Cannot recreate LVM volume group after crash

(Last modified: 27Aug2005)

This document (10098710) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

fact

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9

LVM

symptom

Cannot recreate LVM volume group after crash

YaST ERROR: "LVM error: File descriptor 5 left open"

YaST ERROR: "LVM error: vgcreate -M2 -s 4096k lvmgroup /dev/sda1"

vgcreate lvmgroup /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1' returns ERROR: "/dev/lvmgroup: already exists in filesystem"

cause

The volume group and the /dev/lvmgroup symlink were not cleaned up properly

fix

Remove all references to invalid logical volumes, volume groups, physical volumes and /dev symlinks.

In the following example, there is an invalid volume, volume group and symlinks.

Invalid Logical Volumes: badvol, lvmvol
Invalid Volume Groups: badgroup, lvmgroup
Valid Logical Volume: oraclelogvol
Valid Volume Group: oraclevolgroup

lvscan
  ACTIVE            '/dev/badgroup/badvol' [66.40 GB] inherit
  ACTIVE            '/dev/oraclevolgroup/oraclelogvol' [4.50 GB] inherit

vgscan
  Reading all physical volumes.  This may take a while...
  Found volume group "badgroup" using metadata type lvm2
  Found volume group "oraclevolgroup" using metadata type lvm2

pvscan
  PV /dev/sdd1     VG badgroup         lvm2 [33.20 GB / 0    free]
  PV /dev/sde1     VG badgroup         lvm2 [33.20 GB / 0    free]
  PV /dev/dasdi1   VG oraclevolgroup   lvm2 [2.29 GB / 0    free]
  PV /dev/dasdj1   VG oraclevolgroup   lvm2 [2.29 GB / 80.00 MB free]
  PV /dev/sdc1                         lvm2 [33.20 GB]
  --snip--

lvremove /dev/badgroup/badvol
  Do you really want to remove active logical volume "badvol"? [y/n]: y
  Logical volume "badvol" successfully removed

vgremove badgroup
  Volume group "badgroup" successfully removed

pvscan
  PV /dev/sdd1                         lvm2 [33.20 GB]
  PV /dev/sde1                         lvm2 [33.20 GB]
  PV /dev/dasdi1   VG oraclevolgroup   lvm2 [2.29 GB / 0    free]
  PV /dev/dasdj1   VG oraclevolgroup   lvm2 [2.29 GB / 80.00 MB free]
  PV /dev/sdc1                         lvm2 [33.20 GB]
  --snip--

pvremove /dev/sdc1
  Labels on physical volume "/dev/sdc1" successfully wiped

pvremove /dev/sdd1
  Labels on physical volume "/dev/sdd1" successfully wiped

pvremove /dev/sde1
  Labels on physical volume "/dev/sde1" successfully wiped

NOTE: In this case three new LUNs were created and partitioned with type 0x8e (Linux LVM).

pvcreate /dev/sda1
  Physical volume "/dev/sda1" successfully created

pvcreate /dev/sdb1
  Physical volume "/dev/sdb1" successfully created

pvcreate /dev/sdc1
  Physical volume "/dev/sdc1" successfully created

vgcreate lvmgroup /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1
  /dev/lvmgroup: already exists in filesystem

ls -l /dev/lvmgroup
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    33 Aug 23 18:49 lvmvol -> /dev/mapper/lvmgroup-lvmvol

rm -rf /dev/lvmgroup

NOTE: At this point, YaST and the commandline tools can successfully create any volume group and logical volumes needed.

.

document

Document Title:	Cannot recreate LVM volume group after crash
Document ID:	10098710
Solution ID:	NOVL103205
Creation Date:	25Aug2005
Modified Date:	27Aug2005
Novell Product Class:	Linux

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