LVM Overview

LVM is the established standard for on-line disk storage management under Linux. It is included in the 2.4 kernel series.
LVM reached maturity with the 1.0.x series, adding over the 0.8 series new features such as snapshots and the ability to move live volumes.
LVM2 is a new implementation of LVM using a lightweight kernel driver: the Device Mapper.
The Device Mapper provides generic support for volume management. All volume managers can benefit from this work.
cLVM is the Cluster enhancement which makes LVM2 run in shared storage environments.

LVM is the established standard for on-line disk storage management under Linux. It is included in the 2.4 kernel series.