EX200 Configure local storage Practice Question
Which command initializes a disk partition as a physical volume for LVM?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse the LVM creation sequence and select `fdisk` (which only partitions the disk) instead of `pvcreate` (which initializes the partition for LVM use), or select `vgcreate` or `lvcreate` which operate on already-initialized physical volumes.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
pvcreate
`pvcreate` is the LVM command specifically designed to initialize a disk partition as a physical volume (PV), which is the first step in creating an LVM logical volume. Without a PV, LVM cannot manage the underlying block device. The command writes LVM metadata to the partition, marking it as available for inclusion in a volume group.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
fdisk
Why it's wrong here
fdisk is a partition-manipulation tool that creates, deletes, and resizes MBR or GPT partition entries. It only edits the disk's partition table; it does not write LVM metadata or LVM labels to any partition. Even after you use fdisk to carve out a partition (e.g., /dev/sdb1), that partition remains a raw device until pvcreate is explicitly run against it to initialize it as an LVM physical volume.
- ✗
vgcreate
Why it's wrong here
vgcreate is a higher-level LVM command that creates a volume group by combining one or more already-initialized physical volumes into a storage pool. It expects device arguments to be existing PVs with valid LVM labels; running vgcreate on a raw partition will fail because the partition lacks PV metadata. Therefore, vgcreate cannot initialize a partition as a physical volume — it only consumes PVs that pvcreate has already prepared.
- ✗
lvcreate
Why it's wrong here
lvcreate operates at the highest level of the LVM stack: it allocates logical volumes from available extents inside a volume group. A volume group is itself composed of physical volumes, so lvcreate presupposes both pvcreate and vgcreate have already been executed. Because lvcreate merely carves out a logical block device from an existing VG's free space, it has no ability to write PV labels or initialize a partition as a physical volume.
- ✓
pvcreate
Why this is correct
pvcreate is the correct command because it initializes a disk or partition as an LVM physical volume by writing an LVM label and metadata area at a specific offset on the device. This action assigns a unique PV ID and records the device in LVM's configuration, allowing it to later be added to a volume group with vgcreate. Without this initialization, other LVM tools cannot recognize the device, so pvcreate always precedes vgcreate and lvcreate in the LVM workflow.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every EX200 question from scratch — 427 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This EX200 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Red Hat certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the EX200 exam.