Hot-resize disks on Linux

After major investigations around, I came to the conclusion that a full guide describing the procedure required for online disk resize on Linux (especially – expanding disks). I have created a guide for RHEL5/6/7/8 (works the same for Centos or OEL or ScientificLinux – RHEL-based Linux systems) which takes into account the following four scenarios:

• Expanding a disk where there is a filesystem directly on disk (no partitioning used)
• Expanding a disk where there is LVM PV directly on disk (no partitioning used)
• Expanding a disk where there is a filesystem on partition (a single partition taking all the disk’s space)
• Expanding a disk where there is an LVM PV on partition (a single partition taking all the disk’s space)

All four scenarios were tested with and without use of multipath (device-mapper-multipath). Also – notes about using GPT compared to MBR are given. The purpose is to provide a full guideline for hot-extending disks.

This document does not describe the process of extending disks on the storage/virtualisation/NAS/whatever end. Updating the storage client configuration to refresh the disk topology might differ in various versions of Linux and storage communication methods – iSCSI, FC, FCoE, AoE, local virtualised disk (VMware/KVM/Xen/XenServer/HyperV) and so on. Each connectivity/OS combination might require different refresh method called on the client. In this lab, I use iSCSI and iSCSI software initiator.

The Lab

A storage server running Linux (Centos 7) with targetcli tools exporting 5GB (or more) LUN through iSCSI to Linux clients running Centos5, Centos6, Centos7 and Centos8, with the latest updates (5.11, 6.10, 7.7, 8.1). See some interesting insights on iSCSI target disk expansion using linux LIU (targetcli command line) in my previous post.

The iSCSI clients all see the disk as ‘/dev/sda’ block device. When using LVM, the volume group name is tempvg and the logical volume name is templv. When using multipath, the mpath name is mpatha. On some systems the mpath partition would appear as mpatha1 and on others as mpathap1.

iSCSI client disk/partitions were performed like this:

Centos5:

* Filesystem on disk

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda
mount /dev/sda /mnt

* LVM on disk

pvcreate /dev/sda
vgcreate tempvg /dev/sda
lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n templv tempvg
mkfs.ext3 /dev/tempvg/templv
mount /dev/tempvg/templv /mnt</pre><p></p>

* Filesystem on partition

parted -s /dev/sda "mklabel msdos mkpart primary 1 -1"
mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

* LVM on partition

parted -s /dev/sda "mklabel msdos mkpart primary 1 -1 set 1 lvm on"
pvcreate /dev/sda1
vgcreate tempvg /dev/sda1
lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n templv tempvg
mkfs.ext3 /dev/tempvg/templv
mount /dev/tempvg/templv /mnt

Centos6:

* Filesystem on disk

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda
mount /dev/sda /mnt

* LVM on disk

pvcreate /dev/sda
vgcreate tempvg /dev/sda
lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n templv tempvg
mkfs.ext4 /dev/tempvg/templv
mount /dev/tempvg/templv /mnt

* Filesystem on partition

parted -s /dev/sda "mklabel msdos mkpart primary 1 -1"
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

* LVM on partition

parted -s /dev/sda "mklabel msdos mkpart primary 1 -1 set 1 lvm on"
pvcreate /dev/sda1
vgcreate tempvg /dev/sda1
lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n templv tempvg
mkfs.ext4 /dev/tempvg/templv
mount /dev/tempvg/templv /mnt

Centos7/8:

* Filesystem on disk

mkfs.xfs /dev/sda
mount /dev/sda /mnt

* LVM on disk

pvcreate /dev/sda
vgcreate tempvg /dev/sda
lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n templv tempvg
mkfs.xfs /dev/tempvg/templv
mount /dev/tempvg/templv /mnt

* Filesystem on partition

parted -a optimal -s /dev/sda "mklabel msdos mkpart primary 1 -1"
mkfs.xfs /dev/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

* LVM on partition

parted -a optimal -s /dev/sda "mklabel msdos mkpart primary 1 -1 set 1 lvm on"
pvcreate /dev/sda1
vgcreate tempvg /dev/sda1
lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n templv tempvg
mkfs.xfs /dev/tempvg/templv
mount /dev/tempvg/templv /mnt

Some variations might exist. For example, use of ‘GPT’ partition layout would result in a parted command like this:

parted -s /dev/sda "mklabel gpt mkpart ' ' 1 -1"

Also, for multipath devices, replace the block device /dev/sda with /dev/mapper/mpatha, like this:

parted -a optimal -s /dev/mapper/mpatha "mklabel msdos mkpart primary 1 -1"

There are several common tasks, such as expanding filesystems – for XFS, using xfs_growfs <mount target> ; for ext3fs and ext4fs using resize2fs <device path>. Same goes for LVM expansion – using pvresize <device path>, followed by lvextend command, followed by the filesystem expanding command as noted above.

The document layout

The document will describe the client commands for each OS, sorted by action. The process would be as following:

• Expand the visualised storage layout (storage has already expanded LUN. Now we need the OS to update to the change)
• (if in use) Expand the multipath device
• (if partitioned) Expand the partition
• Expand the LVM PV
• Expand the filesystem

Actions

For each OS/scenario/mutipath combination, we will format and mount the relevant block device, and attempt an online expansion.

Operations following disk expansion

Expanding the visualised storage layout

For iSCSI, it works quite the same for all OS versions. For other transport types, actions might differ.

iscsiadm -m node -R

Expanding multipath device

If using multipath device (device-mapper-multipath), an update to the multipath device layout is required. Run the following command (for all OSes)

multipathd -k"resize map mpatha"

Expanding the partition (if disk partitions are in use)

This is a bit complicated part. It differs greatly both in the capability and the commands in use between different versions of operation systems.

Centos 5/6

Online expansion of partition is impossible, except if used with device-mapper-multipath, in which case we force the multipath device to refresh its paths to recreate the device. It will result in an I/O error if there is only a single path defined. For non-multipath setup, a umount and re-mount is required. Disk partition layout cannot be read while the disk is in use.

* Without Multipath

fdisk /dev/sda # Delete and recreate the partition from the same starting point
partprobe # Run when disk is not mounted, or else it will not refresh partition size

* With Multipath

fdisk /dev/mapper/mpatha # Delete and recreate the partition from the same starting point
partprobe
multipathd -k"reconfigure" # Sufficient for Centos 6
multipathd -k"remove path sda" # Required for Centos 5
multipathd -k"add path sda" # Required for Centos 5
# Repeat for all sub-paths of expanded device

Centos 7/8

* Without Multipath

fdisk /dev/sda # Delete and recreate partition from the same starting point. Sufficient for Centos 8
partx -u /dev/sda # Required for Centos 7

* with Multipath

fdisk /dev/mapper/mpatha # Delete and recreate the partition from the same starting point. Sufficient for Centos 8
kpartx -u /dev/mapper/mpatha # Can use partx 

Expanding LVM PV and LV

pvresize DEVICE

lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/tempvg/templv

Expanding filesystem

* For ext3fs and ext4fs

resize2fs DEVICE

Device can be /dev/sda ; /dev/sda1 ; /dev/mapper/mpatha ; /dev/mapper/mpathap1 ; /dev/mapper/mpatha1 – according to the disk layout and LVM choice.

* For xfs

xfs_growfs /mnt

Additional Considerations

MBR vs GPT

On most Linux versions (For Centos – up and including version 7) the command ‘fdisk’ is incapable of handling GPT partition layout. If using GPT partition layout, use of gdisk is recommended, if it exists for the OS. If not, parted is a decent although somewhat limited alternative.

gdisk command can also modify a partition layout (at your own risk, of course) from MBR to GPT and vice versa. This is very useful in saving large data migrations where legacy MBR partition layout was used on disks which are to be expanded beyond the 2TB limits.

GPT backup table is located at the end of the disk, so when extending a GPT disk, it is require to repair the GPT backup table. Based on my lab tests – it is impossible to both extend the partition and repair the GPT backup table location in a single call to gdisk. Two runs are required – one to fix the GPT backup table, and then – after the changes were saved – another to extend the partition.

Storage transport

I have demonstrated use of iSCSI software initiator on Linux. Different storage transport exist – each may require its own method of ‘notifying’ the OS of changed storage layout. See RedHat’s article about disk resizing (RHN access required). This article explains how to refresh the storage transport for a combination of various transports and RHEL versions. and sub-versions.