VGCFGBACKUP(8)

📦
version 2.03.44 · 14 versions
, in arch rolling

💾 VGCFGBACKUP — okay bestie, we're backing up volume group configs (section: NAME) 🌸

the manual page for vgcfgbackup(8) from the System Manager's Manual, rewritten with love 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

okay so here's the whole vibe, precisely, no notes:

vgcfgbackup
       [ option_args ]
       [ position_args ]

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

bestie. listen. vgcfgbackup creates backup files containing metadata of VGs. that's the whole girlboss moment. and if you don't name any VGs? it just does it for all of them. iconic. lowkey overachieving. 💅

wanna know how to use those backup files? go read vgcfgrestore(8), she's the one who handles using the back up files.

in a default installation, each VG is backed up into its own separate file, bearing the name of the VG, sitting pretty in the directory /etc/lvm/backup. she has a little home. 🏠

and if you want a different backup file? use -f. but here's the tea: when you're backing up multiple VGs, the file name is treated as a template, with %s replaced by the VG name. so don't be confused when your filename does a transformation on you. 🦋

NB. This DOES NOT back up the data content of LVs. like. at all. it's metadata only, gorgeous. don't come for me when your LV data isn't in there. 😭

oh and it may also be useful to regularly back up the files in /etc/lvm. just saying. keep them close. keep them safe. 🫶

👑 USAGE 👑

vgcfgbackup
       [ -f|--file String ]
       [ --foreign ]
       [ --ignorelockingfailure ]
       [ --readonly ]
       [ --reportformat basic|json|json_std ]
       [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
       [ VG ... ]

—

common options for lvm, the whole squad:

[ -d|--debug ... ]
[ -h|--help ]
[ -q|--quiet ... ]
[ -t|--test ]
[ -v|--verbose ... ]
[ -y|--yes ]
[ --commandprofile String ]
[ --config String ]
[ --devices PV ]
[ --devicesfile String ]
[ --driverloaded y|n ]
[ --journal String ]
[ --lockopt String ]
[ --longhelp ]
[ --nohints ]
[ --nolocking ]
[ --profile String ]
[ --version ]

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈 (section: OPTIONS, but make it fashion)

  • --commandprofile String — the command profile to use for command configuration. check lvm.conf(5) for more info about profiles, she explains it better than me ngl.
  • --config String — config settings for the command. these override the lvm.conf(5) settings. the String arg uses the same format as lvm.conf(5), or you can use section/field syntax instead. again, lvm.conf(5) has the full story about config. 💜
  • -d, --debug ... — set the debug level. repeat it from 1 to 6 times to increase the detail of messages sent to the log file and/or syslog (if configured). rip it, rip it, rip it again. 🔥
  • --devices PV — restricts the devices that are visible and accessible to the command. devices not listed will appear to be missing (spooky 👻 but intentional). this option can be repeated, or it accepts a comma-separated list of devices. and heads up: this overrides the devices file.
  • --devicesfile String — a file listing devices that LVM should use. the file must exist in /etc/lvm/devices/ and is managed with the lvmdevices(8) command. this overrides the lvm.conf(5) devices/devicesfile and devices/use_devicesfile settings. two settings. yes. both. 💅
  • --driverloaded y|n — if set to no, the command will not attempt to use device-mapper. for testing and debugging purposes only, bestie.
  • -f, --file String — write the backup to the named file. when backing up more than one VG, the file name is treated as a template, and %s is replaced by the VG name. 🎀
  • --foreign — report/display foreign VGs that would otherwise be skipped. see lvmsystemid(7) for more information about foreign VGs. give the outsiders a moment in the spotlight ✨
  • -h, --help — display help text. classic. dependable. we love her. 🫶
  • --ignorelockingfailure — allows a command to continue with read-only metadata operations after locking failures. like okay, locks broke, we carry on anyway, but carefully.
  • --journal String — record information in the systemd journal. this information is in addition to information enabled by the lvm.conf log/journal setting. the values: command: records information about the command. output: records the default command output. debug: records full command debugging. pick your fighter 🥊
  • --lockopt String — used to pass options for special cases to lvmlockd. see lvmlockd(8) for more information. special cases only, she's exclusive.
  • --longhelp — display long help text. the extended cut. director's commentary. 🎬
  • --nohints — do not use the hints file to locate devices for PVs. a command may read more devices to find PVs when hints are not used. the command will still perform standard hint file invalidation where appropriate though, don't worry. 🙈
  • --nolocking — disable locking. use with caution, concurrent commands may produce incorrect results. this is the risky little outfit bestie, wear responsibly. ⚠️
  • --profile String — an alias for --commandprofile or --metadataprofile, depending on the command. she's versatile like that.
  • -q, --quiet ... — suppress output and log messages. overrides --debug and --verbose. repeat it once to also suppress any prompts with answer no. so -qq is automatic no forever. 💀
  • --readonly — prevent the command from making changes, including activation and metadata updates. (see --permission r for read only LVs.)
  • --reportformat basic|json|json_std — overrides the current output format for reports, which is defined globally by the report/output_format setting in lvm.conf(5). basic is the original format with columns and rows. if there is more than one report per command, each report is prefixed with the report name for identification. json produces report output in JSON format. json_std produces report output in JSON format which is more compliant with the JSON standard. see lvmreport(7) for more information. ok standards queen 💅
  • -t, --test — run in test mode. commands will not update metadata. this is implemented by disabling all metadata writing but nevertheless returning success to the calling function. which means: it may lead to unusual error messages in multi-stage operations if a tool relies on reading back metadata it believes has changed but hasn't. dramatic but true. 😭
  • -v, --verbose ... — set verbose level. repeat from 1 to 4 times to increase the detail of messages sent to stdout and stderr. more -v more talk, always.
  • --version — display version information. the "who even am i" option. 💖
  • -y, --yes — do not prompt for confirmation interactively but always assume the answer yes. use with extreme caution. (for automatic no, see -qq.) no cap, this one is dangerous bestie. 🔥

🧚 VARIABLES 🧚

  • VG — Volume Group name. see lvm(8) for valid names. 🍓
  • String — see the option description for information about the string content. it's giving "figure it out from context" but that's literally what it says, i'm not gatekeeping.
  • Size[UNIT] — Size is an input number that accepts an optional unit. input units are always treated as base two values, regardless of capitalization, e.g. 'k' and 'K' both refer to 1024. the default input unit is specified by letter, followed by |UNIT. UNIT represents other possible input units: b|B is bytes, s|S is sectors of 512 bytes, k|K is KiB, m|M is MiB, g|G is GiB, t|T is TiB, p|P is PiB, e|E is EiB. (this should not be confused with the output control --units, where capital letters mean multiple of 1000.) okay so capital letters mean different things in different places, yes, it's chaos, we cope. 💀

🌸 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌸

see lvm(8) for information about environment variables used by lvm. for example, LVM_VG_NAME can generally be substituted for a required VG parameter. it's giving ✨ short ✨ and ✨ sweet ✨ and honestly iconic. 🦋

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

the whole friend group, in their exact groupings:

lvm(8), lvm.conf(5), lvmconfig(8), lvmdevices(8),

pvchange(8), pvck(8), pvcreate(8), pvdisplay(8), pvmove(8), pvremove(8), pvresize(8), pvs(8), pvscan(8),

vgcfgbackup(8), vgcfgrestore(8), vgchange(8), vgck(8), vgcreate(8), vgconvert(8), vgdisplay(8), vgexport(8), vgextend(8), vgimport(8), vgimportclone(8), vgimportdevices(8), vgmerge(8), vgmknodes(8), vgreduce(8), vgremove(8), vgrename(8), vgs(8), vgscan(8), vgsplit(8),

lvcreate(8), lvchange(8), lvconvert(8), lvdisplay(8), lvextend(8), lvreduce(8), lvremove(8), lvrename(8), lvresize(8), lvs(8), lvscan(8),

lvm-fullreport(8), lvm-lvpoll(8), blkdeactivate(8), lvmdump(8),

dmeventd(8), lvmpolld(8), lvmlockd(8), lvmlockctl(8), lvmdbusd(8), fsadm(8),

lvmsystemid(7), lvmreport(7), lvmcache(7), lvmraid(7), lvmthin(7), lvmvdo(7), lvmautoactivation(7)

and that's the whole page bestie, you ate, you understood the assignment, go back up them volume groups 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶

this little masterpiece was brought to you by Red Hat, Inc., running LVM TOOLS 2.03.44(2) from 2026-10-27 — mwah, kisses, take care of your metadata, periodt 👑🌈⭐

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