Extending Partitions and File Systems for SCSI Disks (Linux)
Scenarios
After a disk is expanded on the management console, the disk size is enlarged, but the additional space cannot be used directly.
In Linux, you must allocate the additional space to an existing partition or a new partition.
Performing the expansion operations with caution. Incorrect operations may lead to data loss or exceptions. So you are advised to back up the disk data using CBR or snapshots before expansion. For details about using CBR, see Managing EVS Backups. For details about using snapshots, see Creating a Snapshot.
Prerequisites
- You have expanded the disk capacity and attached the disk to a server on the management console. For details, see Expanding Capacity for an In-use EVS Disk or Expanding Capacity for an Available EVS Disk.
- You have logged in to the server.
- For how to log in to an ECS, see the Elastic Cloud Server User Guide.
- For how to log in to a BMS, see the Bare Metal Server User Guide.
Creating a New MBR Partition
Originally, data disk /dev/sda has 50 GiB and one partition (/dev/sda1), and then 50 GiB is added to the disk. The following procedure shows you how to create a new MBR partition /dev/sda2 with this 50 GiB.
- Run the following command to view the disk partition information:
fdisk -l
Information similar to the following is displayed:[root@ecs-scsi ~]# fdisk -l Disk /dev/vda: 42.9 GiB, 42949672960 bytes, 83886080 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x000bcb4e Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/vda1 * 2048 83886079 41942016 83 Linux Disk /dev/sda: 107.4 GiB, 107374182400 bytes, 209715200 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x915ffe6a Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 104857599 52427776 83 Linux
- (Optional) Run the following command to update the capacity of the SCSI data disk:
- Run the following command to update the disk capacity on the server:
echo 1 > /sys/class/scsi_device/%d:%d:%d:%d/device/rescan &
In the command, %d:%d:%d:%d indicates a folder in the /sys/class/scsi_device/ directory and can be obtained using ll /sys/class/scsi_device/.
Information similar to the following is displayed: (2:0:0:0 indicates the folder to be obtained.)cs-xen-02:/sys/class/scsi_device # ll /sys/class/scsi_device/ total 0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Sep 26 11:37 2:0:0:0 -> ../../devices/xen/vscsi-2064/host2/target2:0:0/2:0:0:0/scsi_device/2:0:0:0
In this example, run the following command:
echo 1 > /sys/class/scsi_device/2:0:0:0/device/rescan &
- After the disk capacity is updated, run the following command to view the disk partition information again:
If the additional space is included, go to 3.
- Run the following command to update the disk capacity on the server:
- Run the following command to enter fdisk:
fdisk Disk
In this example, run the following command:
fdisk /dev/sda
Information similar to the following is displayed:[root@ecs-scsi ~]# fdisk /dev/sda Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.23.2). Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. Be careful before using the write command. Command (m for help):
- Enter n and press Enter to create a new partition.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Command (m for help): n Partition type: p primary (1 primary, 0 extended, 3 free) e extended Select (default p):
There are two types of disk partitions:- Choosing p creates a primary partition.
- Choosing e creates an extended partition.
If MBR is used, a maximum of 4 primary partitions, or 3 primary partitions plus 1 extended partition can be created. The extended partition must be divided into logical partitions before use.
Disk partitions created using GPT are not categorized.
- In this example, a primary partition is created. Therefore, enter p and press Enter to create a primary partition.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Select (default p): p Partition number (2-4, default 2):
Partition number indicates the serial number of the primary partition. Because partition number 1 has been used, the value ranges from 2 to 4.
- Enter the serial number of the primary partition and press Enter. Partition number 2 is used in this example. Therefore, enter 2 and press Enter.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Partition number (2-4, default 2): 2 First sector (104857600-209715199, default 104857600):
First sector indicates the start sector. The value ranges from 104857600 to 209715199, and the default value is 104857600.
- Enter the new partition's start sector and press Enter. In this example, the default start sector is used.
The system displays the start and end sectors of the partition's available space. You can customize the value within this range or use the default value. The start sector must be smaller than the partition's end sector.
Information similar to the following is displayed:First sector (104857600-209715199, default 104857600): Using default value 104857600 Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (104857600-209715199, default 209715199):
Last sector indicates the end sector. The value ranges from 104857600 to 209715199, and the default value is 209715199.
- Enter the new partition's end sector and press Enter. In this example, the default end sector is used.
The system displays the start and end sectors of the partition's available space. You can customize the value within this range or use the default value. The start sector must be smaller than the partition's end sector.
Information similar to the following is displayed:Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (104857600-209715199, default 209715199): Using default value 209715199 Partition 2 of type Linux and of size 50 GiB is set Command (m for help):
- Enter p and press Enter to view the new partition.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 107.4 GiB, 107374182400 bytes, 209715200 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x915ffe6a Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 104857599 52427776 83 Linux /dev/sda2 104857600 209715199 52428800 83 Linux Command (m for help):
- Enter w and press Enter to write the changes to the partition table.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy. The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8) Syncing disks.
In case that you want to discard the changes made before, you can exit fdisk by entering q.
- Run the following command to synchronize the new partition table to the OS:
partprobe
- Run the following command to set the file system format for the new partition:
mkfs -t File system Disk partition
- Sample command of the ext* file system:
Information similar to the following is displayed:
[root@ecs-scsi ~]# mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda2 mke2fs 1.42.9 (28-Dec-2013) Filesystem label= OS type: Linux Block size=4096 (log=2) Fragment size=4096 (log=2) Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks 3276800 inodes, 13107200 blocks 655360 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user First data block=0 Maximum filesystem blocks=2162163712 400 block groups 32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group 8192 inodes per group Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208, 4096000, 7962624, 11239424 Allocating group tables: done Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (32768 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
- Sample command of the xfs file system:
Information similar to the following is displayed:
[root@ecs-scsi ~]# mkfs -t xfs /dev/sda2 meta-data=/dev/sda2 isize=512 agcount=4, agsize=3276800 blks = sectsz=512 attr=2, projid32bit=1 = crc=1 finobt=0, sparse=0 data = bsize=4096 blocks=13107200, imaxpct=25 = sunit=0 swidth=0 blks naming =version2 bsize=4096 ascii-ci=0 ftype=1 log =internal log bsize=4096 blocks=6400, version=2 = sectsz=512 sunit=0 blks, lazy-count=1 realtime =none extsz=4096 blocks=0, rtextents=0
The formatting takes a while, and you need to observe the system running status. Once done is displayed in the command output, the formatting is complete.
- Sample command of the ext* file system:
- (Optional) Run the following command to create a mount point:
Perform this step if you want to mount the partition on a new mount point.
mkdir Mount point
In this example, run the following command to create the /mnt/test mount point:
mkdir /mnt/test
- Run the following command to mount the new partition:
mount Disk partition Mount point
In this example, run the following command to mount the new partition /dev/sda2 on /mnt/test:
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/test
If the new partition is mounted on a directory that is not empty, the subdirectories and files in the directory will be hidden. Therefore, you are advised to mount the new partition on an empty directory or a new directory. If the new partition must be mounted on a directory that is not empty, move the subdirectories and files in this directory to another directory temporarily. After the partition is successfully mounted, move the subdirectories and files back.
- Run the following command to view the mount result:
df -TH
Information similar to the following is displayed:[root@ecs-scsi ~]# df -TH Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/vda1 ext4 43G 2.0G 39G 5% / devtmpfs devtmpfs 509M 0 509M 0% /dev tmpfs tmpfs 520M 0 520M 0% /dev/shm tmpfs tmpfs 520M 7.2M 513M 2% /run tmpfs tmpfs 520M 0 520M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs tmpfs 104M 0 104M 0% /run/user/0 /dev/sda1 ext4 53G 55M 50G 1% /mnt/sdc /dev/sda2 ext4 53G 55M 50G 1% /mnt/test
If the server is restarted, the mounting will become invalid. You can modify the /etc/fstab file to configure automount at startup. For details, see Configuring Automatic Mounting at System Start.
Extending an Existing MBR Partition
If the additional space is allocated to an existing partition, data on the disk will not be cleared but you must use umount to unmount the existing partition. In this case, services will be affected.
Originally, SCSI data disk /dev/sda has 100 GiB and two partitions (/dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2), and then 50 GiB is added to the disk. The following procedure shows you how to add this 50 GiB to the existing MBR partition /dev/sda2.
During an expansion, the additional space is added to the end of the disk. Therefore, if the disk has multiple partitions, the additional space can only be allocated to the partition at the disk end.
- Run the following command to view the disk partition information:
fdisk -l
Information similar to the following is displayed:[root@ecs-scsi ~]# fdisk -l Disk /dev/vda: 42.9 GiB, 42949672960 bytes, 83886080 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x000bcb4e Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/vda1 * 2048 83886079 41942016 83 Linux Disk /dev/sda: 161.1 GiB, 161061273600 bytes, 314572800 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x915ffe6a Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 104857599 52427776 83 Linux /dev/sda2 104857600 209715199 52428800 83 Linux
In the command output, take note of the partition's start and end sectors. In this example, /dev/sda2's start sector is 104857600, and its end sector is 209715199.
View the /dev/sda capacity and check whether the additional space is included. - (Optional) Run the following command to update the capacity of the SCSI data disk:
- Run the following command to update the disk capacity on the server:
echo 1 > /sys/class/scsi_device/%d:%d:%d:%d/device/rescan &
In the command, %d:%d:%d:%d indicates a folder in the /sys/class/scsi_device/ directory and can be obtained using ll /sys/class/scsi_device/.
Information similar to the following is displayed: (2:0:0:0 indicates the folder to be obtained.)cs-xen-02:/sys/class/scsi_device # ll /sys/class/scsi_device/ total 0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Sep 26 11:37 2:0:0:0 -> ../../devices/xen/vscsi-2064/host2/target2:0:0/2:0:0:0/scsi_device/2:0:0:0
In this example, run the following command:
echo 1 > /sys/class/scsi_device/2:0:0:0/device/rescan &
- After the disk capacity is updated, run the following command to view the disk partition information again:
If the additional space is included, take note of the start and end sectors of the target partition and then go to 3. These values will be used in the subsequent operations.
- Run the following command to update the disk capacity on the server:
- Run the following command to unmount the partition:
umount Disk partition
In this example, run the following command:
umount /dev/sda2
- Run the following command to enter fdisk:
fdisk Disk
In this example, run the following command:
fdisk /dev/sda
Information similar to the following is displayed:[root@ecs-scsi ~]# fdisk /dev/sda Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.23.2). Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. Be careful before using the write command. Command (m for help):
- Run the following command to delete the partition to be extended:
- Enter d and press Enter to delete the partition.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Command (m for help): d Partition number (1,2, default 2):
- Enter the partition number and press Enter to delete the partition. In this example, enter 2.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Partition number (1,2, default 2): 2 Partition 2 is deleted Command (m for help):
After deleting the partition, re-create the partition according to the following steps, and data on this disk will not be lost.
- Enter d and press Enter to delete the partition.
- Enter n and press Enter to create a new partition.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Command (m for help): n Partition type: p primary (1 primary, 0 extended, 3 free) e extended Select (default p):
There are two types of disk partitions:- Choosing p creates a primary partition.
- Choosing e creates an extended partition.
If MBR is used, a maximum of 4 primary partitions, or 3 primary partitions plus 1 extended partition can be created. The extended partition must be divided into logical partitions before use.
Disk partitions created using GPT are not categorized.
- Ensure that the entered partition type is the same as the partition had before. In this example, a primary partition is used. Therefore, enter p and press Enter to create a primary partition.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Select (default p): p Partition number (2-4, default 2):
Partition number indicates the serial number of the primary partition.
- Ensure that entered partition number is the same as the partition had before. In this example, partition number 2 is used. Therefore, enter 2 and press Enter.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Partition number (2-4, default 2): 2 First sector (104857600-314572799, default 104857600):
In the command output, First sector specifies the start sector.
Data will be lost if the following operations are performed:- Select a start sector other than the partition had before.
- Select an end sector smaller than the partition had before.
- Ensure that the entered start sector is the same as the partition had before. In this example, start sector 104857600 is recorded in 1 or 2. Therefore, enter 104857600 and press Enter.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
First sector (104857600-314572799, default 104857600): Using default value 104857600 Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (104857600-314572799, default 314572799):
In the command output, Last sector specifies the end sector.
- Ensure that the entered end sector is greater than or equal to the end sector recorded in 1 or 2. In this example, the recorded end sector is 209715199, and the default end sector is used. Therefore, enter 314572799 and press Enter.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (104857600-314572799, default 314572799): Using default value 314572799 Partition 2 of type Linux and of size 100 GiB is set Command (m for help):
The partition is created.
- Enter p and press Enter to print the partition details.
Information similar to the following is displayed:
Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 161.1 GiB, 161061273600 bytes, 314572800 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk label type: dos Disk identifier: 0x915ffe6a Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 104857599 52427776 83 Linux /dev/sda2 104857600 314572799 104857600 83 Linux Command (m for help):
- Enter w and press Enter to write the changes to the partition table.
Information similar to the following is displayed: (The partition is successfully created.)
Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy. The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8) Syncing disks.
In case that you want to discard the changes made before, you can exit fdisk by entering q.
- Run the following command to synchronize the new partition table to the OS:
partprobe
- Perform the following operations based on the file system of the disk:
- For the ext* file system
- Run the following command to check the correctness of the file system on the partition:
In this example, run the following command:
e2fsck -f /dev/sda2
Information similar to the following is displayed:[root@ecs-scsi ~]# e2fsck -f /dev/sda2 e2fsck 1.42.9 (28-Dec-2013) Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes Pass 2: Checking directory structure Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity Pass 4: Checking reference counts Pass 5: Checking group summary information /dev/sda2: 11/3276800 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 251790/13107200 blocks
- Run the following command to extend the file system of the partition:
In this example, run the following command:
resize2fs /dev/sda2
Information similar to the following is displayed:[root@ecs-scsi ~]# resize2fs /dev/sda2 resize2fs 1.42.9 (28-Dec-2013) Resizing the filesystem on /dev/sda2 to 26214400 (4k) blocks. The filesystem on /dev/sda2 is now 26214400 blocks long.
- (Optional) Run the following command to create a mount point:
Perform this step if you want to mount the partition on a new mount point.
mkdir Mount point
In this example, run the following command to create the /mnt/test mount point:
mkdir /mnt/test
- Run the following command to mount the partition:
mount Disk partition Mount point
In this example, run the following command to mount partition /dev/sda2 on /mnt/test:
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/test
If the new partition is mounted on a directory that is not empty, the subdirectories and files in the directory will be hidden. Therefore, you are advised to mount the new partition on an empty directory or a new directory. If the new partition must be mounted on a directory that is not empty, move the subdirectories and files in this directory to another directory temporarily. After the partition is successfully mounted, move the subdirectories and files back.
- Run the following command to check the correctness of the file system on the partition:
- For the xfs file system
- (Optional) Run the following command to create a mount point:
Perform this step if you want to mount the partition on a new mount point.
mkdir Mount point
In this example, run the following command to create the /mnt/test mount point:
mkdir /mnt/test
- Run the following command to mount the partition:
mount Disk partition Mount point
In this example, run the following command to mount partition /dev/sda2 on /mnt/test:
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/test
If the new partition is mounted on a directory that is not empty, the subdirectories and files in the directory will be hidden. Therefore, you are advised to mount the new partition on an empty directory or a new directory. If the new partition must be mounted on a directory that is not empty, move the subdirectories and files in this directory to another directory temporarily. After the partition is successfully mounted, move the subdirectories and files back.
- Run the following command to extend the file system of the partition:
sudo xfs_growfs Disk partition
In this example, run the following command:
sudo xfs_growfs /dev/sda2
Information similar to the following is displayed:
[root@ecs-scsi ~]# sudo xfs_growfs /dev/sda2 meta-data=/dev/sda2 isize=512 agcount=4, agsize=3276800 blks = sectsz=512 attr=2, projid32bit=1 = crc=1 finobt=0, spinodes=0 data = bsize=4096 blocks=13107200, imaxpct=25 = sunit=0 swidth=0 blks naming =version2 bsize=4096 ascii-ci=0 ftype=1 log =internal bsize=4096 blocks=6400, version=2 = sectsz=512 sunit=0 blks, lazy-count=1 realtime =none extsz=4096 blocks=0, rtextents=0 data blocks changed from 13107200 to 26214400df .
- (Optional) Run the following command to create a mount point:
- For the ext* file system
- Run the following command to view the mount result:
df -TH
Information similar to the following is displayed:
[root@ecs-scsi ~]# df -TH Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/vda1 ext4 43G 2.0G 39G 5% / devtmpfs devtmpfs 509M 0 509M 0% /dev tmpfs tmpfs 520M 0 520M 0% /dev/shm tmpfs tmpfs 520M 7.2M 513M 2% /run tmpfs tmpfs 520M 0 520M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs tmpfs 104M 0 104M 0% /run/user/0 /dev/sda1 ext4 53G 55M 50G 1% /mnt/sdc /dev/sda2 ext4 106G 63M 101G 1% /mnt/test
Configuring Automatic Mounting at System Start
The fstab file controls what disks are automatically mounted at server startup. You can configure the fstab file of a server that has data. This operation will not affect the existing data.
The following example uses UUIDs to identify disks in the fstab file. You are advised not to use device names (like /dev/vdb1) to identify disks in the file because device names are assigned dynamically and may change (for example, from /dev/vdb1 to /dev/vdb2) after a server stop or start. This can even prevent your server from booting up.
UUIDs are the unique character strings for identifying partitions in Linux.
- Query the partition UUID.
blkid Disk partition
In this example, the UUID of the /dev/vdb1 partition is queried.
blkid /dev/vdb1
Information similar to the following is displayed:
[root@ecs-test-0001 ~]# blkid /dev/vdb1 /dev/vdb1: UUID="0b3040e2-1367-4abb-841d-ddb0b92693df" TYPE="ext4"
Carefully record the UUID, as you will need it for the following step.
- Open the fstab file using the vi editor.
vi /etc/fstab
- Press i to enter editing mode.
- Move the cursor to the end of the file and press Enter. Then, add the following information:
UUID=0b3040e2-1367-4abb-841d-ddb0b92693df /mnt/sdc ext4 defaults 0 2
The preceding information is used for reference only. The line starting with UUID is the information added. Edit this line from left to right to match the following format:- UUID: The UUID obtained in 1.
- Mount point: The directory on which the partition is mounted. You can query the mount point using df -TH.
- Filesystem: The file system format of the partition. You can query the file system format using df -TH.
- Mount option: The partition mount option. Usually, this parameter is set to defaults.
- Dump: The Linux dump backup option.
- 0: Linux dump backup is not used. Usually, dump backup is not used, and you can set this parameter to 0.
- 1: Linux dump backup is used.
- fsck: The fsck option, which means whether to use fsck to check the disk during startup.
- 0: not use fsck.
- If the mount point is the root partition (/), this parameter must be set to 1.
If this parameter is set to 1 for the root partition, this parameter for other partitions must start with 2 because the system checks the partitions in the ascending order of the values.
- Press Esc, enter :wq, and press Enter.
The system saves the configurations and exits the vi editor.
- Verify that the disk is auto-mounted at startup.
- Unmount the partition.
In this example, run the following command:
umount /dev/vdb1
- Reload all the content in the /etc/fstab file.
mount -a
- Query the file system mounting information.
In this example, run the following command:
mount | grep /mnt/sdc
If information similar to the following is displayed, automatic mounting has been configured:
root@ecs-test-0001 ~]# mount | grep /mnt/sdc /dev/vdb1 on /mnt/sdc type ext4 (rw,relatime,data=ordered)
- Unmount the partition.
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