The scope of this post is to explain the steps involved in increasing the /boot filesystem, when no sufficient space available to install new kernel package. Though we have standard methods to reduce the size of /boot i.e. removing unused kernel and image files from boot, as an alternate approach, this post illustrate the steps to expand size of boot partition.
The following should be the scenario were this can be applied,
- OVM/Vmware guest machine.
- Guest Backup should be taken from OVM/Vmware.
- /boot not in LVM, whereas other OS filesystem using LVM.
Note: The steps listed here are tested with EXT4 filesystem only.
The Steps
1. Add a new disk (size of the new disk must be equal or greater than size of the existing volume group) and use ‘fdisk -l’ to check for the newly added disk. e.g. /dev/sdb
# fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 55.3 GB, 55278469120 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 6720 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00068fe8 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 13 102400 83 Linux Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sda2 13 6721 53878784 8e Linux LVM Disk /dev/sdb: 60.7 GB, 60673785856 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7376 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000
2. Partition the newly added disk and change the type to Linux LVM.
# fdisk /dev/sdb
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-7376, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (1-7376, default 7376): +56G
Command (m for help): l
0 Empty 24 NEC DOS 81 Minix / old Lin bf Solaris
1 FAT12 39 Plan 9 82 Linux swap / So c1 DRDOS/sec (FAT-
2 XENIX root 3c PartitionMagic 83 Linux c4 DRDOS/sec (FAT-
3 XENIX usr 40 Venix 80286 84 OS/2 hidden C: c6 DRDOS/sec (FAT-
4 FAT16 <32M 41 PPC PReP Boot 85 Linux extended c7 Syrinx
5 Extended 42 SFS 86 NTFS volume set da Non-FS data
6 FAT16 4d QNX4.x 87 NTFS volume set db CP/M / CTOS / .
7 HPFS/NTFS 4e QNX4.x 2nd part 88 Linux plaintext de Dell Utility
8 AIX 4f QNX4.x 3rd part 8e Linux LVM df BootIt
9 AIX bootable 50 OnTrack DM 93 Amoeba e1 DOS access
a OS/2 Boot Manag 51 OnTrack DM6 Aux 94 Amoeba BBT e3 DOS R/O
b W95 FAT32 52 CP/M 9f BSD/OS e4 SpeedStor
c W95 FAT32 (LBA) 53 OnTrack DM6 Aux a0 IBM Thinkpad hi eb BeOS fs
e W95 FAT16 (LBA) 54 OnTrackDM6 a5 FreeBSD ee GPT
f W95 Ext'd (LBA) 55 EZ-Drive a6 OpenBSD ef EFI (FAT-12/16/
10 OPUS 56 Golden Bow a7 NeXTSTEP f0 Linux/PA-RISC b
11 Hidden FAT12 5c Priam Edisk a8 Darwin UFS f1 SpeedStor
12 Compaq diagnost 61 SpeedStor a9 NetBSD f4 SpeedStor
14 Hidden FAT16 <3 63 GNU HURD or Sys ab Darwin boot f2 DOS secondary
16 Hidden FAT16 64 Novell Netware af HFS / HFS+ fb VMware VMFS
17 Hidden HPFS/NTF 65 Novell Netware b7 BSDI fs fc VMware VMKCORE
18 AST SmartSleep 70 DiskSecure Mult b8 BSDI swap fd Linux raid auto
1b Hidden W95 FAT3 75 PC/IX bb Boot Wizard hid fe LANstep
1c Hidden W95 FAT3 80 Old Minix be Solaris boot ff BBT
1e Hidden W95 FAT1
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): 8e
Changed system type of partition 1 to 8e (Linux LVM)
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 60.7 GB, 60673785856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7376 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xbd30352b
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 7311 58725576 8e Linux LVM
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
3. Create a physical volume on the partitioned disk e.g. /dev/sdb1:
# pvcreate /dev/sdb1 Physical volume "/dev/sdb1" successfully created
4. Check for the volume group name. Add the physical volume to the existing volume group.
# vgs VG #PV #LV #SN Attr VSize VFree VolGroup 1 4 0 wz--n- 51.38g 42.98g
# vgextend VolGroup /dev/sdb1 Volume group "VolGroup" successfully extended
5. Migrate the physical volume from existing disk (/dev/sda2) to newly created (/dev/sdb1). Then reduce the existing volume group.
# pvmove /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sda2: Moved: 0.2% /dev/sda2: Moved: 11.6% /dev/sda2: Moved: 15.2% /dev/sda2: Moved: 17.4% /dev/sda2: Moved: 19.9% /dev/sda2: Moved: 22.1% /dev/sda2: Moved: 24.5% /dev/sda2: Moved: 26.6% /dev/sda2: Moved: 28.9% /dev/sda2: Moved: 31.2% /dev/sda2: Moved: 35.6% /dev/sda2: Moved: 38.9% /dev/sda2: Moved: 41.3% /dev/sda2: Moved: 46.5% /dev/sda2: Moved: 52.3% /dev/sda2: Moved: 100.0%
# vgreduce VolGroup /dev/sda2 Removed "/dev/sda2" from volume group "VolGroup"
6. Delete the partition /dev/sda2:
# fdisk -cu /dev/sda Command (m for help): d Partition number (1-4): 2 Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 55.3 GB, 55278469120 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 6720 cylinders, total 107965760 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 identifier: 0x00068fe8 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 2048 206847 102400 83 Linux 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.
7. Unmount /boot:
# umount /boot
8. Check the start and end blocks of /dev/sda1. Then delete the partition /dev/sda1 and create a new partition /dev/sda1 with same start block and extend the size as much required.
# fdisk -cu /dev/sda
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 55.3 GB, 55278469120 bytes
224 heads, 19 sectors/track, 25367 cylinders, total 107965760 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 identifier: 0x00068fe8
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 206847 102400 83 Linux
Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 1
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First sector (2048-107965759, default 2048):
Using default value 2048
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-107965759, default 107965759): +1000M
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 55.3 GB, 55278469120 bytes
224 heads, 19 sectors/track, 25367 cylinders, total 107965760 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 identifier: 0x00068fe8
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 2050047 1024000 83 Linux
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
9.Check the file system of /dev/sda1:
# e2fsck -f /dev/sda1 e2fsck 1.43-WIP (20-Jun-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/sda1: 45/25688 files (6.7% non-contiguous), 88803/102400 blocks
10. Resize the file system:
# resize2fs /dev/sda1 resize2fs 1.43-WIP (20-Jun-2013) Resizing the filesystem on /dev/sda1 to 1024000 (1k) blocks. The filesystem on /dev/sda1 is now 1024000 blocks long.
11. Mount /boot.
# mount /boot
12. After all these steps, size of the /boot filesystem will be extended. You can check this using 'df -h' command.
# df -h /boot