# pvscan(8) - man - phpman > **TLDR:** List all physical volumes and manage their online status. > - List all physical volumes: `sudo pvscan` - Show the volume group that uses a specific physical volume: `sudo pvscan --cache --listvg {{/dev/sdX}}` - Show logical volumes that use a specific physical volume: `sudo pvscan --cache --listlvs {{/dev/sdX}}` - Display detailed information in JSON format: `sudo pvscan --reportformat json` *Source: tldr-pages* --- [PVSCAN(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PVSCAN/8/markdown) System Manager's Manual [PVSCAN(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PVSCAN/8/markdown) ## NAME pvscan - List all physical volumes ## SYNOPSIS **pvscan** _option_args_ [ _option_args_ ] [ _position_args_ ] ## DESCRIPTION When called without the --cache option, pvscan lists PVs on the system, like [**pvs**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pvs/8/markdown) or **pvdis**‐‐ [**play**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/play/8/markdown). When the --cache and -aay options are used, pvscan records which PVs are available on the system, and activates LVs in completed VGs. A VG is complete when pvscan sees that the final PV in the VG has appeared. This is used by event-based system startup (systemd, udev) to ac‐ tivate LVs. The four main variations of this are: **pvscan** **--cache** _device_ If device is present, lvm adds a record that the PV on device is online. If device is not present, lvm removes the online record for the PV. In most cases, the pvscan will only read the named devices. **pvscan** **--cache** **-aay** _device_... This begins by performing the same steps as above. Afterward, if the VG for the specified PV is complete, then pvscan will activate LVs in the VG (the same as vgchange -aay vgname would do.) ### pvscan --cache This first clears all existing PV online records, then scans all devices on the system, adding PV online records for any PVs that are found. ### pvscan --cache -aay This begins by performing the same steps as pvscan --cache. Afterward, it activates LVs in any complete VGs. To prevent devices from being scanned by pvscan --cache, add them to [**lvm.conf**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm.conf/5/markdown) **de**‐‐ **vices/global**___**filter.** For more information, see: **lvmconfig** **--withcomments** **devices/global**___**filter** Auto-activation of VGs or LVs can be enabled/disabled using: [**lvm.conf**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm.conf/5/markdown) **activation/auto**___**activation**___**volume**___**list** For more information, see: **lvmconfig** **--withcomments** **activation/auto**___**activation**___**volume**___**list** To disable auto-activation, explicitly set this list to an empty list, i.e. auto_activa‐ tion_volume_list = [ ]. When this setting is undefined (e.g. commented), then all LVs are auto-activated. ## USAGE Display PV information. ### pvscan [ **-e**|**--exported** ] [ **-n**|**--novolumegroup** ] [ **-s**|**--short** ] [ **-u**|**--uuid** ] [ COMMON_OPTIONS ] Autoactivate a VG when all PVs are online. ### pvscan --cache [ **-a**|**--activate** **ay** ] [ **-j**|**--major** _Number_ ] [ **--minor** _Number_ ] [ **--noudevsync** ] [ COMMON_OPTIONS ] [ _String_|_PV_ ... ] Common options for command: [ **--ignorelockingfailure** ] [ **--reportformat** **basic**|**json** ] Common options for lvm: [ **-d**|**--debug** ] [ **-h**|**--help** ] [ **-q**|**--quiet** ] [ **-t**|**--test** ] [ **-v**|**--verbose** ] [ **-y**|**--yes** ] [ **--commandprofile** _String_ ] [ **--config** _String_ ] [ **--driverloaded** **y**|**n** ] [ **--lockopt** _String_ ] [ **--longhelp** ] [ **--nolocking** ] [ **--profile** _String_ ] [ **--version** ] ## OPTIONS ### -a --activate Auto-activate LVs in a VG when the PVs scanned have completed the VG. (Only **ay** is ap‐ plicable.) ### --cache Scan one or more devices and record that they are online. **--commandprofile** _String_ The command profile to use for command configuration. See [**lvm.conf**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm.conf/5/markdown) for more infor‐ mation about profiles. **--config** _String_ Config settings for the command. These override lvm.conf settings. The String arg uses the same format as lvm.conf, or may use section/field syntax. See [**lvm.conf**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm.conf/5/markdown) for more information about config. ### -d --debug Set debug level. Repeat from 1 to 6 times to increase the detail of messages sent to the log file and/or syslog (if configured). **--driverloaded** **y**|**n** If set to no, the command will not attempt to use device-mapper. For testing and de‐ bugging. ### -e --exported Only show PVs belonging to exported VGs. ### -h --help Display help text. ### --ignorelockingfailure Allows a command to continue with read-only metadata operations after locking fail‐ ures. **--lockopt** _String_ Used to pass options for special cases to lvmlockd. See [**lvmlockd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmlockd/8/markdown) for more informa‐ tion. ### --longhelp Display long help text. ### -j --major The major number of a device. **--minor** _Number_ The minor number of a device. ### --nolocking Disable locking. ### --noudevsync Disables udev synchronisation. The process will not wait for notification from udev. It will continue irrespective of any possible udev processing in the background. Only use this if udev is not running or has rules that ignore the devices LVM creates. ### -n --novolumegroup Only show PVs not belonging to any VG. **--profile** _String_ An alias for --commandprofile or --metadataprofile, depending on the command. ### -q --quiet Suppress output and log messages. Overrides --debug and --verbose. Repeat once to also suppress any prompts with answer 'no'. **--reportformat** **basic**|**json** Overrides current output format for reports which is defined globally by the re‐ port/output_format setting in lvm.conf. **basic** is the original format with columns and rows. If there is more than one report per command, each report is prefixed with the report name for identification. **json** produces report output in JSON format. See **lvmre**‐‐ [**port**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/port/7/markdown) for more information. ### -s --short Short listing format. ### -t --test Run in test mode. Commands will not update metadata. This is implemented by disabling all metadata writing but nevertheless returning success to the calling function. This may lead to unusual error messages in multi-stage operations if a tool relies on read‐ ing back metadata it believes has changed but hasn't. ### -u --uuid Show UUIDs in addition to device names. ### -v --verbose Set verbose level. Repeat from 1 to 4 times to increase the detail of messages sent to stdout and stderr. ### --version Display version information. ### -y --yes Do not prompt for confirmation interactively but always assume the answer yes. Use with extreme caution. (For automatic no, see -qq.) ## VARIABLES _PV_ Physical Volume name, a device path under /dev. For commands managing physical ex‐ tents, a PV positional arg generally accepts a suffix indicating a range (or multiple ranges) of physical extents (PEs). When the first PE is omitted, it defaults to the start of the device, and when the last PE is omitted it defaults to end. Start and end range (inclusive): _PV_[**:**_PE_**-**_PE_]... Start and length range (counting from 0): _PV_[**:**_PE_**+**_PE_]... _String_ See the option description for information about the string content. _Size_[UNIT] Size is an input number that accepts an optional unit. Input units are always treated as base two values, regardless of capitalization, e.g. 'k' and 'K' both refer to 1024. The default input unit is specified by letter, followed by |UNIT. UNIT represents other possible input units: **bBsSkKmMgGtTpPeE**. b|B is bytes, s|S is sectors of 512 bytes, k|K is KiB, m|M is MiB, g|G is GiB, t|T is TiB, p|P is PiB, e|E is EiB. (This should not be confused with the output control --units, where capital letters mean multiple of 1000.) ## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES See [**lvm**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm/8/markdown) for information about environment variables used by lvm. For example, LVM_VG_NAME can generally be substituted for a required VG parameter. ## SEE ALSO [**lvm**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm/8/markdown) [**lvm.conf**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm.conf/5/markdown) [**lvmconfig**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmconfig/8/markdown) [**pvchange**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pvchange/8/markdown) [**pvck**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pvck/8/markdown) [**pvcreate**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pvcreate/8/markdown) [**pvdisplay**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pvdisplay/8/markdown) [**pvmove**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pvmove/8/markdown) [**pvremove**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pvremove/8/markdown) [**pvresize**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pvresize/8/markdown) [**pvs**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pvs/8/markdown) **pvs**‐‐ [**can**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/can/8/markdown) [**vgcfgbackup**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgcfgbackup/8/markdown) [**vgcfgrestore**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgcfgrestore/8/markdown) [**vgchange**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgchange/8/markdown) [**vgck**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgck/8/markdown) [**vgcreate**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgcreate/8/markdown) [**vgconvert**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgconvert/8/markdown) [**vgdisplay**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgdisplay/8/markdown) **vg**‐‐ [**export**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/export/8/markdown) [**vgextend**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgextend/8/markdown) [**vgimport**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgimport/8/markdown) [**vgimportclone**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgimportclone/8/markdown) [**vgmerge**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgmerge/8/markdown) [**vgmknodes**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgmknodes/8/markdown) [**vgreduce**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgreduce/8/markdown) **vgre**‐‐ [**move**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/move/8/markdown) [**vgrename**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgrename/8/markdown) [**vgs**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgs/8/markdown) [**vgscan**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgscan/8/markdown) [**vgsplit**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vgsplit/8/markdown) [**lvcreate**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvcreate/8/markdown) [**lvchange**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvchange/8/markdown) [**lvconvert**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvconvert/8/markdown) [**lvdisplay**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvdisplay/8/markdown) [**lvextend**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvextend/8/markdown) [**lvreduce**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvreduce/8/markdown) [**lvremove**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvremove/8/markdown) **lvre**‐‐ [**name**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/name/8/markdown) [**lvresize**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvresize/8/markdown) [**lvs**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvs/8/markdown) [**lvscan**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvscan/8/markdown) [**lvm-fullreport**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm-fullreport/8/markdown) [**lvm-lvpoll**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm-lvpoll/8/markdown) [**lvm2-activation-generator**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm2-activation-generator/8/markdown) [**blkdeactivate**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/blkdeactivate/8/markdown) [**lvmdump**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmdump/8/markdown) [**dmeventd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/dmeventd/8/markdown) [**lvmpolld**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmpolld/8/markdown) [**lvmlockd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmlockd/8/markdown) [**lvmlockctl**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmlockctl/8/markdown) [**cmirrord**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/cmirrord/8/markdown) [**lvmdbusd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmdbusd/8/markdown) [**lvmsystemid**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmsystemid/7/markdown) [**lvmreport**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmreport/7/markdown) [**lvmraid**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmraid/7/markdown) [**lvmthin**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmthin/7/markdown) [**lvmcache**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmcache/7/markdown) Red Hat, Inc. LVM TOOLS [2.03.11(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/2.03.11/2/markdown) (2021-01-08) [PVSCAN(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PVSCAN/8/markdown)