pvmove(1M)pvmove(1M)NAMEpvmove - move allocated physical extents from one LVM physical volume
to other physical volumes
SYNOPSISpvmove Options Supported on Volume Groups Version 1.0 and Higher
autobackup] lv_path] source_pv_path
| dest_pv_path ... | dest_pvg_name ...]
autobackup]
| dest_pv_path ... | dest_pvg_name ...]
autobackup] no_of_extents] source_pv_path | dest_pv_path ...
| dest_pvg_name ...
pvmove Options Supported on Volume Groups Version 2.0 and Higher
autobackup] vg_name
autobackup] lv_path... [ pv_path ... | dest_pvg_name ...]
autobackup] pv_path ...
DESCRIPTION
The command moves allocated physical extents and the data they contain
from a source physical volume, source_pv_path, to one or more other
physical volumes in the same volume group.
The preview option verifies whether or not the physical extents can be
successfully relocated with the specified arguments. It displays the
source to destination movement details, but does not perform the actual
relocation of physical extents.
A range of allocated physical extents or any single physical extent can
be moved by giving a range along with the source physical volume path.
Optionally, the destination physical volume and the starting location
on the destination physical volume can also be specified.
The command (see pvdisplay(1M)) can be used to decide on the range of
allocated physical extents to be moved from the source physical volume
or to identify the starting location on the destination physical vol‐
ume.
The option can be used to move the last few physical extents from the
source physical volume. Note that the and options are mutually exclu‐
sive. (See below for details on the option.)
The first extent of the physical volume can be moved to create more
space for LVM's metadata. On version 1.0 volume groups, the command
can use the extra space created by moving the first extent to expand
the metadata. To relocate the first extent, specify after
source_pv_path, delimited by a colon
If a destination physical volume or physical volume group is not speci‐
fied, all physical volumes in the volume group are available as desti‐
nation volumes for the transfer. selects the proper physical volumes
to be used in order to preserve the allocation policies of the logical
volume involved.
To limit the transfer to specific physical volumes, specify the name of
each physical volume directly with a dest_pv_path argument. Option‐
ally, if physical volume groups are defined for the volume group, spec‐
ify the physical volumes indirectly with one or more dest_pvg_name
arguments.
source_pv_path must not appear as a dest_pv_path.
If source_pv_path is a member of a dest_pvg_name, it is automatically
excluded from being a destination physical volume.
While moving one or more extents, src_pv_path can be part of
dest_pv_path; and src_pv_path is not excluded if it is member of
dest_pvg_name.
succeeds only if there is enough space on the destination physical vol‐
umes to hold all the allocated extents of the source physical volume.
If a range of extents is provided, succeeds only when all the extents
within the range provided can be relocated successfully. An error will
be returned if any extent within the range could not be relocated.
If you have installed HP MirrorDisk/UX on your system and
source_pv_path is an "active spare" physical volume within a mirrored
logical volume, once all of the data has been moved to dest_pv_path,
the source_pv_path physical volume will be returned to a "stand-by"
spare physical volume. This is how to "unspare" data once the original
failed physical volume has been repaired and is available to receive
data.
Options and Arguments
recognizes the following options and arguments:
dest_pv_path Specifies the block device path name of a
physical volume. It cannot be the source
physical volume. It must be in the same
volume group as source_pv_path.
dest_pvg_name Specifies the name of a physical volume
group. It must be in the same volume group
as source_pv_path.
For volume group version 2.0 and higher, a
physical volume group can be provided along
with the option, only when one or more logi‐
cal volumes is specified. Also, the physi‐
cal volume group must be in the same volume
group where the logical volume resides.
de Specifies the starting location of the des‐
tination physical extents within a destina‐
tion physical volume. If this starting
location is provided along with the
dest_pv_path, then the source physical
extents are re-allocated to the destination
physical volume starting from this location.
The command fails with an error if the
requested number of extents for relocation
on the destination physical volume are not
available contiguously starting from this
location.
lv_path Specifies the block device path name of a
logical volume.
pv_path Specifies the block device path name of a
physical volume.
se1[-se2] Defines the source physical extent range.
If the extent range is provided along with
source_pv_path, then the extents from se1 to
se2 are moved out of the source physical
volume. A single extent can also be pro‐
vided, specified by only se1 instead of the
extent range.
source_pv_path Specifies the block device path name of a
physical volume.
vg_name Specifies the path name of a volume group.
Performs the requested
operation in automatic re-balance mode.
Automatic re-balance is supported on volume
groups 2.0 and higher.
Performs an automatic re-balance of allocated extents within a
volume group.
Performs an automatic re-balance of allocated extents within a
volume group
for the specified logical volumes. If
pv_path is also specified along with then
the automatic re-balance for the logical
volume is performed only across the speci‐
fied physical volumes or specified physical
volume groups.
Sets automatic backup for this invocation of this command.
autobackup can have one of the following
values:
Automatically back up configuration changes
made to the physical volume.
This is the default.
After this command executes, the com‐
mand (see vgcfgbackup(1M)) is exe‐
cuted for the volume group to which
the physical volume belongs.
Do not back up configuration changes this
time.
Moves the last few extents specified by
no_of_extents from the source physical vol‐
ume.
This option should not be used in conjunc‐
tion with the option or when source physical
extent range is provided, specified by
This option cannot be used when option is
specified.
Moves the allocated physical extents from the specified physical
volumes to
the remaining physical volumes in the volume
group such that the remaining physical vol‐
umes are balanced with respect to space.
This option can only be used in conjunction
with option.
Moves only the physical extents allocated to the logical volume
specified by
lv_path that are located on the source phys‐
ical volume, specified by source_pv_path.
Previews the source to destination physical extent movements,
without
performing the actual relocation. Any
intermediate operation on the volume group
under consideration after the preview opera‐
tion may invalidate the preview result.
Summary option. This option can only be used in conjunction
with the
and options. This option displays a summary
report for the requested auto re-balance
operation.
For volume groups version 2.0 and higher,
when the option is used with the and
options, displays only the summary report
for the requested automatic re-balance oper‐
ation.
If the and options are used without the
option, then both the summary report and
source to destination movement details will
be displayed.
Shared Volume Group Considerations
For volume group version 1.0 and 2.0, is not supported if the volume
group is activated in shared mode. For volume groups version 2.1 (or
higher), can be performed on volume groups activated in either shared,
exclusive, or standalone mode.
When performed on a supported shared volume group, the daemon must be
running on all the nodes sharing the volume group. See lvmpud(1M).
LVM shared mode is currently only available in Service Guard clusters.
Auto-Rebalance Mode
For volume groups 2.0 and higher, the command provides an option for
performing automatic re-balance of allocated extents for space. In
automatic re-balance mode, the relocation of extents is based on the
optimal number of extents calculated for each logical volume on each
physical volume involved in the automatic re-balance operation.
The optimal number of extents calculated will keep the percentage of
free and used space on each involved physical volume equal to the total
percentage of free and used space on all the physical volume's that are
selected in the automatic re-balance operation.
When invoked in the automatic re-balance mode, the command will try to
achieve the optimal count of extents on each physical volume involved
in the operation. If the current configuration of the volume group do
not allow this, it still proceeds with the distribution of extents
staying as close as possible to the optimal count.
In the automatic re-balance mode the command tries to ensure an optimal
rebalance, but it does not guarantee an optimal rebalance; and there
are scenarios where the user can perform a more optimal rebalance manu‐
ally than the one provided by the auto rebalance operation.
Either the whole volume group or one or more logical volumes can be
automatically re-balanced across all physical volumes of the volume
group using the option with the command.
A single or multiple logical volumes can be automatically re-balanced
across either one or more physical volumes, or all physical volumes, or
on specified set of physical volume groups belonging to the volume
group.
Note that when a single or multiple logical volumes are provided, then
the automatic re-balance operation will not move extents belonging to
other logical volumes in order to balance the extents belonging to the
specified logical volumes.
The option, in conjunction with option, can be used to move all the
used extents from a single or multiple physical volumes to the remain‐
ing physical volumes in the volume group such that the remaining physi‐
cal volumes are balanced with respect to space utilization.
The following syntax is used to perform automatic re-balance of allo‐
cated extents for space within a volume group:
autobackup] vg_name
The following syntax is used to perform an automatic re-balance of
allocated extents for space belonging to one or more logical volumes
either within a volume group or across one or more physical volumes, or
one or more physical volume groups (PVG):
autobackup] lv_path... [pv_path... | dest_pvg_name...]
This last syntax is used to free up one or more physical volumes in a
volume group by keeping the remaining volume group space balanced:
autobackup] pv_path ...
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables
determines the language in which messages are displayed.
If is not specified or is null, it defaults to "C" (see lang(5)).
If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, all
internationalization variables default to "C" (see environ(5)).
EXAMPLES
Display the physical extent movement details from to without an actual
relocation of extents (preview mode):
Move physical extents from to and
If physical volumes and are the only ones that belong to physical vol‐
ume group the same result can be achieved with the following command:
Move only the physical extents for logical volume that are currently on
to
Relocate PE number 0 to any free extent with in the same physical vol‐
ume:
Relocate PE number 0 from to any free extent in the volume group:
Move physical extents 25 to 100 from to
Move physical extents 25 to 100 from to beginning from the physical
extent 102:
Relocate the last few physical extent from to any free extents in the
volume group:
Relocate any single physical extent (for example physical extent 5)
from to
Examples Supported on Volume Groups 2.0 and Higher
The following examples are only supported for volume groups 2.0 and
higher.
Display the summary report for the automatic re-balance operation
within a volume group,
Perform an automatic re-balance of allocated extents within a volume
group,
Perform an automatic re-balance of allocated extents within a volume
group for two logical volumes and
Perform an automatic re-balance of allocated extents for space across
two physical volumes and for two logical volumes and belonging to vol‐
ume group
Relocate all the used extents from to the remaining physical volumes of
the volume group by keeping the remaining volume group space balanced:
Perform an automatic re-balance of allocated extents within the volume
group for a logical volume across two physical volume groups and
Logical volume allocation policy will prevent automatic re-balancing
when we try to perform a re-balance of allocated extents within a vol‐
ume group which has two physical volumes and and two logical volumes
and with the following configuration:
1. Logical volume has a contiguous allocation policy residing on the
physical volume and
2. Logical volume has one mirror copy with strict allocation policy
residing on physical volumes and
The command will prevent the automatic re-balance when it attempts to
relocate all the used extents from the physical volume (having a con‐
tiguous logical volume) to the remaining physical volumes in the volume
group This will happen whenever there is insufficient contiguous free
space to accommodate all the used extents of the physical volume
Consider a volume group having the below configuration:
1. Three physical volumes : and each of size 100 extents.
2. Two logical volumes: First logical volume having contiguous alloca‐
tion policy (capacity of 100 extents) residing on the physical vol‐
ume Second logical volume having default allocation policy (capacity
of 100 extents) residing on the physical volume
In such a scenario, trying to perform an automatic re-balance of allo‐
cated extents for space belonging to logical volumes and across the
physical volume will report an error because physical volume can accom‐
modate only one of the logical volume but not the other one.
SEE ALSOpvdisplay(1M), vgcfgbackup(1M), lvmpud(1M), intro(7), lvm(7).
pvmove(1M)