VGCFGRESTORE(8)

📦
version 2.03.44 · 14 versions
, in arch rolling

💖 VGCFGRESTORE(8) 💖

okay bestie, so this is vgcfgrestore from the System Manager's Manual — the LVM glow-up that puts your volume group's metadata back from a backup file. Think of it as the undo button, but make it dramatic. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

vgcfgrestore — bestie, it restores volume group configuration. that's the whole vibe. 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

vgcfgrestore option_args position_args
       [ option_args ]
       [ position_args ]

        --commandprofile String
        --config String
     -d|--debug ...
        --devices PV
        --devicesfile String
        --driverloaded y|n
     -f|--file String
        --force ...
     -h|--help
        --journal String
     -l|--list
        --lockopt String
        --longhelp
     -M|--metadatatype lvm2
        --nohints
        --nolocking
        --profile String
     -q|--quiet ...
     -t|--test
     -v|--verbose ...
        --version
     -y|--yes

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So vgcfgrestore restores the metadata of a VG from a text backup file produced by vgcfgbackup(8). It writes that VG metadata onto the devices specified in the backup file. literally putting your config back where it belongs. 💅

You can point at a specific backup file with --file. If you don't specify one, the most recent one gets used. And if you wanna see what's even available, use --list for a list of the available backup and archive files of a VG. ✨

WARNING: When a VG contains thin pools, changes to thin metadata cannot be reverted, and data loss may occur if thin metadata has changed. The force option is required to restore in this case. not me being dramatic — this one is fr fr serious. 😭

🌈 USAGE 🌈

Restore VG metadata from last backup.

vgcfgrestore VG
       [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]

—

Restore VG metadata from specified file.

vgcfgrestore -f|--file String VG
       [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]

—

List all VG metadata backups.

vgcfgrestore -l|--list VG
       [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]

—

List one VG metadata backup file.

vgcfgrestore -f|--file String -l|--list
       [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]
       [ VG ]

—

Common options for command:

[ -M|--metadatatype lvm2 ]
[ --force ... ]

Common options for lvm:

[ -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 💅

every single one, no skips, we don't do that here 🫶

  • --commandprofile String — the command profile to use for command configuration. Peep lvm.conf(5) for more info about profiles. 💜
  • --config String — config settings for the command, and these override lvm.conf(5) settings. The String arg uses the same format as lvm.conf(5), or it can use section/field syntax. lvm.conf(5) has the deets on config. ✨
  • -d,--debug ... — set debug level. Repeat from 1 to 6 times to increase the detail of messages sent to the log file and/or syslog (if configured). more repeats = more yapping 🔥
  • --devices PV — restricts the devices that are visible and accessible to the command. Devices not listed will appear to be missing. This option can be repeated, or it accepts a comma-separated list of devices. 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. 🎀
  • --driverloaded y|n — if set to no, the command will not attempt to use device-mapper. for testing and debugging. 🧚
  • -f,--file String — read metadata backup from the named file. Usually this file was created by vgcfgbackup. 🌸
  • --force ... — force metadata restore even with thin pool LVs. Use with extreme caution. Most changes to thin metadata cannot be reverted. You may lose data if you restore metadata that does not match the thin pool kernel metadata precisely. this is the "hold my boba" option, pls don't 😭
  • -h,--help — display help text. 🫶
  • --journal String — record information in the systemd journal. This information is in addition to information enabled by the lvm.conf log/journal setting. command: record information about the command. output: record the default command output. debug: record full command debugging. 📓
  • -l,--list — list metadata backup and archive files pertaining to the VG. May be used with --file. Does not restore the VG. just lookin', not touchin' 👑 (see -t,--test)
  • --lockopt String — used to pass options for special cases to lvmlockd. See lvmlockd(8) for more information. 🔐
  • --longhelp — display long help text. the full essay version 📚
  • -M,--metadatatype lvm2 — specifies the type of on-disk metadata to use. lvm2 (or just 2) is the current, standard format. lvm1 (or just 1) is no longer used. rip lvm1, you had your era 💀
  • --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. 🦋
  • --nolocking — disable locking. Use with caution, concurrent commands may produce incorrect results. ⚠️
  • --profile String — an alias for --commandprofile or --metadataprofile, depending on the command. ✨
  • -q,--quiet ... — suppress output and log messages. Overrides --debug and --verbose. Repeat once to also suppress any prompts with answer 'no'. 🤫
  • -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. This 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. fake it till you make it (but it's not writing anything, bestie) 🙈
  • -v,--verbose ... — set verbose level. Repeat from 1 to 4 times to increase the detail of messages sent to stdout and stderr. 🗣️
  • --version — display version information. 🎀
  • -y,--yes — do not prompt for confirmation interactively but always assume the answer yes. Use with extreme caution. (For automatic no, see -qq.) 💅

🍓 VARIABLES 🍓

  • VG — Volume Group name. See lvm(8) for valid names. 👑
  • String — see the option description for information about the string content. 📝
  • 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.) 🔢

💜 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. so you don't always gotta type the VG name, the env var has your back 🫶

⭐ NOTES ⭐

To replace PVs, vgdisplay --partial --verbose will show the UUIDs and sizes of any PVs that are no longer present. If a PV in the VG is lost and you wish to substitute another of the same size, use pvcreate --restorefile filename --uuid uuid (plus additional arguments as appropriate) to initialise it with the same UUID as the missing PV. Repeat for all other missing PVs in the VG. Then use vgcfgrestore --file filename to restore the VG's metadata. the whole procedure, step by step, you got this bestie 🧚✨

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

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)

okay that's the whole page, no cap. 💖

sign-off, bestie: this absolute icon of a manpage is brought to you by Red Hat, Inc. 🌸 — it's LVM TOOLS 2.03.44(2) and it was dated (2026-10-27). go forth and restore responsibly, and remember: back up your backups. 🎀✨🦋
📦 where this page comes from