How XFS Grow File System

XFS Grow

Initially, I allocated root mount point as 30 GB during OS installation, but now it seems a little small for future growth. So I decide to enlarge the file system that was formatted as XFS.


[root@test ~]# df -h /

Filesystem           Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/mapper/ol-root   30G   20G   11G  66% /

The disk that I used has 240 GB, in which 40 GB is allocated at installation. So I'm pretty sure that I have plenty of available space that can allocate to root mount point.

Here are the main steps to achieve our goal:

Make a New Partition
Create a New Physical Volume
Extend Target Volume Group
Extend Target Logical Volume
Grow root Mount Point

A. Make a New Partition

Since I have plenty of space that has not been allocated yet, so I know I can have another partition to extend the file system. First of all, I used fdisk to make a new partition.

Print Current Partitions


[root@test ~]# 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): p



Disk /dev/sda: 257.7 GB, 257698037760 bytes, 503316480 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: 0x000c84a6



   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1   *        2048     2099199     1048576   83  Linux

/dev/sda2         2099200    83886079    40893440   8e  Linux LVM

New a Partition


Command (m for help): n

Partition type:

   p   primary (2 primary, 0 extended, 2 free)

   e   extended

Select (default p):

Using default response p

Partition number (3,4, default 3):

First sector (83886080-503316479, default 83886080):

Using default value 83886080

Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (83886080-503316479, default 503316479): +30G

Partition 3 of type Linux and of size 30 GiB is set

Print Current Partitions Before Writing to Table


Command (m for help): p



Disk /dev/sda: 257.7 GB, 257698037760 bytes, 503316480 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: 0x000c84a6



   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1   *        2048     2099199     1048576   83  Linux

/dev/sda2         2099200    83886079    40893440   8e  Linux LVM

/dev/sda3        83886080   146800639    31457280   83  Linux

Write to Partition Table


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.

Recognize the New Partition


[root@test ~]# partprobe -s

/dev/sda: msdos partitions 1 2 3

B. Create a New Physical Volume

Display Current Physical Volume


[root@test ~]# pvdisplay

  --- Physical volume ---

  PV Name               /dev/sda2

  VG Name               ol

  PV Size               <39.00 GiB / not usable 3.00 MiB

  Allocatable           yes (but full)

  PE Size               4.00 MiB

  Total PE              9983

  Free PE               0

  Allocated PE          9983

  PV UUID               ev12ft-GseE-h7qo-2XYi-VZBe-D3b3-VdKAA5

Create a Physical Volume


[root@test ~]# pvcreate /dev/sda3

  Physical volume "/dev/sda3" successfully created.

Display Current Physical Volumes Again


[root@test ~]# pvdisplay

  --- Physical volume ---

  PV Name               /dev/sda2

  VG Name               ol

  PV Size               <39.00 GiB / not usable 3.00 MiB

  Allocatable           yes (but full)

  PE Size               4.00 MiB

  Total PE              9983

  Free PE               0

  Allocated PE          9983

  PV UUID               ev12ft-GseE-h7qo-2XYi-VZBe-D3b3-VdKAA5



  "/dev/sda3" is a new physical volume of "30.00 GiB"

  --- NEW Physical volume ---

  PV Name               /dev/sda3

  VG Name

  PV Size               30.00 GiB

  Allocatable           NO

  PE Size               0

  Total PE              0

  Free PE               0

  Allocated PE          0

  PV UUID               KswvSM-fYhp-aLmC-2eaX-CVPD-pjUu-mjcuLX

Check Physical Volume Status


[root@test ~]# pvscan

  PV /dev/sda2   VG ol              lvm2 [<39.00 GiB / 0    free]

  PV /dev/sda3                      lvm2 [30.00 GiB]

  Total: 2 [<69.00 GiB] / in use: 1 [<39.00 GiB] / in no VG: 1 [30.00 GiB]

C. Extend Target Volume Group

Display Volume Group Before Extending


[root@test ~]# vgdisplay

  --- Volume group ---

  VG Name               ol

  System ID

  Format                lvm2

  Metadata Areas        1

  Metadata Sequence No  4

  VG Access             read/write

  VG Status             resizable

  MAX LV                0

  Cur LV                3

  Open LV               3

  Max PV                0

  Cur PV                1

  Act PV                1

  VG Size               <39.00 GiB

  PE Size               4.00 MiB

  Total PE              9983

  Alloc PE / Size       9983 / <39.00 GiB

  Free  PE / Size       0 / 0

  VG UUID               u0n6d0-aG74-n2wW-IQ7z-w1tw-UvUM-ctCVHA

Extend Volume Group ol


[root@test ~]# vgextend ol /dev/sda3

  Volume group "ol" successfully extended

Check Physical Volume Status Again


[root@test ~]# pvscan

  PV /dev/sda2   VG ol              lvm2 [<39.00 GiB / 0    free]

  PV /dev/sda3   VG ol              lvm2 [<30.00 GiB / <30.00 GiB free]

  Total: 2 [68.99 GiB] / in use: 2 [68.99 GiB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]

Display Volume Group After Extending


[root@test ~]# vgdisplay

  --- Volume group ---

  VG Name               ol

  System ID

  Format                lvm2

  Metadata Areas        2

  Metadata Sequence No  5

  VG Access             read/write

  VG Status             resizable

  MAX LV                0

  Cur LV                3

  Open LV               3

  Max PV                0

  Cur PV                2

  Act PV                2

  VG Size               68.99 GiB

  PE Size               4.00 MiB

  Total PE              17662

  Alloc PE / Size       9983 / <39.00 GiB

  Free  PE / Size       7679 / <30.00 GiB

  VG UUID               u0n6d0-aG74-n2wW-IQ7z-w1tw-UvUM-ctCVHA

D. Extend Target Logical Volume

Display Logical Volume Before Extending


[root@test ~]# lvdisplay

  --- Logical volume ---

  LV Path                /dev/ol/root

  LV Name                root

  VG Name                ol

  LV UUID                jAS3mc-TbSG-E4hI-ol6x-Gkth-OHfm-wifSJt

  LV Write Access        read/write

  LV Creation host, time primary.example.com, 2018-09-21 07:54:32 -0400

  LV Status              available

  # open                 1

  LV Size                30.00 GiB

  Current LE             7680

  Segments               1

  Allocation             inherit

  Read ahead sectors     auto

  - currently set to     8192

  Block device           249:0



  --- Logical volume ---

  LV Path                /dev/ol/home

  LV Name                home

  VG Name                ol

  LV UUID                O4tO2O-NUds-DrwV-Z02n-HddX-Rgw4-5JZuSd

  LV Write Access        read/write

  LV Creation host, time primary.example.com, 2018-09-21 07:54:32 -0400

  LV Status              available

  # open                 1

  LV Size                5.00 GiB

  Current LE             1280

  Segments               1

  Allocation             inherit

  Read ahead sectors     auto

  - currently set to     8192

  Block device           249:2



  --- Logical volume ---

  LV Path                /dev/ol/swap

  LV Name                swap

  VG Name                ol

  LV UUID                w1zDoC-ekv5-eqj7-uX3n-H3Uz-Pja5-tF1YzR

  LV Write Access        read/write

  LV Creation host, time primary.example.com, 2018-09-21 07:54:32 -0400

  LV Status              available

  # open                 2

  LV Size                <4.00 GiB

  Current LE             1023

  Segments               1

  Allocation             inherit

  Read ahead sectors     auto

  - currently set to     8192

  Block device           249:1

Extend the Logical Volume


[root@test ~]# lvextend /dev/ol/root /dev/sda3

  Size of logical volume ol/root changed from 30.00 GiB (7680 extents) to <60.00 GiB (15359 extents).

  Logical volume ol/root successfully resized.

Display Logical Volume After Extending


[root@test ~]# lvdisplay

  --- Logical volume ---

  LV Path                /dev/ol/root

  LV Name                root

  VG Name                ol

  LV UUID                jAS3mc-TbSG-E4hI-ol6x-Gkth-OHfm-wifSJt

  LV Write Access        read/write

  LV Creation host, time primary.example.com, 2018-09-21 07:54:32 -0400

  LV Status              available

  # open                 1

  LV Size                <60.00 GiB

  Current LE             15359

  Segments               2

  Allocation             inherit

  Read ahead sectors     auto

  - currently set to     8192

  Block device           249:0



  --- Logical volume ---

  LV Path                /dev/ol/home

  LV Name                home

  VG Name                ol

  LV UUID                O4tO2O-NUds-DrwV-Z02n-HddX-Rgw4-5JZuSd

  LV Write Access        read/write

  LV Creation host, time primary.example.com, 2018-09-21 07:54:32 -0400

  LV Status              available

  # open                 1

  LV Size                5.00 GiB

  Current LE             1280

  Segments               1

  Allocation             inherit

  Read ahead sectors     auto

  - currently set to     8192

  Block device           249:2



  --- Logical volume ---

  LV Path                /dev/ol/swap

  LV Name                swap

  VG Name                ol

  LV UUID                w1zDoC-ekv5-eqj7-uX3n-H3Uz-Pja5-tF1YzR

  LV Write Access        read/write

  LV Creation host, time primary.example.com, 2018-09-21 07:54:32 -0400

  LV Status              available

  # open                 2

  LV Size                <4.00 GiB

  Current LE             1023

  Segments               1

  Allocation             inherit

  Read ahead sectors     auto

  - currently set to     8192

  Block device           249:1

E. Grow root Mount Point

Check XFS Infomation


[root@test ~]# xfs_info /

meta-data=/dev/mapper/ol-root    isize=256    agcount=4, agsize=1966080 blks

         =                       sectsz=512   attr=2, projid32bit=1

         =                       crc=0        finobt=0 spinodes=0

data     =                       bsize=4096   blocks=7864320, imaxpct=25

         =                       sunit=0      swidth=0 blks

naming   =version 2              bsize=4096   ascii-ci=0 ftype=1

log      =internal               bsize=4096   blocks=3840, version=2

         =                       sectsz=512   sunit=0 blks, lazy-count=1

realtime =none                   extsz=4096   blocks=0, rtextents=0

Grow root Mount Point


[root@test ~]# xfs_growfs /

meta-data=/dev/mapper/ol-root    isize=256    agcount=4, agsize=1966080 blks

         =                       sectsz=512   attr=2, projid32bit=1

         =                       crc=0        finobt=0 spinodes=0

data     =                       bsize=4096   blocks=7864320, imaxpct=25

         =                       sunit=0      swidth=0 blks

naming   =version 2              bsize=4096   ascii-ci=0 ftype=1

log      =internal               bsize=4096   blocks=3840, version=2

         =                       sectsz=512   sunit=0 blks, lazy-count=1

realtime =none                   extsz=4096   blocks=0, rtextents=0

data blocks changed from 7864320 to 15727616

Finally, I have expanded XFS file system on root mount point. Let's check current overall space usage.


[root@test ~]# df -h /

Filesystem           Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/mapper/ol-root   60G   20G   41G  33% /