# phpman > man > vgcfgbackup(8) [VGCFGBACKUP(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/VGCFGBACKUP/8/markdown) System Manager's Manual [VGCFGBACKUP(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/VGCFGBACKUP/8/markdown) ## NAME vgcfgbackup - Backup volume group configuration(s) ## SYNOPSIS ### vgcfgbackup [ _option_args_ ] [ _position_args_ ] ## DESCRIPTION vgcfgbackup creates back up files containing metadata of VGs. If no VGs are named, back up files are created for all VGs. See **vgcfgrestore** for information on using the back up files. In a default installation, each VG is backed up into a separate file bearing the name of the VG in the directory _/etc/lvm/backup_. To use an alternative back up file, use **-f**. In this case, when backing up multiple VGs, the file name is treated as a template, with %s replaced by the VG name. NB. This DOES NOT back up the data content of LVs. It may also be useful to regularly back up the files in _/etc/lvm_. ## USAGE ### vgcfgbackup [ **-f**|**--file** _String_ ] [ **--foreign** ] [ **--ignorelockingfailure** ] [ **--readonly** ] [ **--reportformat** **basic**|**json** ] [ COMMON_OPTIONS ] [ _VG_ ... ] 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 **--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. ### -f --file Write the backup to the named file. When backing up more than one VG, the file name is treated as a template, and %s is replaced by the VG name. ### --foreign Report/display foreign VGs that would otherwise be skipped. See [**lvmsystemid**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvmsystemid/7/markdown) for more information about foreign 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. ### --nolocking Disable locking. **--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'. ### --readonly Run the command in a special read-only mode which will read on-disk metadata without needing to take any locks. This can be used to peek inside metadata used by a virtual machine image while the virtual machine is running. No attempt will be made to commu‐ nicate with the device-mapper kernel driver, so this option is unable to report whether or not LVs are actually in use. **--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. ### -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. ### -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 _VG_ Volume Group name. See [**lvm**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lvm/8/markdown) for valid names. _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) [VGCFGBACKUP(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/VGCFGBACKUP/8/markdown)