pvdisplay Command in Linux
The pvdisplay command in Linux displays the various attributes of the physical volumes. It provides information such as the PV size, UUID, volume group association, and allocation details. It helps in managing LVM storage by identifying volume details, tracking allocations, troubleshooting issues, and planning expansions.
Table of Contents
Here is a comprehensive guide to the options available with the pvdisplay command −
Syntax of pvdisplay Command
The syntax of the pvdisplay command in Linux is as follows −
pvdisplay [options] [physical_volumeâ¦]
In the above syntax, the [options] field is used to specify the options to modify the command's output. The [physical_volume] field is used to specify one or more device names ( example: /dev/sdX) to display their information.
pvdisplay Command Options
The common options of the Linux pvdisplay command are listed below −
| Flags | Options | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -a | --all | Show information about devices that have not been initialized by LVM |
| -c | --colon | Generate colon-separated output for easier parsing |
| -C | --columns | Display output in columns, like vgs |
| --commandprofile string | The command profile to use for configuration | |
| --config string | Override settings from lvm.conf | |
| --debug | Set debug level, repeat 1-6 times to increase detail | |
| --devices PV | List of devices to be used by the command | |
| --devicesfile string | File listing devices for LVM to use | |
| --driverloaded | Control device-mapper usage for testing and debugging | |
| --foreign | Report foreign VGs that would otherwise be skipped | |
| -h | --help | Display help text |
| --ignorelockingfailure | Allow read-only operations after locking failures | |
| --journal string | Record information in systemd journal | |
| --lockopt string | Pass options for special cases to lvmlockd | |
| --logonly | Suppress report and display only log information | |
| --longhelp | Display extended help text | |
| -m | --maps | Display mapping of physical extents to logical volumes |
| --nohints | Do not use hints file to locate devices for PVs | |
| --nolocking | Disable locking | |
| --nosuffix | Suppress suffix on output sizes | |
| -o string | --options string | Comma-separated list of fields to display |
| --profile string | Alias for --commandprofile or --metadataprofile | |
| -q | --quiet | Suppress output and log messages |
| --readonly | Run command in read-only mode | |
| --separator string | Specify a string to separate columns | |
| --shared | Report shared VGs that would otherwise be skipped | |
| -s | --short | Only display the size of the given PVs |
| -O string | --sort string | Comma-separated list of columns to sort by |
| -t | --test | Run in test mode without updating metadata |
| --unbuffered | Produce output immediately without sorting/aligning columns | |
| --units [number] | Set units for size output | |
| -v | --verbose | Set verbose level to increase message detail |
| --version | Display version information | |
| -y | --yes | Automatically assume yes for prompts |
Examples of pvdisplay Command in Linux
In this section, the usage of the pvdisplay command in Linux will be discussed with examples −
- Displaying Details of All Physical Volumes (PVs)
- Displaying Colon Separated Output
- Displaying Output in Columnar Format
- Displaying Output in Short Format
- Displaying Mapping of Physical Extents
- Displaying Output in Verbose
- Displaying Output in Different Units
- Running the pvdisplay Command in Test Mode
- Recording Information to the Journal
- Displaying Usage Help
Displaying Details of All Physical Volumes
To show detailed information about all physical volumes (PVs) in the system, including their size, volume group, and allocation status, use the pvdisplay command with sudo −
sudo pvdisplay
The output displays the PV Name, VG Name, PV Size, Free PE and information about other attributes as shown in the above image.
To display information of a specific PV, use the pvdisplay command in the following way −
sudo pvdisplay /dev/vda3
Displaying Colon Separated Output
To display colon separated output, use the -c or --colon option −
sudo pvdisplay -c
The above command generates colon-separated output for easier parsing.
Displaying Output in Columnar Format
To display the PV details in columnar format, use the -C or --columns option −
sudo pvdisplay -C
Displaying Output in Short Format
To display the PV details in columnar format, use the -s or --short option −
sudo pvdisplay -s
The above command will only show the size of the physical volumes, without any other details.
Displaying Mapping of Physical Extents
The -m or --maps option in the pvdisplay command displays the mapping of physical extents (PEs) to logical volumes (LVs) and logical extents (LEs).
sudo pvdisplay -m
Displaying Output in Verbose
To get the verbose output, use the -v or --verbose option with the pvdisplay command −
sudo pvdisplay -v
To get even more detailed output increase the verbosity level (-vv) −
sudo pvdisplay -vv
Displaying Output in Different Units
The --units option in the pvdisplay command allows to specify the units in which the sizes should be displayed, making it easier to read large numbers.
By default, the output of pvdisplay is in GiBs. To get the output in MiBs, use the pvdisplay command in the following manner −
sudo pvdisplay --units g
A list of units that can be used with the --units option is as follows −
r|R|h|H|b|B|s|S|k|K|m|M|g|G|t|T|p|P|e|E
Running the pvdisplay Command in Test Mode
To dry run the pvdisplay command, use the -t or --test option −
sudo pvdisplay -t
Recording Information to the Journal
To record information about the command in the systemd journal, use the --journal option with the pvdisplay command. For example, to journal debug details, use the following command −
sudo pvdisplay --journal debug
Other logging levels that can be recorded can be defined using following flags −
- command − Records information about the commands being executed.
- output − Records the output generated by the command.
- log − Records general logging information.
- all − Records all types of information, including command, output, log, and debug details.
Displaying Usage Help
To display usage help of the pvdisplay command, use the -h or --help option −
pvdisplay -h
To display the detailed help, use the --longhelp option −
pvdisplay --longhelp
Conclusion
The pvdisplay command in Linux is essential for managing and troubleshooting LVM (Logical Volume Manager) storage by displaying detailed information about physical volumes. It shows various attributes such as the size, UUID, and volume group association, helping in tracking storage allocations and planning for expansions.
This command offers a variety of options, including displaying output in different formats, showing verbose details, and specifying units for size output. It also allows for advanced functionalities like mapping physical extents to logical volumes and recording information in the systemd journal.