Sadly Ubuntu does not have LVM enabled in the default install, as this whole issue would be solved with a simple pvmigrate and lvresize...
My /home (which is on a separate /dev/sda5 partition) is filling up.
The availability of Steam on Linux gave it the final blow: it's time to bring in another partition.
As I don't want to commit a whole partition to /home, I've mounted /dev/sdc2 as /space and I'm going to create a symlink to an home subdirectory.
First, boot Ubuntu in rescue mode and select root shell.
Mount all filesystems
#mount -a
note that mounted filesystem won't be visible with a df, but you should cat /proc/mounts to see them
Set proper permission to the new partition
#chown root:root /space
#chmod 755 /space
Then create the new home and copy the old one
#mkdir /space/home
#cp -a /home/* /space/home/
Mount / read/write as we'll need to modify the fstab
#mount / -o rw,remount
#vi /etc/fstab
Comment the old /home
Remove the old home mount point and create the new symlink
#umount /home
#rmdir /home
#ls -s /space/home /home
Reboot
Showing posts with label resize. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resize. Show all posts
2012-12-30
2012-05-18
Replacing a mechanical HD with an SSD
My home PC is aging... It's 6 years old now, and while this confirms the goodness of the choices I've made when I built it, this also means that the XP installation has gathered so many stuff that it's now slow as hell.
A full boot takes now as much as 4'20":
30" from startup to the login screen of Windows XP
3'40" to quiesce all disk activities.
At that point, 40 more seconds are necessary from login to complete disk stop. Trying to launch any program before the disk settles out, just results in more thrashing and an even slower startup.
So I've bought a Crucial m4 SSD to see if this upgrade can make a difference.
This was the starting configuration:
I have 2 HDs in my PC, one for the OS and one for the data.
The OS is multiboot, so I have one partition for XP and one for Ubuntu.
The remaining disk space is for Windows program files partition.
On the second unit there are the swap partitions for Windows and Linux, the Documents and Settings partition, the /home filesystem and some spare space for Windows.
The purpose of this layout is to allow concurrent access to OS and swap, OS and user files, applications and user data.
The first step was copying the content of the first disk onto the new ssd.
I connected the new disk to an empty SATA connector and booted into Parted Magic.
Using GParted I initialized the new disk with Device -> Create Partition Table, then it was just a copy/paste work between the old partition on /dev/sda and the new disk seen as /dev/sdc
The Crucial M4 is just 119GiB while my old disk was 153, so I needed to shrink the sda3 partition to make it fit.
After copying the /dev/sda1 partition I needed to set the "boot" flag on it on the new disk to make it bootable.
GParted copied all partitions but left a standard Windows MBR, so grub was gone and linux didn't boot.
To restore the grub MBR I've followed this excellent guide, and linux was back in action.
Windows booted but wasn't in good shape either:
I logged in and the whole desktop froze with only the wallpaper displayed, but no start button, taskbar or icons.
It just hung there forever.
I rebooted in safe mode by pressing F8 and choosing "Safe mode with command prompt".
A popup went up, saying that windows had found new hardware and the drivers had been installed.
One more reboot and Windows was fine with the new disk.
Now a complete boot takes as low as 19 seconds, and no more disk thrashing after loggin on: the Start menu is immediately available and responsive.
The last step was setting noatime in /etc/fstab to reduce writing on the SSD.
So, here it is, by comparison with a traditional 3.5" HD, the little Crucial M4
A full boot takes now as much as 4'20":
30" from startup to the login screen of Windows XP
3'40" to quiesce all disk activities.
At that point, 40 more seconds are necessary from login to complete disk stop. Trying to launch any program before the disk settles out, just results in more thrashing and an even slower startup.
So I've bought a Crucial m4 SSD to see if this upgrade can make a difference.
This was the starting configuration:
I have 2 HDs in my PC, one for the OS and one for the data.
The OS is multiboot, so I have one partition for XP and one for Ubuntu.
The remaining disk space is for Windows program files partition.
On the second unit there are the swap partitions for Windows and Linux, the Documents and Settings partition, the /home filesystem and some spare space for Windows.
The purpose of this layout is to allow concurrent access to OS and swap, OS and user files, applications and user data.
The first step was copying the content of the first disk onto the new ssd.
I connected the new disk to an empty SATA connector and booted into Parted Magic.
Using GParted I initialized the new disk with Device -> Create Partition Table, then it was just a copy/paste work between the old partition on /dev/sda and the new disk seen as /dev/sdc
The Crucial M4 is just 119GiB while my old disk was 153, so I needed to shrink the sda3 partition to make it fit.
After copying the /dev/sda1 partition I needed to set the "boot" flag on it on the new disk to make it bootable.
GParted copied all partitions but left a standard Windows MBR, so grub was gone and linux didn't boot.
To restore the grub MBR I've followed this excellent guide, and linux was back in action.
Windows booted but wasn't in good shape either:
I logged in and the whole desktop froze with only the wallpaper displayed, but no start button, taskbar or icons.
It just hung there forever.
I rebooted in safe mode by pressing F8 and choosing "Safe mode with command prompt".
A popup went up, saying that windows had found new hardware and the drivers had been installed.
One more reboot and Windows was fine with the new disk.
Now a complete boot takes as low as 19 seconds, and no more disk thrashing after loggin on: the Start menu is immediately available and responsive.
The last step was setting noatime in /etc/fstab to reduce writing on the SSD.
So, here it is, by comparison with a traditional 3.5" HD, the little Crucial M4
2011-12-04
Expanding the C drive of a VM
This was tested on Windows 2003 R2
Here's a VM that need its C drive expanded:
Edit VM Setting and set the new VMDK size (this can be done online).
Rescan disks, and you'll see extra free space at the end of the partition.
Now boot into Parted Magic.
Select the first partition, click Resize and set the new size.
You will have to select Apply to actually do the resize.
Reboot into Windows.
CHKDSK will run automatically and finally you will have your expanded C drive.
Here's a VM that need its C drive expanded:
Edit VM Setting and set the new VMDK size (this can be done online).
Rescan disks, and you'll see extra free space at the end of the partition.
Now boot into Parted Magic.
Select the first partition, click Resize and set the new size.
You will have to select Apply to actually do the resize.
Reboot into Windows.
CHKDSK will run automatically and finally you will have your expanded C drive.
Shrinking the root filesystem
The default install of RedHat 5 fills the entire disk with the root filesystem: this may backfire later during machine lifetime.
Here's a way to resize the root filesystem.
Note that while the size increase can be done online, as of RedHat 5, size reduction must be performed in rescue mode.
Here's a tipical installation:
# df -h
The physical volume is full, with 0 free extents.
We are going to reduce / size to 6GB.
Boot in rescue mode
Skip existing installation detection.
Activate existing volume groups:
Run a filesystem check before resizing:
Set the filesystem size a litte less than required, so the resizing of the underlying logical volume won't cut short the filesystem itself.
Resize the logical volume to the target size.
Now resize again the filesystem without giving any size, so it will fill up the logical volume.
Reboot back into the system.
You can see the new / size:
And the physical volume now has some spare space left.
Here's a way to resize the root filesystem.
Note that while the size increase can be done online, as of RedHat 5, size reduction must be performed in rescue mode.
Here's a tipical installation:
# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
7.7G 3.1G 4.3G 42% /
/dev/sda1 99M 19M 75M 21% /boot
tmpfs 502M 0 502M 0% /dev/shm
# vgdisplay -v
Finding all volume groups
Finding volume group "VolGroup00"
--- Volume group ---
VG Name VolGroup00
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 9.88 GB
PE Size 32.00 MB
Total PE 316
Alloc PE / Size 316 / 9.88 GB
Free PE / Size 0 / 0
VG UUID CJqD4r-kRQM-Cj9e-XwOr-6dn8-TkPH-MfTTyZ
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
VG Name VolGroup00
LV UUID d4iToX-8m0c-jf9s-sMMN-VDpO-brE8-4kWhf2
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 7.91 GB
Current LE 253
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 256
Block device 253:0
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
VG Name VolGroup00
LV UUID kEzo7d-AHuv-xiPD-3Qbo-v8yY-6w1D-DFMIwN
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 1.97 GB
Current LE 63
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 256
Block device 253:1
--- Physical volumes ---
PV Name /dev/sda2
PV UUID 7bPvQd-H8yE-v00N-asPT-WQ92-6oCS-bBh6nj
PV Status allocatable
Total PE / Free PE 316 / 0
The physical volume is full, with 0 free extents.
We are going to reduce / size to 6GB.
Boot in rescue mode
boot: linux rescue
Skip existing installation detection.
Activate existing volume groups:
# lvm vgscan
# lvm vgchange -ay /dev/VolGroup00
Run a filesystem check before resizing:
# e2fsck -f /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
Set the filesystem size a litte less than required, so the resizing of the underlying logical volume won't cut short the filesystem itself.
# resize2fs /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 5G
Resize the logical volume to the target size.
# lvm lvresize -L 6G /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
Now resize again the filesystem without giving any size, so it will fill up the logical volume.
# resize2fs /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
Reboot back into the system.
You can see the new / size:
# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
5.9G 3.1G 2.7G 54% /
/dev/sda1 99M 19M 75M 21% /boot
tmpfs 502M 0 502M 0% /dev/shm
# vgdisplay -v
Finding all volume groups
Finding volume group "VolGroup00"
--- Volume group ---
VG Name VolGroup00
System ID
Format lvm2
Metadata Areas 1
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 1
Act PV 1
VG Size 9.88 GB
PE Size 32.00 MB
Total PE 316
Alloc PE / Size 255 / 7.97 GB
Free PE / Size 61 / 1.91 GB
VG UUID CJqD4r-kRQM-Cj9e-XwOr-6dn8-TkPH-MfTTyZ
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
VG Name VolGroup00
LV UUID d4iToX-8m0c-jf9s-sMMN-VDpO-brE8-4kWhf2
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 6.00 GB
Current LE 192
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 256
Block device 253:0
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
VG Name VolGroup00
LV UUID kEzo7d-AHuv-xiPD-3Qbo-v8yY-6w1D-DFMIwN
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 1.97 GB
Current LE 63
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 256
Block device 253:1
--- Physical volumes ---
PV Name /dev/sda2
PV UUID 7bPvQd-H8yE-v00N-asPT-WQ92-6oCS-bBh6nj
PV Status allocatable
Total PE / Free PE 316 / 61
And the physical volume now has some spare space left.
2011-11-27
Boot disk transplant
Bare hands, MacGyver-style, boot disk transplant.
I've used a network attached linux machine as a temporary storage, but a local USB disk will do as fine.
The new disk should be as least as big as the old one.
First take note of the original disk configuration.
You will need the partition table:
The volume group configuration (note the PE and the LE sizes)
# vgdisplay -v
Finding all volume groups
/dev/hda: open failed: No medium found
Finding volume group "VolGroup00"
--- Volume group ---
VG Name VolGroup00
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 9.88 GB
PE Size 32.00 MB
Total PE 316
Alloc PE / Size 316 / 9.88 GB
Free PE / Size 0 / 0
VG UUID CJqD4r-kRQM-Cj9e-XwOr-6dn8-TkPH-MfTTyZ
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
VG Name VolGroup00
LV UUID d4iToX-8m0c-jf9s-sMMN-VDpO-brE8-4kWhf2
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 7.91 GB
Current LE 253
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 256
Block device 253:0
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
VG Name VolGroup00
LV UUID kEzo7d-AHuv-xiPD-3Qbo-v8yY-6w1D-DFMIwN
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 1.97 GB
Current LE 63
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 256
Block device 253:1
--- Physical volumes ---
PV Name /dev/sda2
PV UUID 7bPvQd-H8yE-v00N-asPT-WQ92-6oCS-bBh6nj
PV Status allocatable
Total PE / Free PE 316 / 0
And the fstab:
you will have to rebuild the logical volumes that belong to the transplanting disk
Boot the machine in rescue mode to do a full backup
Start the network interface and do not mount any filesystem.
Backup the filesystems on /dev/sda and send them to the second machine via network.
#gzip -1 </dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 | ssh user@secondmachine "cat >root.gz"
Turn off the first machine, remove the old hd and put the new one.
Reboot again into linux rescue, with networking and without searching for existing installations.
Use fdisk to rebuild the same layout, with identical partitions, cylinder boundaries and partition Id (8e for LVM)
Now rebuild the LVM
Note the PE size:
and the LV size
Rebuild the swap partition
and write back the previous backups:
Reboot once again in rescue mode
#chroot /mnt/sysimage
#grub-install /dev/sda
And finally reboot with your new disk.
Note that if the new disk is bigger than the old one, you will have some unpartitioned space left.
You can partition it with fdisk, pvcreate, and add it to LVM.
I've used a network attached linux machine as a temporary storage, but a local USB disk will do as fine.
The new disk should be as least as big as the old one.
First take note of the original disk configuration.
You will need the partition table:
# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 10.7 GB, 10737418240 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1305 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14 1305 10377990 8e Linux LVM
The volume group configuration (note the PE and the LE sizes)
# vgdisplay -v
Finding all volume groups
/dev/hda: open failed: No medium found
Finding volume group "VolGroup00"
--- Volume group ---
VG Name VolGroup00
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 9.88 GB
PE Size 32.00 MB
Total PE 316
Alloc PE / Size 316 / 9.88 GB
Free PE / Size 0 / 0
VG UUID CJqD4r-kRQM-Cj9e-XwOr-6dn8-TkPH-MfTTyZ
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
VG Name VolGroup00
LV UUID d4iToX-8m0c-jf9s-sMMN-VDpO-brE8-4kWhf2
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 7.91 GB
Current LE 253
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 256
Block device 253:0
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
VG Name VolGroup00
LV UUID kEzo7d-AHuv-xiPD-3Qbo-v8yY-6w1D-DFMIwN
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 1.97 GB
Current LE 63
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 256
Block device 253:1
--- Physical volumes ---
PV Name /dev/sda2
PV UUID 7bPvQd-H8yE-v00N-asPT-WQ92-6oCS-bBh6nj
PV Status allocatable
Total PE / Free PE 316 / 0
And the fstab:
# cat /mnt/sysimage/etc/fstab
/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 swap swap defaults 0 0
you will have to rebuild the logical volumes that belong to the transplanting disk
Boot the machine in rescue mode to do a full backup
boot: linux rescue
Start the network interface and do not mount any filesystem.
Backup the filesystems on /dev/sda and send them to the second machine via network.
#gzip -1 </dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 | ssh user@secondmachine "cat >root.gz"
#gzip -1 </dev/sda1 | ssh user@secondmachine "cat >boot.gz"
Turn off the first machine, remove the old hd and put the new one.
Reboot again into linux rescue, with networking and without searching for existing installations.
Use fdisk to rebuild the same layout, with identical partitions, cylinder boundaries and partition Id (8e for LVM)
Now rebuild the LVM
#lvm pvcreate /dev/sda2
Note the PE size:
#lvm vgcreate -s 32M VolGroup00 /dev/sda2
and the LV size
#lvm lvcreate -l 253 -n LogVol00 VolGroup00
#lvm lvcreate -l 63 -n LogVol01 VolGroup00
Rebuild the swap partition
#mkswap /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
and write back the previous backups:
#ssh user@secondmachine "cat boot.gz" | gzip -d > /dev/sda1
#ssh user@secondmachine "cat root.gz" | gzip -d > /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00Reboot once again in rescue mode
#chroot /mnt/sysimage
#grub-install /dev/sda
And finally reboot with your new disk.
Note that if the new disk is bigger than the old one, you will have some unpartitioned space left.
You can partition it with fdisk, pvcreate, and add it to LVM.
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