NAME | DESCRIPTION | Create a RAID LV | Synchronization | SubLVs | Device Failure | Monitoring | Configuration Options | RAID1 Tuning | RAID Takeover | RAID Reshaping | RAID5 Variants | RAID6 Variants | History | COLOPHON

LVMRAID(7)                                                        LVMRAID(7)

NAME         top

       lvmraid — LVM RAID

DESCRIPTION         top

       lvm(8) RAID is a way to create a Logical Volume (LV) that uses
       multiple physical devices to improve performance or tolerate device
       failures.  In LVM, the physical devices are Physical Volumes (PVs) in
       a single Volume Group (VG).
       How LV data blocks are placed onto PVs is determined by the RAID
       level.  RAID levels are commonly referred to as 'raid' followed by a
       number, e.g.  raid1, raid5 or raid6.  Selecting a RAID level involves
       making tradeoffs among: physical device requirements, fault
       tolerance, and performance.  A description of the RAID levels can be
       found at
       www.snia.org/sites/default/files/SNIA_DDF_Technical_Position_v2.0.pdf
       LVM RAID uses both Device Mapper (DM) and Multiple Device (MD)
       drivers from the Linux kernel.  DM is used to create and manage
       visible LVM devices, and MD is used to place data on physical
       devices.
       LVM creates hidden LVs (dm devices) layered between the visible LV
       and physical devices.  LVs in the middle layers are called sub LVs.
       For LVM raid, a sub LV pair to store data and metadata (raid
       superblock and write intent bitmap) is created per raid image/leg
       (see lvs command examples below).

Create a RAID LV         top

       To create a RAID LV, use lvcreate and specify an LV type.  The LV
       type corresponds to a RAID level.  The basic RAID levels that can be
       used are: raid0, raid1, raid4, raid5, raid6, raid10.
       lvcreate --type RaidLevel [OPTIONS] --name Name --size Size VG [PVs]
       To display the LV type of an existing LV, run:
       lvs -o name,segtype LV
       (The LV type is also referred to as "segment type" or "segtype".)
       LVs can be created with the following types:
   raid0
       Also called striping, raid0 spreads LV data across multiple devices
       in units of stripe size.  This is used to increase performance.  LV
       data will be lost if any of the devices fail.
       lvcreate --type raid0 [--stripes Number --stripesize Size] VG [PVs]
       --stripes specifies the number of devices to spread the LV across.
       --stripesize specifies the size of each stripe in kilobytes.  This is
              the amount of data that is written to one device before moving
              to the next.
       PVs specifies the devices to use.  If not specified, lvm will choose
       Number devices, one for each stripe based on the number of PVs
       available or supplied.
   raid1
       Also called mirroring, raid1 uses multiple devices to duplicate LV
       data.  The LV data remains available if all but one of the devices
       fail.  The minimum number of devices (i.e. sub LV pairs) required is
       2.
       lvcreate --type raid1 [--mirrors Number] VG [PVs]
       --mirrors specifies the number of mirror images in addition to the
              original LV image, e.g. --mirrors 1 means there are two images
              of the data, the original and one mirror image.
       PVs specifies the devices to use.  If not specified, lvm will choose
       Number devices, one for each image.
   raid4
       raid4 is a form of striping that uses an extra, first device
       dedicated to storing parity blocks.  The LV data remains available if
       one device fails.  The parity is used to recalculate data that is
       lost from a single device.  The minimum number of devices required is
       3.
       lvcreate --type raid4 [--stripes Number --stripesize Size] VG [PVs]
       --stripes specifies the number of devices to use for LV data.  This
              does not include the extra device lvm adds for storing parity
              blocks.  A raid4 LV with Number stripes requires Number+1
              devices.  Number must be 2 or more.
       --stripesize specifies the size of each stripe in kilobytes.  This is
              the amount of data that is written to one device before moving
              to the next.
       PVs specifies the devices to use.  If not specified, lvm will choose
       Number+1 separate devices.
       raid4 is called non-rotating parity because the parity blocks are
       always stored on the same device.
   raid5
       raid5 is a form of striping that uses an extra device for storing
       parity blocks.  LV data and parity blocks are stored on each device,
       typically in a rotating pattern for performance reasons.  The LV data
       remains available if one device fails.  The parity is used to
       recalculate data that is lost from a single device.  The minimum
       number of devices required is 3 (unless converting from 2 legged
       raid1 to reshape to more stripes; see reshaping).
       lvcreate --type raid5 [--stripes Number --stripesize Size] VG [PVs]
       --stripes specifies the number of devices to use for LV data.  This
              does not include the extra device lvm adds for storing parity
              blocks.  A raid5 LV with Number stripes requires Number+1
              devices.  Number must be 2 or more.
       --stripesize specifies the size of each stripe in kilobytes.  This is
              the amount of data that is written to one device before moving
              to the next.
       PVs specifies the devices to use.  If not specified, lvm will choose
       Number+1 separate devices.
       raid5 is called rotating parity because the parity blocks are placed
       on different devices in a round-robin sequence.  There are variations
       of raid5 with different algorithms for placing the parity blocks.
       The default variant is raid5_ls (raid5 left symmetric, which is a
       rotating parity 0 with data restart.)  See RAID5 variants below.
   raid6
       raid6 is a form of striping like raid5, but uses two extra devices
       for parity blocks.  LV data and parity blocks are stored on each
       device, typically in a rotating pattern for perfomramce reasons.  The
       LV data remains available if up to two devices fail.  The parity is
       used to recalculate data that is lost from one or two devices.  The
       minimum number of devices required is 5.
       lvcreate --type raid6 [--stripes Number --stripesize Size] VG [PVs]
       --stripes specifies the number of devices to use for LV data.  This
              does not include the extra two devices lvm adds for storing
              parity blocks.  A raid6 LV with Number stripes requires
              Number+2 devices.  Number must be 3 or more.
       --stripesize specifies the size of each stripe in kilobytes.  This is
              the amount of data that is written to one device before moving
              to the next.
       PVs specifies the devices to use.  If not specified, lvm will choose
       Number+2 separate devices.
       Like raid5, there are variations of raid6 with different algorithms
       for placing the parity blocks.  The default variant is raid6_zr
       (raid6 zero restart, aka left symmetric, which is a rotating parity 0
       with data restart.)  See RAID6 variants below.
   raid10
       raid10 is a combination of raid1 and raid0, striping data across
       mirrored devices.  LV data remains available if one or more devices
       remains in each mirror set.  The minimum number of devices required
       is 4.
       lvcreate --type raid10
              [--mirrors NumberMirrors]
              [--stripes NumberStripes --stripesize Size]
              VG [PVs]
       --mirrors specifies the number of mirror images within each stripe.
              e.g.  --mirrors 1 means there are two images of the data, the
              original and one mirror image.
       --stripes specifies the total number of devices to use in all raid1
              images (not the number of raid1 devices to spread the LV
              across, even though that is the effective result).  The number
              of devices in each raid1 mirror will be
              NumberStripes/(NumberMirrors+1), e.g. mirrors 1 and stripes 4
              will stripe data across two raid1 mirrors, where each mirror
              is devices.
       --stripesize specifies the size of each stripe in kilobytes.  This is
              the amount of data that is written to one device before moving
              to the next.
       PVs specifies the devices to use.  If not specified, lvm will choose
       the necessary devices.  Devices are used to create mirrors in the
       order listed, e.g. for mirrors 1, stripes 2, listing PV1 PV2 PV3 PV4
       results in mirrors PV1/PV2 and PV3/PV4.
       RAID10 is not mirroring on top of stripes, which would be RAID01,
       which is less tolerant of device failures.

Synchronization         top

       Synchronization is the process that makes all the devices in a RAID
       LV consistent with each other.
       In a RAID1 LV, all mirror images should have the same data.  When a
       new mirror image is added, or a mirror image is missing data, then
       images need to be synchronized.  Data blocks are copied from an
       existing image to a new or outdated image to make them match.
       In a RAID 4/5/6 LV, parity blocks and data blocks should match based
       on the parity calculation.  When the devices in a RAID LV change, the
       data and parity blocks can become inconsistent and need to be
       synchronized.  Correct blocks are read, parity is calculated, and
       recalculated blocks are written.
       The RAID implementation keeps track of which parts of a RAID LV are
       synchronized.  When a RAID LV is first created and activated the
       first synchronization is called initialization.  A pointer stored in
       the raid metadata keeps track of the initialization process thus
       allowing it to be restarted after a deactivation of the RaidLV or a
       crash.  Any writes to the RaidLV dirties the respective region of the
       write intent bitmap which allow for fast recovery of the regions
       after a crash.  Without this, the entire LV would need to be
       synchronized every time it was activated.
       Automatic synchronization happens when a RAID LV is activated, but it
       is usually partial because the bitmaps reduce the areas that are
       checked.  A full sync becomes necessary when devices in the RAID LV
       are replaced.
       The synchronization status of a RAID LV is reported by the following
       command, where "Cpy%Sync" = "100%" means sync is complete:
       lvs -a -o name,sync_percent
   Scrubbing
       Scrubbing is a full scan of the RAID LV requested by a user.
       Scrubbing can find problems that are missed by partial
       synchronization.
       Scrubbing assumes that RAID metadata and bitmaps may be inaccurate,
       so it verifies all RAID metadata, LV data, and parity blocks.
       Scrubbing can find inconsistencies caused by hardware errors or
       degradation.  These kinds of problems may be undetected by automatic
       synchronization which excludes areas outside of the RAID write-intent
       bitmap.
       The command to scrub a RAID LV can operate in two different modes:
       lvchange --syncaction check|repair LV
       check Check mode is read-only and only detects inconsistent areas in
              the RAID LV, it does not correct them.
       repair Repair mode checks and writes corrected blocks to synchronize
              any inconsistent areas.
       Scrubbing can consume a lot of bandwidth and slow down application
       I/O on the RAID LV.  To control the I/O rate used for scrubbing, use:
       --maxrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT]
              Sets the maximum recovery rate for a RAID LV.  Size is
              specified as an amount per second for each device in the
              array.  If no suffix is given, then KiB/sec/device is used.
              Setting the recovery rate to 0 means it will be unbounded.
       --minrecoveryrate Size[k|UNIT]
              Sets the minimum recovery rate for a RAID LV.  Size is
              specified as an amount per second for each device in the
              array.  If no suffix is given, then KiB/sec/device is used.
              Setting the recovery rate to 0 means it will be unbounded.
       To display the current scrubbing in progress on an LV, including the
       syncaction mode and percent complete, run:
       lvs -a -o name,raid_sync_action,sync_percent
       After scrubbing is complete, to display the number of inconsistent
       blocks found, run:
       lvs -o name,raid_mismatch_count
       Also, if mismatches were found, the lvs attr field will display the
       letter "m" (mismatch) in the 9th position, e.g.
       # lvs -o name,vgname,segtype,attr vg/lv
         LV VG   Type  Attr
         lv vg   raid1 Rwi-a-r-m-
   Scrubbing Limitations
       The check mode can only report the number of inconsistent blocks, it
       cannot report which blocks are inconsistent.  This makes it
       impossible to know which device has errors, or if the errors affect
       file system data, metadata or nothing at all.
       The repair mode can make the RAID LV data consistent, but it does not
       know which data is correct.  The result may be consistent but
       incorrect data.  When two different blocks of data must be made
       consistent, it chooses the block from the device that would be used
       during RAID intialization.  However, if the PV holding corrupt data
       is known, lvchange --rebuild can be used in place of scrubbing to
       reconstruct the data on the bad device.
       Future developments might include:
       Allowing a user to choose the correct version of data during repair.
       Using a majority of devices to determine the correct version of data
       to use in a 3-way RAID1 or RAID6 LV.
       Using a checksumming device to pin-point when and where an error
       occurs, allowing it to be rewritten.

SubLVs         top

       An LV is often a combination of other hidden LVs called SubLVs.  The
       SubLVs either use physical devices, or are built from other SubLVs
       themselves.  SubLVs hold LV data blocks, RAID parity blocks, and RAID
       metadata.  SubLVs are generally hidden, so the lvs -a option is
       required to display them:
       lvs -a -o name,segtype,devices
       SubLV names begin with the visible LV name, and have an automatic
       suffix indicating its role:
       ·  SubLVs holding LV data or parity blocks have the suffix _rimage_#.
          These SubLVs are sometimes referred to as DataLVs.
       ·  SubLVs holding RAID metadata have the suffix _rmeta_#.  RAID
          metadata includes superblock information, RAID type, bitmap, and
          device health information.  These SubLVs are sometimes referred to
          as MetaLVs.
       SubLVs are an internal implementation detail of LVM.  The way they
       are used, constructed and named may change.
       The following examples show the SubLV arrangement for each of the
       basic RAID LV types, using the fewest number of devices allowed for
       each.
   Examples
       raid0
       Each rimage SubLV holds a portion of LV data.  No parity is used.  No
       RAID metadata is used.
       # lvcreate --type raid0 --stripes 2 --name lvr0 ...
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,devices
         lvr0            raid0  lvr0_rimage_0(0),lvr0_rimage_1(0)
         [lvr0_rimage_0] linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr0_rimage_1] linear /dev/sdb(...)
       raid1
       Each rimage SubLV holds a complete copy of LV data.  No parity is
       used.  Each rmeta SubLV holds RAID metadata.
       # lvcreate --type raid1 --mirrors 1 --name lvr1 ...
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,devices
         lvr1            raid1  lvr1_rimage_0(0),lvr1_rimage_1(0)
         [lvr1_rimage_0] linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr1_rimage_1] linear /dev/sdb(...)
         [lvr1_rmeta_0]  linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr1_rmeta_1]  linear /dev/sdb(...)
       raid4
       At least three rimage SubLVs each hold a portion of LV data and one
       rimage SubLV holds parity.  Each rmeta SubLV holds RAID metadata.
       # lvcreate --type raid4 --stripes 2 --name lvr4 ...
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,devices
         lvr4            raid4  lvr4_rimage_0(0),\
                                lvr4_rimage_1(0),\
                                lvr4_rimage_2(0)
         [lvr4_rimage_0] linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr4_rimage_1] linear /dev/sdb(...)
         [lvr4_rimage_2] linear /dev/sdc(...)
         [lvr4_rmeta_0]  linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr4_rmeta_1]  linear /dev/sdb(...)
         [lvr4_rmeta_2]  linear /dev/sdc(...)
       raid5
       At least three rimage SubLVs each typcially hold a portion of LV data
       and parity (see section on raid5) Each rmeta SubLV holds RAID
       metadata.
       # lvcreate --type raid5 --stripes 2 --name lvr5 ...
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,devices
         lvr5            raid5  lvr5_rimage_0(0),\
                                lvr5_rimage_1(0),\
                                lvr5_rimage_2(0)
         [lvr5_rimage_0] linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr5_rimage_1] linear /dev/sdb(...)
         [lvr5_rimage_2] linear /dev/sdc(...)
         [lvr5_rmeta_0]  linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr5_rmeta_1]  linear /dev/sdb(...)
         [lvr5_rmeta_2]  linear /dev/sdc(...)
       raid6
       At least five rimage SubLVs each typically hold a portion of LV data
       and parity.  (see section on raid6) Each rmeta SubLV holds RAID
       metadata.
       # lvcreate --type raid6 --stripes 3 --name lvr6
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,devices
         lvr6            raid6  lvr6_rimage_0(0),\
                                lvr6_rimage_1(0),\
                                lvr6_rimage_2(0),\
                                lvr6_rimage_3(0),\
                                lvr6_rimage_4(0),\
                                lvr6_rimage_5(0)
         [lvr6_rimage_0] linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr6_rimage_1] linear /dev/sdb(...)
         [lvr6_rimage_2] linear /dev/sdc(...)
         [lvr6_rimage_3] linear /dev/sdd(...)
         [lvr6_rimage_4] linear /dev/sde(...)
         [lvr6_rimage_5] linear /dev/sdf(...)
         [lvr6_rmeta_0]  linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr6_rmeta_1]  linear /dev/sdb(...)
         [lvr6_rmeta_2]  linear /dev/sdc(...)
         [lvr6_rmeta_3]  linear /dev/sdd(...)
         [lvr6_rmeta_4]  linear /dev/sde(...)
         [lvr6_rmeta_5]  linear /dev/sdf(...)
       raid10
       At least four rimage SubLVs each hold a portion of LV data.  No
       parity is used.  Each rmeta SubLV holds RAID metadata.
       # lvcreate --type raid10 --stripes 2 --mirrors 1 --name lvr10
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,devices
         lvr10            raid10 lvr10_rimage_0(0),\
                                 lvr10_rimage_1(0),\
                                 lvr10_rimage_2(0),\
                                 lvr10_rimage_3(0)
         [lvr10_rimage_0] linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr10_rimage_1] linear /dev/sdb(...)
         [lvr10_rimage_2] linear /dev/sdc(...)
         [lvr10_rimage_3] linear /dev/sdd(...)
         [lvr10_rmeta_0]  linear /dev/sda(...)
         [lvr10_rmeta_1]  linear /dev/sdb(...)
         [lvr10_rmeta_2]  linear /dev/sdc(...)
         [lvr10_rmeta_3]  linear /dev/sdd(...)

Device Failure         top

       Physical devices in a RAID LV can fail or be lost for multiple
       reasons.  A device could be disconnected, permanently failed, or
       temporarily disconnected.  The purpose of RAID LVs (levels 1 and
       higher) is to continue operating in a degraded mode, without losing
       LV data, even after a device fails.  The number of devices that can
       fail without the loss of LV data depends on the RAID level:
       ·  RAID0 (striped) LVs cannot tolerate losing any devices.  LV data
          will be lost if any devices fail.
       ·  RAID1 LVs can tolerate losing all but one device without LV data
          loss.
       ·  RAID4 and RAID5 LVs can tolerate losing one device without LV data
          loss.
       ·  RAID6 LVs can tolerate losing two devices without LV data loss.
       ·  RAID10 is variable, and depends on which devices are lost.  It
          stripes across multiple mirror groups with raid1 layout thus it
          can tolerate losing all but one device in each of these groups
          without LV data loss.
       If a RAID LV is missing devices, or has other device-related
       problems, lvs reports this in the health_status (and attr) fields:
       lvs -o name,lv_health_status
       partial
       Devices are missing from the LV.  This is also indicated by the
       letter "p" (partial) in the 9th position of the lvs attr field.
       refresh needed
       A device was temporarily missing but has returned.  The LV needs to
       be refreshed to use the device again (which will usually require
       partial synchronization).  This is also indicated by the letter "r"
       (refresh needed) in the 9th position of the lvs attr field.  See
       Refreshing an LV.  This could also indicate a problem with the
       device, in which case it should be be replaced, see Replacing
       Devices.
       mismatches exist
       See Scrubbing.
       Most commands will also print a warning if a device is missing, e.g.
       WARNING: Device for PV uItL3Z-wBME-DQy0-... not found or rejected ...
       This warning will go away if the device returns or is removed from
       the VG (see vgreduce --removemissing).
   Activating an LV with missing devices
       A RAID LV that is missing devices may be activated or not, depending
       on the "activation mode" used in lvchange:
       lvchange -ay --activationmode complete|degraded|partial LV
       complete
       The LV is only activated if all devices are present.
       degraded
       The LV is activated with missing devices if the RAID level can
       tolerate the number of missing devices without LV data loss.
       partial
       The LV is always activated, even if portions of the LV data are
       missing because of the missing device(s).  This should only be used
       to perform extreme recovery or repair operations.
       lvm.conf(5) activation/activation_mode
       controls the activation mode when not specified by the command.
       The default value is printed by:
       lvmconfig --type default activation/activation_mode
   Replacing Devices
       Devices in a RAID LV can be replaced by other devices in the VG.
       When replacing devices that are no longer visible on the system, use
       lvconvert --repair.  When replacing devices that are still visible,
       use lvconvert --replace.  The repair command will attempt to restore
       the same number of data LVs that were previously in the LV.  The
       replace option can be repeated to replace multiple PVs.  Replacement
       devices can be optionally listed with either option.
       lvconvert --repair LV [NewPVs]
       lvconvert --replace OldPV LV [NewPV]
       lvconvert --replace OldPV1 --replace OldPV2 LV [NewPVs]
       New devices require synchronization with existing devices, see
       Synchronization.
   Refreshing an LV
       Refreshing a RAID LV clears any transient device failures (device was
       temporarily disconnected) and returns the LV to its fully redundant
       mode.  Restoring a device will usually require at least partial
       synchronization (see Synchronization).  Failure to clear a transient
       failure results in the RAID LV operating in degraded mode until it is
       reactivated.  Use the lvchange command to refresh an LV:
       lvchange --refresh LV
       # lvs -o name,vgname,segtype,attr,size vg
         LV VG   Type  Attr       LSize
         lv vg   raid1 Rwi-a-r-r- 100.00g
       # lvchange --refresh vg/lv
       # lvs -o name,vgname,segtype,attr,size vg
         LV VG   Type  Attr       LSize
         lv vg   raid1 Rwi-a-r--- 100.00g
   Automatic repair
       If a device in a RAID LV fails, device-mapper in the kernel notifies
       the dmeventd(8) monitoring process (see Monitoring).  dmeventd can be
       configured to automatically respond using:
       lvm.conf(5) activation/raid_fault_policy
       Possible settings are:
       warn
       A warning is added to the system log indicating that a device has
       failed in the RAID LV.  It is left to the user to repair the LV, e.g.
       replace failed devices.
       allocate
       dmeventd automatically attempts to repair the LV using spare devices
       in the VG.  Note that even a transient failure is treated as a
       permanent failure under this setting.  A new device is allocated and
       full synchronization is started.
       The specific command run by dmeventd to warn or repair is:
       lvconvert --repair --use-policies LV
   Corrupted Data
       Data on a device can be corrupted due to hardware errors without the
       device ever being disconnected or there being any fault in the
       software.  This should be rare, and can be detected (see Scrubbing).
   Rebuild specific PVs
       If specific PVs in a RAID LV are known to have corrupt data, the data
       on those PVs can be reconstructed with:
       lvchange --rebuild PV LV
       The rebuild option can be repeated with different PVs to replace the
       data on multiple PVs.

Monitoring         top

       When a RAID LV is activated the dmeventd(8) process is started to
       monitor the health of the LV.  Various events detected in the kernel
       can cause a notification to be sent from device-mapper to the
       monitoring process, including device failures and synchronization
       completion (e.g.  for initialization or scrubbing).
       The LVM configuration file contains options that affect how the
       monitoring process will respond to failure events (e.g.
       raid_fault_policy).  It is possible to turn on and off monitoring
       with lvchange, but it is not recommended to turn this off unless you
       have a thorough knowledge of the consequences.

Configuration Options         top

       There are a number of options in the LVM configuration file that
       affect the behavior of RAID LVs.  The tunable options are listed
       below.  A detailed description of each can be found in the LVM
       configuration file itself.
               mirror_segtype_default
               raid10_segtype_default
               raid_region_size
               raid_fault_policy
               activation_mode

RAID1 Tuning         top

       A RAID1 LV can be tuned so that certain devices are avoided for
       reading while all devices are still written to.
       lvchange --[raid]writemostly PV[:y|n|t] LV
       The specified device will be marked as "write mostly", which means
       that reading from this device will be avoided, and other devices will
       be preferred for reading (unless no other devices are available.)
       This minimizes the I/O to the specified device.
       If the PV name has no suffix, the write mostly attribute is set.  If
       the PV name has the suffix :n, the write mostly attribute is cleared,
       and the suffix :t toggles the current setting.
       The write mostly option can be repeated on the command line to change
       multiple devices at once.
       To report the current write mostly setting, the lvs attr field will
       show the letter "w" in the 9th position when write mostly is set:
       lvs -a -o name,attr
       When a device is marked write mostly, the maximum number of
       outstanding writes to that device can be configured.  Once the
       maximum is reached, further writes become synchronous.  When
       synchronous, a write to the LV will not complete until writes to all
       the mirror images are complete.
       lvchange --[raid]writebehind Number LV
       To report the current write behind setting, run:
       lvs -o name,raid_write_behind
       When write behind is not configured, or set to 0, all LV writes are
       synchronous.

RAID Takeover         top

       RAID takeover is converting a RAID LV from one RAID level to another,
       e.g.  raid5 to raid6.  Changing the RAID level is usually done to
       increase or decrease resilience to device failures or to restripe
       LVs.  This is done using lvconvert and specifying the new RAID level
       as the LV type:
       lvconvert --type RaidLevel LV [PVs]
       The most common and recommended RAID takeover conversions are:
       linear to raid1
              Linear is a single image of LV data, and converting it to
              raid1 adds a mirror image which is a direct copy of the
              original linear image.
       striped/raid0 to raid4/5/6
              Adding parity devices to a striped volume results in
              raid4/5/6.
       Unnatural conversions that are not recommended include converting
       between striped and non-striped types.  This is because file systems
       often optimize I/O patterns based on device striping values.  If
       those values change, it can decrease performance.
       Converting to a higher RAID level requires allocating new SubLVs to
       hold RAID metadata, and new SubLVs to hold parity blocks for LV data.
       Converting to a lower RAID level removes the SubLVs that are no
       longer needed.
       Conversion often requires full synchronization of the RAID LV (see
       Synchronization).  Converting to RAID1 requires copying all LV data
       blocks to N new images on new devices.  Converting to a parity RAID
       level requires reading all LV data blocks, calculating parity, and
       writing the new parity blocks.  Synchronization can take a long time
       depending on the throughpout of the devices used and the size of the
       RaidLV.  It can degrade performance (rate controls also apply to
       conversion; see --minrecoveryrate and --maxrecoveryrate.)
       Warning: though it is possible to create striped LVs  with up to 128
       stripes, a maximum of 64 stripes can be converted to raid0, 63 to
       raid4/5 and 62 to raid6 because of the added parity SubLVs.  A
       striped LV with a maximum of 32 stripes can be converted to raid10.
       The following takeover conversions are currently possible:
       ·  between striped and raid0.
       ·  between linear and raid1.
       ·  between mirror and raid1.
       ·  between raid1 with two images and raid4/5.
       ·  between striped/raid0 and raid4.
       ·  between striped/raid0 and raid5.
       ·  between striped/raid0 and raid6.
       ·  between raid4 and raid5.
       ·  between raid4/raid5 and raid6.
       ·  between striped/raid0 and raid10.
       ·  between striped and raid4.
   Indirect conversions
       Converting from one raid level to another may require multiple steps,
       converting first to intermediate raid levels.
       linear to raid6
       To convert an LV from linear to raid6:
       1. convert to raid1 with two images
       2. convert to raid5 (internally raid5_ls) with two images
       3. convert to raid5 with three or more stripes (reshape)
       4. convert to raid6 (internally raid6_ls_6)
       5. convert to raid6 (internally raid6_zr, reshape)
       The commands to perform the steps above are:
       1. lvconvert --type raid1 --mirrors 1 LV
       2. lvconvert --type raid5 LV
       3. lvconvert --stripes 3 LV
       4. lvconvert --type raid6 LV
       5. lvconvert --type raid6 LV
       The final conversion from raid6_ls_6 to raid6_zr is done to avoid the
       potential write/recovery performance reduction in raid6_ls_6 because
       of the dedicated parity device.  raid6_zr rotates data and parity
       blocks to avoid this.
       linear to striped
       To convert an LV from linear to striped:
       1. convert to raid1 with two images
       2. convert to raid5_n
       3. convert to raid5_n with five 128k stripes (reshape)
       4. convert raid5_n to striped
       The commands to perform the steps above are:
       1. lvconvert --type raid1 --mirrors 1 LV
       2. lvconvert --type raid5_n LV
       3. lvconvert --stripes 5 --stripesize 128k LV
       4. lvconvert --type striped LV
       The raid5_n type in step 2 is used because it has dedicated parity
       SubLVs at the end, and can be converted to striped directly.  The
       stripe size is increased in step 3 to add extra space for the
       conversion process.  This step grows the LV size by a factor of five.
       After conversion, this extra space can be reduced (or used to grow
       the file system using the LV).
       Reversing these steps will convert a striped LV to linear.
       raid6 to striped
       To convert an LV from raid6_nr to striped:
       1. convert to raid6_n_6
       2. convert to striped
       The commands to perform the steps above are:
       1. lvconvert --type raid6_n_6 LV
       2. lvconvert --type striped LV
   Examples
       Converting an LV from linear to raid1.
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,size vg
         LV   Type   LSize
         lv   linear 300.00g
       # lvconvert --type raid1 --mirrors 1 vg/lv
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,size vg
         LV            Type   LSize
         lv            raid1  300.00g
         [lv_rimage_0] linear 300.00g
         [lv_rimage_1] linear 300.00g
         [lv_rmeta_0]  linear   3.00m
         [lv_rmeta_1]  linear   3.00m
       Converting an LV from mirror to raid1.
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,size vg
         LV            Type   LSize
         lv            mirror 100.00g
         [lv_mimage_0] linear 100.00g
         [lv_mimage_1] linear 100.00g
         [lv_mlog]     linear   3.00m
       # lvconvert --type raid1 vg/lv
       # lvs -a -o name,segtype,size vg
         LV            Type   LSize
         lv            raid1  100.00g
         [lv_rimage_0] linear 100.00g
         [lv_rimage_1] linear 100.00g
         [lv_rmeta_0]  linear   3.00m
         [lv_rmeta_1]  linear   3.00m
       Converting an LV from linear to raid1 (with 3 images).
       # lvconvert --type raid1 --mirrors 2 vg/lv
       Converting an LV from striped (with 4 stripes) to raid6_n_6.
       # lvcreate --stripes 4 -L64M -n lv vg
       # lvconvert --type raid6 vg/lv
       # lvs -a -o lv_name,segtype,sync_percent,data_copies
         LV            Type      Cpy%Sync #Cpy
         lv            raid6_n_6 100.00      3
         [lv_rimage_0] linear
         [lv_rimage_1] linear
         [lv_rimage_2] linear
         [lv_rimage_3] linear
         [lv_rimage_4] linear
         [lv_rimage_5] linear
         [lv_rmeta_0]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_1]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_2]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_3]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_4]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_5]  linear
       This convert begins by allocating MetaLVs (rmeta_#) for each of the
       existing stripe devices.  It then creates 2 additional MetaLV/DataLV
       pairs (rmeta_#/rimage_#) for dedicated raid6 parity.
       If rotating data/parity is required, such as with raid6_nr, it must
       be done by reshaping (see below).

RAID Reshaping         top

       RAID reshaping is changing attributes of a RAID LV while keeping the
       same RAID level.  This includes changing RAID layout, stripe size, or
       number of stripes.
       When changing the RAID layout or stripe size, no new SubLVs (MetaLVs
       or DataLVs) need to be allocated, but DataLVs are extended by a small
       amount (typically 1 extent).  The extra space allows blocks in a
       stripe to be updated safely, and not be corrupted in case of a crash.
       If a crash occurs, reshaping can just be restarted.
       (If blocks in a stripe were updated in place, a crash could leave
       them partially updated and corrupted.  Instead, an existing stripe is
       quiesced, read, changed in layout, and the new stripe written to free
       space.  Once that is done, the new stripe is unquiesced and used.)
   Examples
       (Command output shown in examples may change.)
       Converting raid6_n_6 to raid6_nr with rotating data/parity.
       This conversion naturally follows a previous conversion from
       striped/raid0 to raid6_n_6 (shown above).  It completes the
       transition to a more traditional RAID6.
       # lvs -o lv_name,segtype,sync_percent,data_copies
         LV            Type      Cpy%Sync #Cpy
         lv            raid6_n_6 100.00      3
         [lv_rimage_0] linear
         [lv_rimage_1] linear
         [lv_rimage_2] linear
         [lv_rimage_3] linear
         [lv_rimage_4] linear
         [lv_rimage_5] linear
         [lv_rmeta_0]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_1]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_2]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_3]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_4]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_5]  linear
       # lvconvert --type raid6_nr vg/lv
       # lvs -a -o lv_name,segtype,sync_percent,data_copies
         LV            Type     Cpy%Sync #Cpy
         lv            raid6_nr 100.00      3
         [lv_rimage_0] linear
         [lv_rimage_0] linear
         [lv_rimage_1] linear
         [lv_rimage_1] linear
         [lv_rimage_2] linear
         [lv_rimage_2] linear
         [lv_rimage_3] linear
         [lv_rimage_3] linear
         [lv_rimage_4] linear
         [lv_rimage_5] linear
         [lv_rmeta_0]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_1]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_2]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_3]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_4]  linear
         [lv_rmeta_5]  linear
       The DataLVs are larger (additional segment in each) which provides
       space for out-of-place reshaping.  The result is:
       # lvs -a -o lv_name,segtype,seg_pe_ranges,dataoffset
         LV            Type     PE Ranges          DOff
         lv            raid6_nr lv_rimage_0:0-32 \
                                lv_rimage_1:0-32 \
                                lv_rimage_2:0-32 \
                                lv_rimage_3:0-32
         [lv_rimage_0] linear   /dev/sda:0-31      2048
         [lv_rimage_0] linear   /dev/sda:33-33
         [lv_rimage_1] linear   /dev/sdaa:0-31     2048
         [lv_rimage_1] linear   /dev/sdaa:33-33
         [lv_rimage_2] linear   /dev/sdab:1-33     2048
         [lv_rimage_3] linear   /dev/sdac:1-33     2048
         [lv_rmeta_0]  linear   /dev/sda:32-32
         [lv_rmeta_1]  linear   /dev/sdaa:32-32
         [lv_rmeta_2]  linear   /dev/sdab:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_3]  linear   /dev/sdac:0-0
       All segments with PE ranges '33-33' provide the out-of-place reshape
       space.  The dataoffset column shows that the data was moved from
       initial offset 0 to 2048 sectors on each component DataLV.
       For performance reasons the raid6_nr RaidLV can be restriped.
       Convert it from 3-way striped to 5-way-striped.
       # lvconvert --stripes 5 vg/lv
         Using default stripesize 64.00 KiB.
         WARNING: Adding stripes to active logical volume vg/lv will \
         grow it from 99 to 165 extents!
         Run "lvresize -l99 vg/lv" to shrink it or use the additional \
         capacity.
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs vg/lv
         LV   VG     Attr       LSize   Cpy%Sync
         lv   vg     rwi-a-r-s- 652.00m 52.94
       # lvs -a -o lv_name,attr,segtype,seg_pe_ranges,dataoffset vg
         LV            Attr       Type     PE Ranges          DOff
         lv            rwi-a-r--- raid6_nr lv_rimage_0:0-33 \
                                           lv_rimage_1:0-33 \
                                           lv_rimage_2:0-33 ... \
                                           lv_rimage_5:0-33 \
                                           lv_rimage_6:0-33   0
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sda:0-32      0
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sda:34-34
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaa:0-32     0
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaa:34-34
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdab:0-32     0
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdab:34-34
         [lv_rimage_3] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdac:1-34     0
         [lv_rimage_4] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdad:1-34     0
         [lv_rimage_5] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdae:1-34     0
         [lv_rimage_6] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaf:1-34     0
         [lv_rmeta_0]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sda:33-33
         [lv_rmeta_1]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaa:33-33
         [lv_rmeta_2]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdab:33-33
         [lv_rmeta_3]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdac:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_4]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdad:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_5]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdae:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_6]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaf:0-0
       Stripes also can be removed from raid5 and 6.  Convert the 5-way
       striped raid6_nr LV to 4-way-striped.  The force option needs to be
       used, because removing stripes (i.e. image SubLVs) from a RaidLV will
       shrink its size.
       # lvconvert --stripes 4 vg/lv
         Using default stripesize 64.00 KiB.
         WARNING: Removing stripes from active logical volume vg/lv will \
         shrink it from 660.00 MiB to 528.00 MiB!
         THIS MAY DESTROY (PARTS OF) YOUR DATA!
         If that leaves the logical volume larger than 206 extents due \
         to stripe rounding,
         you may want to grow the content afterwards (filesystem etc.)
         WARNING: to remove freed stripes after the conversion has finished,\
         you have to run "lvconvert --stripes 4 vg/lv"
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs -a -o lv_name,attr,segtype,seg_pe_ranges,dataoffset vg
         LV            Attr       Type     PE Ranges          DOff
         lv            rwi-a-r-s- raid6_nr lv_rimage_0:0-33 \
                                           lv_rimage_1:0-33 \
                                           lv_rimage_2:0-33 ... \
                                           lv_rimage_5:0-33 \
                                           lv_rimage_6:0-33   0
         [lv_rimage_0] Iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sda:0-32      0
         [lv_rimage_0] Iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sda:34-34
         [lv_rimage_1] Iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaa:0-32     0
         [lv_rimage_1] Iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaa:34-34
         [lv_rimage_2] Iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdab:0-32     0
         [lv_rimage_2] Iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdab:34-34
         [lv_rimage_3] Iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdac:1-34     0
         [lv_rimage_4] Iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdad:1-34     0
         [lv_rimage_5] Iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdae:1-34     0
         [lv_rimage_6] Iwi-aor-R- linear   /dev/sdaf:1-34     0
         [lv_rmeta_0]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sda:33-33
         [lv_rmeta_1]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaa:33-33
         [lv_rmeta_2]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdab:33-33
         [lv_rmeta_3]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdac:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_4]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdad:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_5]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdae:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_6]  ewi-aor-R- linear   /dev/sdaf:0-0
       The 's' in column 9 of the attribute field shows the RaidLV is still
       reshaping.  The 'R' in the same column of the attribute field shows
       the freed image Sub LVs which will need removing once the reshaping
       finished.
       # lvs -o lv_name,attr,segtype,seg_pe_ranges,dataoffset vg
         LV   Attr       Type     PE Ranges          DOff
         lv   rwi-a-r-R- raid6_nr lv_rimage_0:0-33 \
                                  lv_rimage_1:0-33 \
                                  lv_rimage_2:0-33 ... \
                                  lv_rimage_5:0-33 \
                                  lv_rimage_6:0-33   8192
       Now that the reshape is finished the 'R' atribute on the RaidLV shows
       images can be removed.
       # lvs -o lv_name,attr,segtype,seg_pe_ranges,dataoffset vg
         LV   Attr       Type     PE Ranges          DOff
         lv   rwi-a-r-R- raid6_nr lv_rimage_0:0-33 \
                                  lv_rimage_1:0-33 \
                                  lv_rimage_2:0-33 ... \
                                  lv_rimage_5:0-33 \
                                  lv_rimage_6:0-33   8192
       This is achieved by repeating the command ("lvconvert --stripes 4
       vg/lv" would be sufficient).
       # lvconvert --stripes 4 vg/lv
         Using default stripesize 64.00 KiB.
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs -a -o lv_name,attr,segtype,seg_pe_ranges,dataoffset vg
         LV            Attr       Type     PE Ranges          DOff
         lv            rwi-a-r--- raid6_nr lv_rimage_0:0-33 \
                                           lv_rimage_1:0-33 \
                                           lv_rimage_2:0-33 ... \
                                           lv_rimage_5:0-33   8192
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sda:0-32      8192
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sda:34-34
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaa:0-32     8192
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaa:34-34
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdab:0-32     8192
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdab:34-34
         [lv_rimage_3] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdac:1-34     8192
         [lv_rimage_4] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdad:1-34     8192
         [lv_rimage_5] iwi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdae:1-34     8192
         [lv_rmeta_0]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sda:33-33
         [lv_rmeta_1]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdaa:33-33
         [lv_rmeta_2]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdab:33-33
         [lv_rmeta_3]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdac:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_4]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdad:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_5]  ewi-aor--- linear   /dev/sdae:0-0
       # lvs -a -o lv_name,attr,segtype,reshapelen vg
         LV            Attr       Type     RSize
         lv            rwi-a-r--- raid6_nr 24.00m
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear    4.00m
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear    4.00m
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear    4.00m
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rimage_3] iwi-aor--- linear    4.00m
         [lv_rimage_4] iwi-aor--- linear    4.00m
         [lv_rimage_5] iwi-aor--- linear    4.00m
         [lv_rmeta_0]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_1]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_2]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_3]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_4]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_5]  ewi-aor--- linear
       Future developments might include automatic removal of the freed
       images.
       If the reshape space shall be removed any lvconvert command not
       changing the layout can be used:
       # lvconvert --stripes 4 vg/lv
         Using default stripesize 64.00 KiB.
         No change in RAID LV vg/lv layout, freeing reshape space.
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs -a -o lv_name,attr,segtype,reshapelen vg
         LV            Attr       Type     RSize
         lv            rwi-a-r--- raid6_nr    0
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear      0
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear      0
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear      0
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rimage_3] iwi-aor--- linear      0
         [lv_rimage_4] iwi-aor--- linear      0
         [lv_rimage_5] iwi-aor--- linear      0
         [lv_rmeta_0]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_1]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_2]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_3]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_4]  ewi-aor--- linear
         [lv_rmeta_5]  ewi-aor--- linear
       In case the RaidLV should be converted to striped:
       # lvconvert --type striped vg/lv
         Unable to convert LV vg/lv from raid6_nr to striped.
         Converting vg/lv from raid6_nr is directly possible to the \
         following layouts:
           raid6_nc
           raid6_zr
           raid6_la_6
           raid6_ls_6
           raid6_ra_6
           raid6_rs_6
           raid6_n_6
       A direct conversion isn't possible thus the command informed about
       the possible ones.  raid6_n_6 is suitable to convert to striped so
       convert to it first (this is a reshape changing the raid6 layout from
       raid6_nr to raid6_n_6).
       # lvconvert --type raid6_n_6
         Using default stripesize 64.00 KiB.
         Converting raid6_nr LV vg/lv to raid6_n_6.
       Are you sure you want to convert raid6_nr LV vg/lv? [y/n]: y
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       Wait for the reshape to finish.
       # lvconvert --type striped vg/lv
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs -o lv_name,attr,segtype,seg_pe_ranges,dataoffset vg
         LV   Attr       Type    PE Ranges  DOff
         lv   -wi-a----- striped /dev/sda:2-32 \
                                 /dev/sdaa:2-32 \
                                 /dev/sdab:2-32 \
                                 /dev/sdac:3-33
         lv   -wi-a----- striped /dev/sda:34-35 \
                                 /dev/sdaa:34-35 \
                                 /dev/sdab:34-35 \
                                 /dev/sdac:34-35
       From striped we can convert to raid10
       # lvconvert --type raid10 vg/lv
         Using default stripesize 64.00 KiB.
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs -o lv_name,attr,segtype,seg_pe_ranges,dataoffset vg
         LV   Attr       Type   PE Ranges          DOff
         lv   rwi-a-r--- raid10 lv_rimage_0:0-32 \
                                lv_rimage_4:0-32 \
                                lv_rimage_1:0-32 ... \
                                lv_rimage_3:0-32 \
                                lv_rimage_7:0-32   0
       # lvs -a -o lv_name,attr,segtype,seg_pe_ranges,dataoffset vg
         WARNING: Cannot find matching striped segment for vg/lv_rimage_3.
         LV            Attr       Type   PE Ranges          DOff
         lv            rwi-a-r--- raid10 lv_rimage_0:0-32 \
                                         lv_rimage_4:0-32 \
                                         lv_rimage_1:0-32 ... \
                                         lv_rimage_3:0-32 \
                                         lv_rimage_7:0-32   0
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sda:2-32      0
         [lv_rimage_0] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sda:34-35
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sdaa:2-32     0
         [lv_rimage_1] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sdaa:34-35
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sdab:2-32     0
         [lv_rimage_2] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sdab:34-35
         [lv_rimage_3] iwi-XXr--- linear /dev/sdac:3-35     0
         [lv_rimage_4] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sdad:1-33     0
         [lv_rimage_5] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sdae:1-33     0
         [lv_rimage_6] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sdaf:1-33     0
         [lv_rimage_7] iwi-aor--- linear /dev/sdag:1-33     0
         [lv_rmeta_0]  ewi-aor--- linear /dev/sda:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_1]  ewi-aor--- linear /dev/sdaa:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_2]  ewi-aor--- linear /dev/sdab:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_3]  ewi-aor--- linear /dev/sdac:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_4]  ewi-aor--- linear /dev/sdad:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_5]  ewi-aor--- linear /dev/sdae:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_6]  ewi-aor--- linear /dev/sdaf:0-0
         [lv_rmeta_7]  ewi-aor--- linear /dev/sdag:0-0
       raid10 allows to add stripes but can't remove them.
       A more elaborate example to convert from linear to striped with
       interim conversions to raid1 then raid5 followed by restripe (4
       steps).
       We start with the linear LV.
       # lvs -a -o name,size,segtype,syncpercent,datastripes,\
                   stripesize,reshapelenle,devices vg
         LV   LSize   Type   Cpy%Sync #DStr Stripe RSize Devices
         lv   128.00m linear              1     0        /dev/sda(0)
       Then convert it to a 2-way raid1.
       # lvconvert --mirrors 1 vg/lv
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs -a -o name,size,segtype,datastripes,\
                   stripesize,reshapelenle,devices vg
         LV            LSize   Type   #DStr Stripe RSize Devices
         lv            128.00m raid1      2     0        lv_rimage_0(0),\
                                                         lv_rimage_1(0)
         [lv_rimage_0] 128.00m linear     1     0        /dev/sda(0)
         [lv_rimage_1] 128.00m linear     1     0        /dev/sdhx(1)
         [lv_rmeta_0]    4.00m linear     1     0        /dev/sda(32)
         [lv_rmeta_1]    4.00m linear     1     0        /dev/sdhx(0)
       Once the raid1 LV is fully synchronized we convert it to raid5_n
       (only 2-way raid1 LVs can be converted to raid5).  We select raid5_n
       here because it has dedicated parity SubLVs at the end and can be
       converted to striped directly without any additional conversion.
       # lvconvert --type raid5_n vg/lv
         Using default stripesize 64.00 KiB.
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs -a -o name,size,segtype,syncpercent,datastripes,\
                   stripesize,reshapelenle,devices vg
         LV            LSize   Type    #DStr Stripe RSize Devices
         lv            128.00m raid5_n     1 64.00k     0 lv_rimage_0(0),\
                                                          lv_rimage_1(0)
         [lv_rimage_0] 128.00m linear      1     0      0 /dev/sda(0)
         [lv_rimage_1] 128.00m linear      1     0      0 /dev/sdhx(1)
         [lv_rmeta_0]    4.00m linear      1     0        /dev/sda(32)
         [lv_rmeta_1]    4.00m linear      1     0        /dev/sdhx(0)
       Now we'll change the number of data stripes from 1 to 5 and request
       128K stripe size in one command.  This will grow the size of the LV
       by a factor of 5 (we add 4 data stripes to the one given).  That
       additonal space can be used by e.g. growing any contained filesystem
       or the LV can be reduced in size after the reshaping conversion has
       finished.
       # lvconvert --stripesize 128k --stripes 5 vg/lv
         Converting stripesize 64.00 KiB of raid5_n LV vg/lv to 128.00 KiB.
         WARNING: Adding stripes to active logical volume vg/lv will grow \
         it from 32 to 160 extents!
         Run "lvresize -l32 vg/lv" to shrink it or use the additional capacity.
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs -a -o name,size,segtype,datastripes,\
                   stripesize,reshapelenle,devices
         LV            LSize   Type    #DStr Stripe  RSize Devices
         lv            640.00m raid5_n     5 128.00k     6 lv_rimage_0(0),\
                                                           lv_rimage_1(0),\
                                                           lv_rimage_2(0),\
                                                           lv_rimage_3(0),\
                                                           lv_rimage_4(0),\
                                                           lv_rimage_5(0)
         [lv_rimage_0] 132.00m linear      1      0      1 /dev/sda(33)
         [lv_rimage_0] 132.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sda(0)
         [lv_rimage_1] 132.00m linear      1      0      1 /dev/sdhx(33)
         [lv_rimage_1] 132.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdhx(1)
         [lv_rimage_2] 132.00m linear      1      0      1 /dev/sdhw(33)
         [lv_rimage_2] 132.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdhw(1)
         [lv_rimage_3] 132.00m linear      1      0      1 /dev/sdhv(33)
         [lv_rimage_3] 132.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdhv(1)
         [lv_rimage_4] 132.00m linear      1      0      1 /dev/sdhu(33)
         [lv_rimage_4] 132.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdhu(1)
         [lv_rimage_5] 132.00m linear      1      0      1 /dev/sdht(33)
         [lv_rimage_5] 132.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdht(1)
         [lv_rmeta_0]    4.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sda(32)
         [lv_rmeta_1]    4.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdhx(0)
         [lv_rmeta_2]    4.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdhw(0)
         [lv_rmeta_3]    4.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdhv(0)
         [lv_rmeta_4]    4.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdhu(0)
         [lv_rmeta_5]    4.00m linear      1      0        /dev/sdht(0)
       Once the conversion has finished we can can convert to striped.
       # lvconvert --type striped vg/lv
         Logical volume vg/lv successfully converted.
       # lvs -a -o name,size,segtype,datastripes,\
                   stripesize,reshapelenle,devices vg
         LV   LSize   Type    #DStr Stripe  RSize Devices
         lv   640.00m striped     5 128.00k       /dev/sda(33),\
                                                  /dev/sdhx(33),\
                                                  /dev/sdhw(33),\
                                                  /dev/sdhv(33),\
                                                  /dev/sdhu(33)
         lv   640.00m striped     5 128.00k       /dev/sda(0),\
                                                  /dev/sdhx(1),\
                                                  /dev/sdhw(1),\
                                                  /dev/sdhv(1),\
                                                  /dev/sdhu(1)
       Reversing these steps will convert a given striped LV to linear.
       Mind the facts that stripes are removed thus the capacity of the
       RaidLV will shrink and that changing the RaidLV layout will influence
       its performance.
       "lvconvert --stripes 1 vg/lv" for converting to 1 stripe will inform
       upfront about the reduced size to allow for resizing the content or
       growing the RaidLV before actually converting to 1 stripe.  The
       --force option is needed to allow stripe removing conversions to
       prevent data loss.
       Of course any interim step can be the intended last one (e.g.
       striped-> raid1).

RAID5 Variants         top

       raid5_ls
       · RAID5 left symmetric
       · Rotating parity N with data restart
       raid5_la
       · RAID5 left symmetric
       · Rotating parity N with data continuation
       raid5_rs
       · RAID5 right symmetric
       · Rotating parity 0 with data restart
       raid5_ra
       · RAID5 right asymmetric
       · Rotating parity 0 with data continuation
       raid5_n
       · RAID5 parity n
       · Dedicated parity device n used for striped/raid0 conversions
       · Used for RAID Takeover

RAID6 Variants         top

       raid6
       · RAID6 zero restart (aka left symmetric)
       · Rotating parity 0 with data restart
       · Same as raid6_zr
       raid6_zr
       · RAID6 zero restart (aka left symmetric)
       · Rotating parity 0 with data restart
       raid6_nr
       · RAID6 N restart (aka right symmetric)
       · Rotating parity N with data restart
       raid6_nc
       · RAID6 N continue
       · Rotating parity N with data continuation
       raid6_n_6
       · RAID6 last parity devices
       · Fixed dedicated last devices (P-Syndrome N-1 and Q-Syndrome N)
         with striped data used for striped/raid0 conversions
       · Used for RAID Takeover
       raid6_{ls,rs,la,ra}_6
       · RAID6 last parity device
       · Dedicated last parity device used for conversions from/to
         raid5_{ls,rs,la,ra}
       raid6_ls_6
       · RAID6 N continue
       · Same as raid5_ls for N-1 disks with fixed Q-Syndrome N
       · Used for RAID Takeover
       raid6_la_6
       · RAID6 N continue
       · Same as raid5_la for N-1 disks with fixed Q-Syndrome N
       · Used forRAID Takeover
       raid6_rs_6
       · RAID6 N continue
       · Same as raid5_rs for N-1 disks with fixed Q-Syndrome N
       · Used for RAID Takeover
       raid6_ra_6
       · RAID6 N continue
       · Same as raid5_ra for N-1 disks with fixed Q-Syndrome N
       · Used for RAID Takeover

History         top

       The 2.6.38-rc1 version of the Linux kernel introduced a device-mapper
       target to interface with the software RAID (MD) personalities.  This
       provided device-mapper with RAID 4/5/6 capabilities and a larger
       development community.  Later, support for RAID1, RAID10, and RAID1E
       (RAID 10 variants) were added.  Support for these new kernel RAID
       targets was added to LVM version 2.02.87.  The capabilities of the
       LVM raid1 type have surpassed the old mirror type.  raid1 is now
       recommended instead of mirror.  raid1 became the default for
       mirroring in LVM version 2.02.100.

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the lvm2 (Logical Volume Manager 2) project.
       Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://www.sourceware.org/lvm2/⟩.  If you have a bug report for this
       manual page, send it to linux-lvm@redhat.com.  This page was obtained
       from the project's upstream Git repository 
       ⟨git://sourceware.org/git/lvm2.git⟩ on 2017-07-05.  If you discover
       any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
       believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or
       you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
       COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail
       to man-pages@man7.org
Red Hat, Inc       LVM TOOLS 2.02.173(2)-git (2017-06-28)         LVMRAID(7)

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