Remove Physical Volume from Volume Group

Question

How do you remove a PV from a VG?

Here's what I've tried:

# vgreduce vg_iscsi /dev/sdb1
Physical volume "/dev/sdb1" still in use

# lvs
LV         VG       Attr       LSize   Pool Origin Data%  Meta%  Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
  root       centos   -wi-ao----   6.67g                                                    
  swap       centos   -wi-ao---- 820.00m                                                    
  lvm02      vg2      -wi-a----- 800.00m                                                    
  lv_iscsi_1 vg_iscsi -wi-ao----  52.00m

Then

# lvremove -f vg_iscsi/lv_iscsi_1
Logical volume vg_iscsi/lv_iscsi_1 in use.

Using fuser

# fuser -kuc /dev/vg_iscsi/lv_iscsi_1
/dev/dm-3:            1558(root)

I tried to kill -9 this but the process seemed to have disappeared by the time I issued the kill signal.

However, now I get this:

# vgreduce vg_iscsi /dev/sdb1
Can't remove final physical volume "/dev/sdb1" from volume group "vg_iscsi"

Any ideas?

please include more details, as it's nearly impossible to help with amount of details that you provide — alexus, Feb 13 '17 at 21:35
OK, since you don't want to delete your data, then you need to move your data to another PV. That being so, it's not clear why you're trying to run lvremove at all. That is destructive and will delete your data. — Michael Hampton, Feb 13 '17 at 22:11
Wasn't being clear - yes, completely happy to lose the data. It's just a test system. — Snowcrash, Feb 14 '17 at 10:53

score 8 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 13 '17 at 22:10

8

The vgreduce command is correct, but you can't remove a physical volume from the volume group until it's empty. That is what the error message that you received means.

As the man page states:

       To move all Physical Extents that are used by simple Logical Volumes on
       /dev/sdb1 to free Physical Extents elsewhere in the Volume Group use:

       pvmove /dev/sdb1

Once the PV is empty, you can then repeat the vgreduce command to remove it.

answered Feb 13 '17 at 22:10

Michael Hampton

247,473

When I run pvmove /dev/nvme1n1 I get No extents available for allocation. – What does this mean? – Avatar Oct 18 '23 at 07:07

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 13 '17 at 21:35

2

per man lvremove to remove, you should run

lvremove -f vg00/lvol1

please me mindful that parameter will be different in your case.

answered Feb 13 '17 at 21:35

alexus

13,374

I got an in use message. See my Q. – Snowcrash Feb 14 '17 at 17:26
If you want to remove the logical volume, unmount it first. It's in use because it's mounted. – Spooler Feb 14 '17 at 17:39

Remove Physical Volume from Volume Group

2 Answers2