LVM logcal volumes will not activate

This document (7014033) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
Logical Volume Manager (LVM)

Situation

Running the lvs command shows lvm volumes that have not been activated. In the example below, the "a" attribute is missing for arch1, arch2, critical and data logical volumes.

# lvs
  LV       VG   Attr   LSize   Origin Snap%  Move Log Copy%  Convert
  arch1    asm  -wi--- 120.00m                                      
  arch2    asm  -wi--- 120.00m                                      
  critical ceo  -wi--- 240.00m                                      
  data     lrg  -wi--- 500.00m                                      
  root     sys  -wi-ao 548.00m                                      
  usr      sys  -wi-ao   2.52g                                      
  var      sys  -wi-ao 448.00m

Resolution

The first thing to do is try to manually activate the volumes. Run the following:

vgscan
vgchange -ay
lvs

Volumes Manually Activate

Check services and files in the boot process that may be preventing volume group activation.

Make sure no volume groups are specified in LVM_VGS_ACTIVATED_ON_BOOT in the /etc/sysconfig/lvm file.
Make sure boot.lvm is turned on by running 'chkconfig boot.lvm on'
Run an rpm validate on the lvm package to make sure no files have been altered. Check any altered files or consider reinstalling the lvm rpm package.

Volumes Do Not Manually Activate

The goal now is it detect any errors as to why the logical volumes won't activate. Run the following and write down any errors you get:

vgscan
pvscan
vgs
lvs

It is outside the scope of this document to consider all the possible errors relating to logical volumes that do not active. Each error must be researched individually.

Disclaimer

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