lv> <broken pv >
## remove the disk from the vg
reducevg <vgname> <broken pv >
## remove the hdisk from ODM
rmdev -dl <broken pv>
## physically replace the disk
diag -> function select -> task selection -> hot plug task -> scsi and scsi raid
hot plug manager -> replace/remove a device attached to an scsi hot swap
enclosure device -> select disk and follow instructions

## configure new disk an check the new number (hopefully the same)
cfgmgr -v
lsdev -Cc <pv>
## add back to volume group
extendvg <vg> <pv>
## create mirror (two ways to do this)
mklvcopy <lv> 2 <pv>
mirrorvg <lv>
## sync mirror
syncvg -l <lv>
## If this is the rootvg there are additonal steps to take
bosboot -ad /dev/<pv>
bootlist -m normal <pv> <pv>
bootlist -m normal -o
## This procedure places back a mirror disk that you have accidently pulled or
that a SAN LUN disappeared off the network
## and its states is classed as "missing"
## see that the disk is in a missing state (see PV state column), also see stale
volumes
lsvg -p <vg>
lsvg -M <vg>
## To make the disk active again we use the varyonvg command
varyonvg <vg>

Accidently remove a
mirrored disk or SAN
LUN disappeared off ## see that the disk is in a active state (see PV state column)
lsvg -p <vg>
the network
## Now re-sync the volumes in that volume group
syncvg -v <vg>
## Make sure that no volumes are stale
lsvg -M <vg>
## Determine if the ODM and VGDA are correct (in sync)
getlvodm -u <vg>