OT:Linux question

[Boaz Bezborodko]

On 11/22/2010 9:32 AM, Boaz Bezborodko wrote:
>
>> Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:25:47 -0500
>> From: Fairlight<fairlite at fairlite.com>
>> Subject: Re: OT:Linux question
>> To: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
>> Message-ID:<20101121132547.A15495 at iglou.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>
>> On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 11:53:36AM -0500, after drawing runes in 
>> goat's blood,
>> Boaz Bezborodko cast forth these immortal, mystical words:
>>> While I risk angering Mark for an OT question on Linux, I trust you 
>>> guys
>>> the most on these issues.
>> My lord, man!  How -could- you?!?!?  :) :) :)
>>
>
> Hey...I'm still sensitive about how you flamed me 3 years ago when I 
> first started using Linux and was asking some basic questions.
>
>>> I have a question regarding expanding storage on Linux.  I have an old
>>> Proliant system running Centos 4 with a raid array.  I've replaced 
>>> older
>>> 73GB drives with 146GB drives and I wanted to extend the volume size.
>>> The HP Array Cofiguration Utility is giving me a warning that some OSes
>>> don't support "extending" the volume and that this might make the data
>>> unavailable to them.
>>>
>>> Will LVM on Centos 4 recognize this and be able to increase the volume?
>>>
>>> If yes, should I dismount the volume before running the operation?
>> http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/extendlv.html
>> http://www.brighthub.com/computing/linux/articles/48452.aspx
>> http://www.softpanorama.org/Commercial_linuxes/logical_volume_manager.shtml 
>>
>>
>> The last one covers RHEL4, which is largely the same codebase as 
>> CentOS 4,
>> except CentOS has RH's insane bugs removed.  :)
>>
>> Funny, I thought everyone knew about Google by now...
>>
>> mark->
>
> I figured that part out even though I didn't need to.  Webmin can do 
> this all easily.
>
> The question is whether Centos 4 will recognize the extra space after 
> I extend the size of the existing logical drive using the HP array 
> utility.  If not then I have to add the extra space as another logical 
> drive and tell LVM to add it as a new physical volume before extending 
> the volume size.
>
> I was hoping that someone on this list, given the vast amount of Linux 
> experience some people (like yourself) have, that this is something 
> that can be answered easily.
>
> Boaz

Just a follow-up FYI those who are interested...

I finally got a chance to d this as I wanted to wait until the 4th 
quarter rush was done and I had a backup of the EOY.

I ran HP's Array Configuration Utility to expand the volume.  This was 
done within a few seconds.  But Centos 4 wouldn't recognize the extra 
space unless I rebooted.  Apparently Centos 5 will according to what I read.
Then I used Webmin to create the new partition as a Linux LVM partition 
and simply added it to the existing group again using Webmin.

It was quite painless and quick.

I would have been more impressed if I hadn't had to reboot the server first.

For those unfamiliar with HPs server products they are just rock solid.  
Their RAID hardware and software allows you to do a ton of stuff on the 
fly without users know anything is happening and have a ton of 
redundancy.  I've had one occasion when both a HD failed and then so did 
the spare when it was trying to replace the failed drive.  No 
problem...I replaced both on the fly and no user ever knew something was 
wrong.

I believe it was John Esak who mentioned that he had a system put 
together that was 2 generations old, but ended up costing him only about 
$750.  That was pretty much the case for me about 4 years ago when I put 
this one together.

I might start shopping soon for a new one that supports Centos 5.