The command 'pvscan' is primarily used for what purpose?

The command 'pvscan' is specifically designed to scan the system for physical volumes that are part of the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) setup. When invoked, it searches through all available block devices to identify and display any physical volumes that have been initialized for LVM use. This is essential for managing storage in Linux environments, particularly when dealing with dynamic storage allocations and configurations.

Understanding physical volumes is crucial because they serve as the underlying storage units from which logical volumes are created. By scanning for physical volumes, administrators can quickly assess which devices are available for allocation or further configuration, making it a vital command in the context of LVM.