VGEXTEND(8)

📦
version 2.03.44 · 14 versions
, in arch rolling

🦋 VGEXTEND — the vgextend(8) glow-up 🦋

okay bestie, gather round, because this one is literally the "make my volume group bigger" command and she is iconic for it. it lives in section 8 of the System Manager's Manual (system admin girlies rise up 💅), and by the end of this page you're gonna be adding PVs to VGs like it's nothing. no cap.

✨ NAME ✨

vgextend — Add physical volumes to a volume group. that's it, that's the vibe. she extends, she adds, she slays. 🌸

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

vgextend option_args position_args
       [ option_args ]

like, the shape of it is: command, then options, then the position args (which are the what and the where), and optionally more options. classic. 💖

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

so vgextend adds one or more PVs to a VG. and the way that this increases the space available for LVs in the VG?? obsessed. more room for your logical volumes, periodt.

also — and this is the underrated part — PVs that have gone missing and then returned (say, because of a transient device failure, the flaky little diva 🙈) can be added back to the VG without re-initializing them. check --restoremissing for that one, iykyk.

and if the PVs you specified have not yet been initialized with pvcreate, vgextend will just... initialize them for you. main character energy honestly. in that case you can use pvcreate options like --labelsector, --metadatasize, --metadataignore, --pvmetadatacopies, --dataalignment, --dataalignmentoffset. 🫶

🔥 USAGE 🔥

vgextend VG PV ...
       [ -A|--autobackup y|n ]
       [ -f|--force ... ]
       [ -M|--metadatatype lvm2 ]
       [ -Z|--zero y|n ]
       [ --dataalignment Size[k|UNIT] ]
       [ --dataalignmentoffset Size[k|UNIT] ]
       [ --labelsector Number ]
       [ --metadataignore y|n ]
       [ --metadatasize Size[m|UNIT] ]
       [ --pvmetadatacopies 0|1|2 ]
       [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]

—

vgextend --restoremissing VG PV ...
       [ COMMON_OPTIONS ]

—

Common options for command:

[ --reportformat basic|json|json_std ]

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 💅

  • -A, --autobackup y|n — tells you whether metadata should be backed up automatically after a change. turning this ON is strongly advised — like, pls bestie, do it. peek at vgcfgbackup(8) for the deets.
  • --commandprofile String — the command profile to use for command configuration. lvm.conf(5) has the whole story on profiles if you wanna get into it.
  • --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 the section/field syntax. again, lvm.conf(5) for more on config. ✨
  • --dataalignment Size[k|UNIT] — aligns the start of a PV data area with a multiple of this number. wanna see where the first Physical Extent (PE) of an existing PV is sitting? run pvs -o +pe_start. also, it can be shifted by an alignment offset — see --dataalignmentoffset. and don't forget to specify an appropriate PE size when creating a VG, okay? 🎀
  • --dataalignmentoffset Size[k|UNIT] — shifts the start of the PV data area by this additional offset. lil nudge. 🦋
  • -d, --debug ... — sets the debug level. repeat it 1 to 6 times to crank up the detail of messages sent to the log file and/or syslog (if configured). more -d = more tea. ☕
  • --devices PV — restricts which devices are visible and accessible to the command. devices you don't list will appear to be missing 👀. can be repeated, or you can hand it a comma-separated list of devices. this overrides the devices file.
  • --devicesfile String — a file listing devices that LVM should use. the file has to exist in /etc/lvm/devices/ and it's managed with the lvmdevices(8) command. this overrides the lvm.conf(5) devices/devicesfile and devices/use_devicesfile settings.
  • --driverloaded y|n — if you set it to no, the command will not attempt to use device-mapper. for testing and debugging, bestie. 🧚
  • -f, --force ... — overrides various checks, confirmations and protections. use with EXTREME caution — this one does not play. 💀
  • -h, --help — displays help text. your little bestie when you forget things (me too).
  • --journal String — records information in the systemd journal. this is in addition to whatever the lvm.conf log/journal setting already enables. options: command: records info about the command. output: records the default command output. debug: records full command debugging. journaling, but make it extra. 📓
  • --labelsector Number — by default the PV is labelled with an LVM2 identifier in its second sector (sector 1). this option 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. ⚠️
  • --lockopt String — used to pass options for special cases to lvmlockd. lvmlockd(8) has more info.
  • --longhelp — displays the long help text. the deluxe version. 👑
  • --metadataignore y|n — specifies the metadataignore property of a PV. if yes, metadata areas on the PV are ignored and lvm will not store metadata in the metadata areas of the PV. if no, lvm will store metadata on the PV. pick your fighter.
  • --metadatasize Size[m|UNIT] — the approximate amount of space used for each VG metadata area. note: the size may be rounded. approximate, she's chill like that. 🌸
  • -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 were real. 💀
  • --nohints — do not use the hints file to locate devices for PVs. a command may read more devices to find PVs when hints aren't used. the command will still perform standard hint file invalidation where appropriate, so it's not a total chaos gremlin.
  • --nolocking — disables locking. use with caution — concurrent commands may produce incorrect results. this is the "trust nobody, not even the lock" option. 😭
  • --profile String — an alias for --commandprofile or --metadataprofile, depending on the command. she's flexible like that.
  • --pvmetadatacopies 0|1|2 — the number of metadata areas to set aside on a PV for storing VG metadata. when 2, one copy of the VG metadata is stored at the front of the PV and a second copy is stored at the end. when 1, one copy of the VG metadata is stored at the front of the PV. when 0, no copies of the VG metadata are stored on the given PV. this may be useful in VGs containing many PVs — but heads up, this places limitations on the ability to use vgsplit later. consequences, bestie. 🫠
  • -q, --quiet ... — suppress output and log messages. overrides --debug and --verbose. repeat it once to also suppress any prompts with answer no. shhh. 🤫
  • --reportformat basic|json|json_std — overrides the current output format for reports, which is normally defined globally by the report/output_format setting in lvm.conf(5). basic is the original format with columns and rows — and if there's more than one report per command, each report gets prefixed with the report name so you can tell them apart. json produces report output in JSON format. json_std produces report output in JSON format that's more compliant with the JSON standard. lvmreport(7) for more. ✨
  • --restoremissing — adds a PV back into a VG after the PV was missing and then returned, e.g. due to a transient failure. the PV is not reinitialized. the comeback tour. 🎤
  • -t, --test — runs 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. fake it till you make it, but the metadata knows. 💀
  • -v, --verbose ... — sets the verbose level. repeat it 1 to 4 times to increase the detail of messages sent to stdout and stderr. chatterbox mode activated. 🗣️
  • --version — displays version information. the classic.
  • -y, --yes — do not prompt for confirmation interactively, but always assume the answer is yes. use with extreme caution. (for automatic no, see -qq.) this is the "yes chef" option.
  • -Z, --zero y|n — controls whether the first 4 sectors (2048 bytes) of the device are wiped. the default is to wipe these sectors unless either or both of --restorefile or --uuid are specified. bye bye, old data. 🧹

🍓 VARIABLES 🍓

  • VG — Volume Group name. see lvm(8) for valid names.
  • PV — Physical Volume name, a device path under /dev. for commands managing physical extents, a PV positional arg generally accepts a suffix indicating a range (or multiple ranges) of physical extents (PEs). when the first PE is omitted, it defaults to the start of the device, and when the last PE is omitted it defaults to the end. here's the syntax, bookmark it bestie:
Start and end range (inclusive): PV[:PE-PE] ...
Start and length range (counting from 0): PV[:PE+PE] ...
  • 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 the 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.) don't mix them up, i'm begging. 😭

💜 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. shortcuts, we love her. ✨

⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

Add two PVs to a VG:

vgextend vg00 /dev/sda4 /dev/sdn1

look at that. two PVs. one VG. slayed. 💅

🌸 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, bestie, you ate. before you go: this one comes to you from Red Hat, Inc., it's LVM TOOLS 2.03.44(2), and the date stamp on it is 2026-10-27. go forth and extend some volume groups responsibly, ily 🫶💖✨

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