LVM enables hosts to deliver a stronger storage management capability. This software helps system administrators allocate storage space to applications and users at ease. Administrators can add, remove, or adjust the size of logical volumes (LVs) on demand. Additionally, LVM customizes name identifiers for all managed logical volumes.

Each physical volume (PV) in use belongs to a volume group, which contains one or more logical volumes. Data that is perceived by users as continuous on a logical volume can be discontinuous on a physical volume. Users can resize, relocate, and copy file systems, paging space, and logical volumes across different physical volumes, achieving better flexibility and availability.

Disk storage is managed in a layered structure. Each disk (represented as a PV) has a name, for example, /dev/hdisk0. Each physical volume in use belongs to a volume group (VG). All physical volumes in a volume group are divided into physical partitions (PPs) of the same size.

A volume group contains one or more logical volumes. A logical volume represents a group of data on a physical volume. Each logical volume consists of one or more logical partitions (LPs). A logical partition corresponds to at least one physical partition.

Table 9-1 lists the limitations of the VGs in AIX.