Expanding LVM?

[jrummy27]

If vgdisplay shows no free physical extents and the logical volume is at the correct NEW size, then all that is left is resizing the filesystem. Have you run resize2fs against it? You can do this with the filesystem mounted

# resize2fs /dev/myvg/mylv

[Chilly Willy]

Got an error:

pvcreate /dev/sda3
Can't initialize physical volume "/dev/sda3" of volume group "VolGroup00" without -ff


Then if I use -ff I get:

pvcreate /dev/sda3 -ff
Really INITIALIZE physical volume "/dev/sda3" of volume group "VolGroup00" [y/n]? y
Can't open /dev/sda3 exclusively. Mounted filesystem?

[Chilly Willy]

If vgdisplay shows no free physical extents and the logical volume is at the correct NEW size, then all that is left is resizing the filesystem. Have you run resize2fs against it? You can do this with the filesystem mounted

# resize2fs /dev/myvg/mylv

The size isn't right so when run it gives a shorter block size & says "nothing to do"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm ready go just forget the whole thing as whatever I try just doesn't seem to work right. Not sure what the reason is but it definitely turns me off to LVM so unless I see a way of it being a "snap your fingers & it's done" method as I read about, I think I'll stick to partitions. (which from what I've read, is better for "recovery" anyway - less hoops to jump through)

I MAY give it one more shot if anyone has something to add but with the time spent so far I could have installed F10 & be a least half way done tweaking it.
I really appreciate all the help but for me I think this has become a lost cause.
Thanks, anyway...

[jrummy27]

Got an error:

pvcreate /dev/sda3
Can't initialize physical volume "/dev/sda3" of volume group "VolGroup00" without -ff


Then if I use -ff I get:

pvcreate /dev/sda3 -ff
Really INITIALIZE physical volume "/dev/sda3" of volume group "VolGroup00" [y/n]? y
Can't open /dev/sda3 exclusively. Mounted filesystem?

You don't need to pvcreate as its already a physical volume.

The size isn't right so when run it gives a shorter block size & says "nothing to do"

What size isn't right? You've been saying that the logical volume shows the added size. This is why it would be much more helpful if you provided output from your commands rather than vague descriptions. Please provide the output of

# fdisk -l 
# vgdisplay
# lvdisplay

[Chilly Willy]

  fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 13.0 GB, 13020069888 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1582 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006433e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          25      200781   83  Linux
/dev/sda2              26         787     6120765   8e  Linux LVM
/dev/sda3             788        1582     6385837+  8e  Linux LVM

 vgdisplay
  --- Volume group ---
  VG Name               VolGroup00
  System ID             
  Format                lvm2
  Metadata Areas        2
  Metadata Sequence No  18
  VG Access             read/write
  VG Status             resizable
  MAX LV                0
  Cur LV                3
  Open LV               2
  Max PV                0
  Cur PV                2
  Act PV                2
  VG Size               11.88 GB
  PE Size               32.00 MB
  Total PE              380
  Alloc PE / Size       380 / 11.88 GB
  Free  PE / Size       0 / 0   
  VG UUID               hWgvNf-hqSo-UlT5-onfz-nSB7-1Sbe-ovaYgF

 lvdisplay
  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Name                /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
  VG Name                VolGroup00
  LV UUID                s0bNEX-kbOP-FJJs-GMLr-7Mn6-Xaws-0gsJve
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Status              available
  # open                 1
  LV Size                4.97 GB
  Current LE             159
  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                wnFZRd-Tjnn-WdjC-h4RL-Cn0y-so8z-94rE51
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Status              available
  # open                 1
  LV Size                832.00 MB
  Current LE             26
  Segments               1
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     auto
  - currently set to     256
  Block device           253:1
   
  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Name                /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol03
  VG Name                VolGroup00
  LV UUID                WaDOPv-zXQu-KMog-7NVQ-52yv-ro3X-DxU48y
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Status              available
  # open                 0
  LV Size                6.09 GB
  Current LE             195
  Segments               2
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     auto
  - currently set to     256
  Block device           253:2

 resize2fs /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
resize2fs 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
The filesystem is already 1302528 blocks long.  Nothing to do!

If I am reading all of this right, isn't the block length listed above to small?

[jrummy27]

 
  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Name                /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol03
  VG Name                VolGroup00
  LV UUID                WaDOPv-zXQu-KMog-7NVQ-52yv-ro3X-DxU48y
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Status              available
  # open                 0
  LV Size                6.09 GB
  Current LE             195
  Segments               2
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     auto
  - currently set to     256
  Block device           253:2

Looks like you created a new logical volume rather than extending the existing one (LogVol00). You need to remove the new one and extend the existing one

# lvremove VolGroup00/LogVol03
# vgdisplay   <- Find the number of free PE
# lvextend -l +<Free PE> VolGroup00/LogVol00
# resize2fs /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00

[EDIT] Fixed a few typos

[Chilly Willy]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

That did it! I now have what I wanted to do. YIPPY!

One little thing that messed up the whole procedure, SHEESH!

Again, Thanks to all!

[jrummy27]

Glad I could help. As you learned LVM can be tough to figure out at first but in the long run I recommend sticking with it. It makes scenarios such as yours (adding storage on the fly and extending existing filesystems) much simpler in most cases. Without LVM you would've needed to resize the existing partition which can lead to problems (data loss) if you get something wrong.