VGSPLIT(8)

NAME
vgsplit - split a volume groups

SYNOPSIS
vgsplit [-A/--autobackup y/n] [-d/-ebug] [-h/-?/--help] [-l/--list] [-t/--test] [-v/--verbose] ExistingVolumeGroupName NewVolumeGroupName PhysicalVolumePath [PhysicalVolumePath...]

DESCRIPTION
vgsplit splits physical volume(s) from an existing volume group into a new volume group. The PhysicalVolumePath(s) will be split off from ExistingVolumeGroupName into NewVolumeGroupName. Logical volumes may not overlap physical volumes that are split off to the new volume group and those which stay in the existing one. See pvmove(8) to achive that.

  OPTIONS

-A, --autobackup y/n
    Controls automatic backup of VG metadata after the merge ( see vgcfgbackup(8) ). Default is yes.

-d, --debug
    Enables additional debugging output (if compiled with DEBUG).

-h, -?, --help
    Print a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.

-l, --list
    Display split VolumeGroupNames like "vgdisplay -v".

-t, --test
    Do a test run WITHOUT any real changes.

-v, --verbose
    Display verbose runtime information about vgsplit's activities.

Examples
"vgsplit -v databases my_vg /dev/sd[kn]1" separates /dev/sd[kn]1 from volume group "databases" and puts them into new volume group "my_vg".

DIAGNOSTICS
vgsplit returns an exit code of 0 for success and > 0 for error:
1  invalid volume group name
2  invalid physical volume name
3  malloc error
4  error reading VGDA of existing volume group
5  new volume group already exists
6  error setting up VGDA for split
7  logical volume to be split into new volume group must be inactive
8  logical volume doesn't exist
9  error removing logical volume from kernel
10 error reducing VGDA by physical volume in kernel
11 error writing changed existing VGDA to physical volume(s)
12 error writing new VGDA to physical volume(s)
13 error creating device special files for changed existing volume group
14 error creating device special files for new volume group
15 error creating new VGDA in kernel
16 error inserting new volume group name into lvmtab
95 driver/module not in kernel
96 invalid I/O protocol version
97 error locking logical volume manager
98 invalid lvmtab (run vgscan(8))
99 invalid command line

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

LVM_AUTOBACKUP
    If this variable is set to "no" then the automatic backup of VG metadata is turned off.

LVM_VG_MAX_BACKUPS
    This variable determines the backup history depth of kept VGDA copy files in /etc/lvmconf. It can be set to a positive number between 0 and 999. The higher this number is, the more changes you can restore using vgcfgrestore(8).

See also
lvm(8), vgcreate(8), vgextend(8), vgreduce(8), vgmerge(8), pvmove(8)

AUTHOR
Heinz Mauelshagen <Linux-LVM@Sistina.com>