Oftentimes we all run into the situation where the file system is full (or almost full) and need more space. This expansion task seems to be a lot easier when using the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) in Oracle Linux.
- Review the current size.
[root@ol6 ~]# df -H Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/vg_ol6-lv_root 27G 22G 3.8G 86% / tmpfs 1.3G 209M 1.1G 17% /dev/shm /dev/sda1 508M 97M 385M 21% /boot Downloads 750G 172G 578G 23% /media/sf_Downloads
Plan to add 30G to the root file system.
- Create a partition on the newly-added disk.
[root@ol6 ~]# fdisk /dev/sdf
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x0c04311f.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to
sectors (command 'u').
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-3916, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (1-3916, default 3916):
Using default value 3916
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
- Create a physical volume on top of it.
[root@ol6 ~]# pvcreate /dev/sdf1 Writing physical volume data to disk "/dev/sdf1" Physical volume "/dev/sdf1" successfully created
- Review the current volume. Note that currently there is no free extends (noted by zero value of the “Free PE / Size”).
[root@ol6 ~]# vgdisplay --- Volume group --- VG Name vg_ol6 System ID Format lvm2 Metadata Areas 1 Metadata Sequence No 3 VG Access read/write VG Status resizable MAX LV 0 Cur LV 2 Open LV 2 Max PV 0 Cur PV 1 Act PV 1 VG Size 29.51 GiB PE Size 4.00 MiB Total PE 7554 Alloc PE / Size 7554 / 29.51 GiB Free PE / Size 0 / 0 VG UUID 2e2VHd-Mb3D-Uz0G-4Yec-tbfe-f3cI-7cvpby
- Extend this volume with a new disk.
[root@ol6 ~]# vgextend vg_ol6 /dev/sdf1 Volume group "vg_ol6" successfully extended
- Check the volume again. The “Free PE / Size” is now 30G.
[root@ol6 ~]# vgdisplay --- Volume group --- VG Name vg_ol6 System ID Format lvm2 Metadata Areas 2 Metadata Sequence No 4 VG Access read/write VG Status resizable MAX LV 0 Cur LV 2 Open LV 2 Max PV 0 Cur PV 2 Act PV 2 VG Size 59.50 GiB PE Size 4.00 MiB Total PE 15233 Alloc PE / Size 7554 / 29.51 GiB Free PE / Size 7679 / 30.00 GiB VG UUID 2e2VHd-Mb3D-Uz0G-4Yec-tbfe-f3cI-7cvpby
- Now let’s review the logical volume.
[root@ol6 ~]# lvdisplay --- Logical volume --- LV Path /dev/vg_ol6/lv_root LV Name lv_root VG Name vg_ol6 LV UUID rd2d4X-vqE8-xENi-clCz-Oa0T-0R6X-RFCBDq LV Write Access read/write LV Creation host, time , LV Status available # open 1 LV Size 25.10 GiB Current LE 6426 Segments 1 Allocation inherit Read ahead sectors auto - currently set to 256 Block device 253:0 --- Logical volume --- LV Path /dev/vg_ol6/lv_swap LV Name lv_swap VG Name vg_ol6 LV UUID xM3Blz-wvpG-IUfF-WhWc-EHoI-I0xG-oeV1IR LV Write Access read/write LV Creation host, time , LV Status available # open 1 LV Size 4.41 GiB Current LE 1128 Segments 1 Allocation inherit Read ahead sectors auto - currently set to 256 Block device 253:1
We want to add additional 30G into the existing /dev/vg_ol6/lv_root. So the total size will be 55.1GB.
- We can extend the logical volume to the needed size.
[root@ol6 ~]# lvextend -L 55.10G /dev/vg_ol6/lv_root Rounding size to boundary between physical extents: 55.10 GiB Extending logical volume lv_root to 55.10 GiB Insufficient free space: 5120 extents needed, but only 5119 available
You may have to adjust the size if the initial specified size is too large.
[root@ol6 ~]# lvextend -L 55G /dev/vg_ol6/lv_root Extending logical volume lv_root to 55.00 GiB Logical volume lv_root successfully resized
- Now finally you can extend the file system.
[root@ol6 ~]# resize2fs /dev/vg_ol6/lv_root 55G resize2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010) Filesystem at /dev/vg_ol6/lv_root is mounted on /; on-line resizing required old desc_blocks = 3, new_desc_blocks = 4 Performing an on-line resize of /dev/vg_ol6/lv_root to 14417920 (4k) blocks. The filesystem on /dev/vg_ol6/lv_root is now 14417920 blocks long.
- The file system is resized while the system is still on-line.
[root@ol6 ~]# df -H Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/vg_ol6-lv_root 55G 22G 33G 39% / tmpfs 1.3G 209M 1.1G 17% /dev/shm /dev/sda1 508M 97M 385M 21% /boot Downloads 750G 172G 578G 23% /media/sf_Downloads
References:
Great tutorial! Thank you!
Is there any sort of graphics UI for doing this?
Yes there is Logical Volume Manager GUI. I’ve never used it before. You can find information from https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Logical_Volume_Manager_Administration/LVM_GUI.html and/or http://www.oracle-base.com/articles/linux/linux-logical-volume-management.php#system-config-lvm
Thank you! Your tutorial was very helpful. I needed more space on the VM I use to practice working with Oracle DB.