How do I manually activate a volume group managed by an LVM-activate resource with system_id on another node?

Solution Verified - Updated 30 Sept 2025

Environment

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 and 9 with the High Availability Add-on
LVM-activate resource with vg_access_mode=system_id

Issue

The active node of the cluster is down, and I cannot activate the cluster controlled volume group on the passive node.
```
Cannot access VG testvg with system ID rh8-nd2 with local system ID rh8-nd1.
```

Resolution

Please Note: This should be performed during a maintenance window as the cluster with all resources will have to be stopped.

Prior to the following steps to correct the system ID configuration, confirm /etc/lvm/lvm.conf has auto_activation_volume_list value configured with only local volume groups. If the shared volume group is listed, it will cause issues and prevent clean system ID switches.

Assuming following is the cluster architecture

Cluster node hostnames are rh8-nd1 and rh8-nd2.
Local VG to both the cluster servers are named rhel.
Cluster controlled volume group is named testvg.
The system_id_source parameter under /etc/lvm/lvm.conf is set as uname.
Node rh8-nd2 has the testvg active on it currently.

Method 1: Update systemid From Any Node in the Cluster

Stop the cluster to perform troubleshooting.
```
pcs cluster stop --all
```

Use vgs -ao+systemid command to confirm testvg is currently only showing active on node rh8-nd2 with node hostname listed as current system ID. Node rh8-nd1 should not list testvg or not list a system ID for the volume group.

  [root@rh8-nd2 ~]# vgs -ao+systemid
    VG     #PV #LV #SN Attr   VSize   VFree System ID
    rhel     1   2   0 wz--n- <11.00g    0           
    testvg   2   1   0 wz--n-  <1.20g    0  rh8-nd2  


  [root@rh8-nd1 ~]# vgs -ao+systemid
    VG   #PV #LV #SN Attr   VSize   VFree System ID
    rhel   1   2   0 wz--n- <11.00g    0

Activate the VG on passive node rh8-nd1 by temporarily setting the system_id as rh8-nd2 with vgchange -y --config local/extra_system_ids=[\"rh8-nd2\"] --systemid rh8-nd1 testvg command so it can be interacted with on rh8-nd1. This will allow rh8-nd1 to update the system ID independently to rh8-nd1.
```
[root@rh8-nd1 ~]# vgchange -y --config local/extra_system_ids=[\"rh8-nd2\"] --systemid rh8-nd1 testvg
  Volume group "testvg" successfully changed
```

Confirm the system ID has successfully updated to rh8-nd1.

[root@rh8-nd1 ~]# vgs -ao+systemid
  VG     #PV #LV #SN Attr   VSize   VFree System ID
  rhel     1   2   0 wz--n- <11.00g    0           
  testvg   2   1   0 wz--n-  <1.20g    0  rh8-nd1     <<===---- System ID is now updated to passive node

Activate the logical volume for testvg on rh8-nd1.

[root@rh8-nd1 ~]# vgchange -ay testvg
  1 logical volume(s) in volume group "testvg" now active

Confirm activation of logical volume with lvs command.

[root@rh8-nd1 ~]# lvs 
  LV     VG     Attr       LSize  Pool Origin Data%  Meta%  Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
  root   rhel   -wi-ao----  9.79g                                                    
  swap   rhel   -wi-ao----  1.20g                                                    
  testlv testvg -wi-a----- <1.20g           <<===---- LV is now active on passive node and available to get mounted locally on node.

Confirm the filesystem related to testvg is not mounted locally on any cluster nodes with mount.

Confirm the testvg VG/ testlv LV is deactivated on both nodes with vgchange -a n testvg the confirm with lvs on all cluster nodes.

[root@rh8-nd1 ~]# lvs 
  LV     VG     Attr       LSize  Pool Origin Data%  Meta%  Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
  root   rhel   -wi-ao----  9.79g                                                    
  swap   rhel   -wi-ao----  1.20g                                                    
  testlv testvg -wi------- <1.20g           <<===---- LV is now deactivated on passive node.

Start cluster to bring all resources up.
```
pcs cluster start --all
```

Method 2: Update systemid From Node Matching Assigned systemid

Stop the cluster to perform troubleshooting.
```
pcs cluster stop --all
```
Remove the current systemID from volume group. This must be ran from node with matching "systemid".
```
vgchange --systemid "" <vgname>
```
Add the systemID of preferred node to the volume group.
```
vgchange --systemid "<hostname>" <vgname>
```
Start cluster to bring all resources up.
```
pcs cluster start --all
```

Diagnostic Steps

Command vgs -ao+systemid shows different system ID information for the shared cluster volume group.

   [root@rh8-nd2 ~]# vgs -ao+systemid
     VG     #PV #LV #SN Attr   VSize   VFree System ID
     rhel     1   2   0 wz--n- <11.00g    0           
     testvg   2   1   0 wz--n-  <1.20g    0  rh8-nd2  


   [root@rh8-nd1 ~]# vgs -ao+systemid
     VG   #PV #LV #SN Attr   VSize   VFree System ID
     rhel   1   2   0 wz--n- <11.00g    0

SBR

Clusterha

Product(s)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Components

cluster

Category

Troubleshoot

Tags

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