Linux LVM Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to Logical Volume Management (LVM) on Linux, covering Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions including volume groups, logical volumes, and LVM management.

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Table of Contents

1. Understanding LVM
2. Creating LVM
3. Managing Volumes
4. Resizing Volumes
5. Troubleshooting

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Understanding LVM

LVM Components

LVM structure:

• Physical Volume (PV): Physical disk/partition
• Volume Group (VG): Collection of PVs
• Logical Volume (LV): Virtual partition

Benefits:

• Flexible sizing: Resize volumes easily
• Multiple disks: Combine multiple disks
• Snapshots: Create volume snapshots

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Creating LVM

Create Physical Volume

Create PV:

# Install LVM
sudo pacman -S lvm2

# Create physical volume
sudo pvcreate /dev/sda2

# Check
sudo pvs

Create Volume Group

Create VG:

# Create volume group
sudo vgcreate myvg /dev/sda2

# Check
sudo vgs

Create Logical Volume

Create LV:

# Create logical volume
sudo lvcreate -L 20G -n mylv myvg

# Check
sudo lvs

Format and Mount

Format LV:

# Format
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/myvg/mylv

# Mount
sudo mount /dev/myvg/mylv /mnt/data

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Managing Volumes

List Volumes

List LVM components:

# List physical volumes
sudo pvs

# List volume groups
sudo vgs

# List logical volumes
sudo lvs

Remove Volumes

Remove LV:

# Unmount first
sudo umount /mnt/data

# Remove logical volume
sudo lvremove /dev/myvg/mylv

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Resizing Volumes

Resize Logical Volume

Extend LV:

# Extend logical volume
sudo lvextend -L +10G /dev/myvg/mylv

# Resize filesystem
sudo resize2fs /dev/myvg/mylv

Shrink LV:

# Shrink filesystem first
sudo resize2fs /dev/myvg/mylv 20G

# Shrink logical volume
sudo lvreduce -L 20G /dev/myvg/mylv

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Troubleshooting

LVM Not Working

Check status:

# Check volumes
sudo pvs
sudo vgs
sudo lvs

# Check modules
lsmod | grep dm

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Summary

This guide covered LVM for Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions, including creation, management, and resizing.

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Next Steps

• Filesystem Management - Filesystem setup
• RAID - RAID setup
• Backup and Restore - Backups
• ArchWiki LVM: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/LVM

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This guide covers Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other Linux distributions. For distribution-specific details, refer to your distribution's documentation.