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pvmove freezes system

This document (7004393) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 2

Situation

An attempt to move Physical Volumes (PV) with the 'pvmove' command  does hang. CTRL-C does not help to kill the process. This leads to a complete freeze of the system and only a hard reboot does help.
 
The command output might look like: 
# pvmove /dev/sda6 /dev/sda7

system-pvmove0: device not found:

/dev/sda6: Moved: 1.0%
/dev/sda6: Moved: 1.8%
/dev/sda6: Moved: 2.7%
/dev/sda6: Moved: 3.5%
/dev/sda6: Moved: 4.4%
/dev/sda6: Moved: 5.2%
/dev/sda6: Moved: 6.1%
/dev/sda6: Moved: 6.9%
...
...

Resolution

Reboot the system and execute the command 'pvmove --abort' to abort any moves in progress.
Then make sure that "/var" and(or)  "/var/run" are not stored on the PV devices which are involved in the 'pvmove' command, that is, the related Logical Volumes (LV) are not mounted under "/var" or "/var/run".

In fact 'pvmove'  suspends all related dm table of logical volumes before it starts working, and as "/var" or "/var/run" are accessed during execution of this process, this leads to a deadlock.
If "/var" or "/var/run" have to be moved, it is recommended to boot into live CD first. 

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

  • Document ID:7004393
  • Creation Date: 07-Sep-2009
  • Modified Date:03-Mar-2020
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

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