Duplicate LVM Volume Group Warning

This document (7003547) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9

Situation

The following LVM errors were observed:

# /sbin/pvscan
WARNING: Duplicate VG name sapvg: Existing JckPD2-vv2Q-3IJd-t3AN-Tqpv-PMTl-oT9Y1X (created here) takes precedence over XrqmSA-LzGU-qV9V-AlpL-uYHv-eEaA-M4ucXg
Couldn't find device with uuid 'LZrggj-3RdW-mHdG-XFDQ-Rfok-1JTj-HyZM5E'.
Couldn't find device with uuid '7IeYkn-V4tc-lz8D-K8JS-FMEn-eCgU-qL25mi'.
Couldn't find device with uuid 'LZrggj-3RdW-mHdG-XFDQ-Rfok-1JTj-HyZM5E'.
Couldn't find device with uuid '7IeYkn-V4tc-lz8D-K8JS-FMEn-eCgU-qL25mi'.
PV unknown device   VG sapvg    lvm2 [136.73 GB / 100.32 GB free]
PV /dev/sdb1        VG sapvg    lvm2 [136.73 GB / 90.63 GB free]
PV unknown device   VG sapvg    lvm2 [68.36 GB / 68.36 GB free]
PV /dev/md2         VG sapvg    lvm2 [136.53 GB / 63.03 GB free]
PV /dev/md1         VG rootvg   lvm2 [53.35 GB / 2.05 GB free]
Total: 5 [531.69 GB] / in use: 5 [531.69 GB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]

Resolution

SUSE will have many representations or devices for the same physical hardware. LVM needs to know which of these devices to use. LVM meta data exists on both the /dev/sd* and /dev/md* devices for the same volume group. When choosing the device, pick the highest level of abstraction for the block device. In this example, the /dev/sd* devices have been consumed by the /dev/md* for software RAID. So the /dev/md* devices are the highest level of block abstraction. Update the LVM filter to only use the /dev/md* devices.

To update the LVM filter do the following:

Edit /etc/lvm/lvm.conf
Change the default filter = [ "r|/dev/.*/by-path/.*|", "r|/dev/.*/by-id/.*|", "a/.*/"] to filter = [ "a|/dev/md.*|", "r/.*/"]
Save and exit /etc/lvm/lvm.conf
Run vgscan
Run pvscan to confirm the error is no longer present. It is also a good idea to reboot the server.

NOTE: This filter assumes you only use /dev/md* devices with LVM. If you use other devices, you will need to include an "Accept" filter for those devices as well.

Disclaimer

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