chpv Command

Purpose

Changes the characteristics of a physical volume in a volume group.

Syntax

chpv [ -h hotspare ] [  -a allocation ] [ -v availability [-f]][ -c ] [ -p mirrorpool ] [ -P ] [ -m mirrorpool ] physicalvolume ... [ -C hdiskname ]

Description

The chpv command changes the state of the physical volume in a volume group by setting allocation permission to either allow or not allow allocation and by setting the availability to either available or removed. This command can also be used to clear the boot record for the given physical volume. Characteristics for a physical volume remain in effect unless explicitly changed with the corresponding flag.
Note: To use this command, you must either have root user authority or be a member of the system group.

You can also use the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) smit chpv fast path to run this command.

Flags

Item Description
-a allocation Sets the allocation permission for additional physical partitions on the physical volume specified by the physicalvolume parameter. Either allows (yes) the allocation of additional physical partitions on the physical volume, or prohibits (no) the allocation of additional physical partitions on the physical volume. The allocation variable can be either:
y
Allows the allocation of additional physical partitions on the physical volume.
n
Prohibits the allocation of additional physical partitions on the physical volume. The logical volumes that reside on the physical volume can still be accessed.
-c Clears the boot record of the given physical volume.
-C hdiskname Clears the owning volume manager from a disk. This flag is only valid when running as the root user. This command will fail to clear LVM as the owning volume manager if the disk is part of an imported LVM volume group.
-f Forces a physical volume with open logical volumes to be unavailable (removed), unless the physical volume has active paging or a dump device.
-h hotspare Sets the sparing characteristics of the physical volume so that the physical volume can be used as a hot spare. Also sets the allocation permission for physical partitions on the physical volume specified by the physicalvolume parameter. This flag has no meaning for non-mirrored logical volumes. The hotspare variable can be either:
y
Marks the disk as a hot spare disk within the volume group it belongs to and prohibits the allocation of physical partitions on the physical volume. The disk must not have any partitions allocated to logical volumes to be successfully marked as a hot spare disk.
n
Removes the disk from the hot spare pool for the volume group in which it resides and allows allocation of physical partitions on the physical volume.
-m mirrorpool Changes the name of the mirror pool that is assigned to the specified disk to the value of the mirrorpool parameter.
-p mirrorpool Assigns the physical volume to a mirror pool. The name of a mirror pool can be up to 15 characters in length. After mirror pools are enabled in a volume group, the volume group can no longer be imported into a version of AIX® (before AIX Version 6.1) that does not support mirror pools.
-P Removes the physical volume from the mirror pool that is being assigned. The physical volume can only be removed from the mirror pool if it has partitions that are allocated to a logical volume where mirror pools are enabled.
-v availability Sets the availability of the physical volume. If you set the availability to closed, logical input and output to the physical volume are stopped. Access to physical volume data by the file system or the virtual memory manager is stopped, but you can continue to use the system management commands. The availability variable can be either:
a
Makes a physical volume available for logical input and output.
r
Makes a physical volume unavailable (removed) for logical input and output. If the physical volume is required in order to maintain a volume group quorum, an error occurs and the physical volume remains open.

Examples

  1. To close physical volume hdisk3, enter:
    chpv  -v r hdisk3
    The physical volume is closed to logical input and output until the -v a flag is used.
  2. To open physical volume hdisk3, enter:
    chpv  -v a hdisk3
    The physical volume is now open for logical input and output.
  3. To stop the allocation of physical partitions to physical volume hdisk3, enter:
    chpv  -a n hdisk3
    No physical partitions can be allocated until the -a y flag is used.
  4. To clear the boot record of a physical volume hdisk3, enter: 
    chpv -c hdisk3

Files

Item Description
/usr/sbin Directory where the chpv command resides.
/tmp Directory where temporary files are stored while the command is running.