Can You Specify Where LVM Snapshots Are (Initially) Stored?

Question

Disclaimer: this is my first time using lvm.

Upon RTFM, it appears that LVM snapshots are automatically stored in the same directory as the original logical volume. In my case, that would mean the /dev directory. This isn't very nice, because there's not enough disk space in there for me to store a large snapshot.

So when I run a command like lvcreate --size 1G --snapshot --name snapshot /dev/lvmData/usr, I need an additional 1G of space free in /dev?

Is there any way to specify a different directory in which to store my snapshot?

Answer 1

The files in /dev are not ordinary files - they are devices represented as files. The LVM-snapshot is a block device, and takes up space from LVM.

The 1G you specified with lvcreate is taken from the Free column on the lvmData line after you've run the vgs-command.