LVM, or Logical Volume Management, is a storage device management
technology that gives users the power to pool and abstract the
physical layout of component storage devices for easier and flexible
administration. Utilizing the device mapper Linux kernel framework,
the current iteration, LVM2, can be used to gather existing storage
devices into groups and allocate logical units from the combined
space as needed.
The main advantages of LVM are increased abstraction, flexibility,
and control. Logical volumes can have meaningful names like
“databases” or “root-backup”. Volumes can be resized dynamically as
space requirements change and migrated between physical devices
within the pool on a running system or exported easily. LVM also
offers advanced features like snapshotting, striping, and mirroring.
In this guide, we will briefly discuss how LVM works and then
demonstrate the basic commands needed to get up and running quickly.