This article provides steps for extending the root partition residing in a logical volume created with Logical Volume Manager (LVM) in a virtual machine running Red Hat/Cent OS.
To extend the logical volume:
Note: These steps only apply to EXT3 file systems.
Caution: VMware recommends having a complete backup of the virtual machine prior making these changes.
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Power off the virtual machine.
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Power on the virtual machine.
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Identify the device name, which is by default /dev/sda, and confirm the new size by running the command:
# fdisk -l
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Create a new primary partition:
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Run the command:
# fdisk /dev/sda (depending the results of the step 4)
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Press p to print the partition table to identify the number of partitions. By default there are 2: sda1 and sda2.
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Press n to create a new primary partition.
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Press p for primary.
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Press 3 for the partition number, depending the output of the partition table print.
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Press Enter two times.
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Press t to change the system's partition ID
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Press 3 to select the newly creation partition
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Type 8e to change the Hex Code of the partition for Linux LVM
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Press w to write the changes to the partition table.
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Restart the virtual machine.
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Run this command to verify that the changes were saved to the partition table and that the new partition has an 8e type:
# fdisk -l
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Run this command to convert the new partition to a physical volume:
Note: The number for the sda can change depending on system setup. Use the sda number that was created in step 5.
# pvcreate /dev/sda3
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Run this command to extend the physical volume:
# vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/sda3
Note: To determine which volume group to extend, use the command vgdisplay.
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Run this command to verify how many physical extents are available to the Volume Group:
# vgdisplay VolGroup00 | grep "Free"
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Run the following command to extend the Logical Volume:
# lvextend -L+#G /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
Where # is the number of Free space in GB available as per the previous command. Use the full number output from Step 10 including any decimals.
Note: to determine which logical volume to extend, use the command lvdisplay.
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Run the following command to expand the ext3 filesystem online, inside of the Logical Volume:
# ext2online /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
Note: Use resize2fs instead of ext2online if it is not a Red Hat virtual machine.
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Run the following command to verify that the / filesystem has the new space available:
# df -h /
