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I have a XenServer6 VM with Debian Squeeze 64bit and only 1 partition /dev/xvda1 95 GB + linux partitions:

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/xvda1             95G   63G   28G  70% /
tmpfs                 2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /lib/init/rw
udev                  2.0G   68K  2.0G   1% /dev
tmpfs                 2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev/shm

I used the XenCenter to resize the available space for this VM to 300 GB. This worked. But now I need to tell the ext3 filesystem to add some space. I only found some instructions with LiveCD's etc., but my server is rental and its in a remote DataCenter, I do not really want to experiment with an remote LiveCD etc. It is a running webserver, so I need not to lose any data or partitions. I can do it at night, so there are no big troubles with reachability. The server should have a RAID (2x 1TB HDD). I have another 2 VMs on it.

The question is: how can I do it without risking too much and without LiveCD's? Is there any other way to tell the filesystem:

"look up the free space and add this to the existing /dev/xvda1 partition"

Thank you very much for your knowledge and ideas.

Caesar

EDIT: I still have free space on the XenServer main disk. I could make a new XenServer disk and add this disk as additional space to the VM. How do I then change and copy everything without downtime?

EDIT2: I've just made a new disk in XenCenter, made new partitions ext3 on it with the main partition, the ext partition (logical swap partition inside). This one is now mounted as /dev/xvdb1. Swap/EXT is not mounted (I think this is OK, aint it?). How do I now copy the whole system from original partitions to new partitions and how should I tell Debian he must now use new partitions instead of the old? I will delete the old disk (with old partitions) and this server should boot from new partition xvdb1.

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/xvda1             95G   63G   28G  70% /
tmpfs                 2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /lib/init/rw
udev                  2.0G   84K  2.0G   1% /dev
tmpfs                 2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev/shm
/dev/xvdb1            184G  188M  174G   1% /mnt/xvdb1

Thank you!

Caesar
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  • Did you tried resize2fs? – Sacx Jan 09 '13 at 09:51
  • I did. I tried "resize2fs /dev/xvda1" but it did not change anything. It prints: resize2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010) The filesystem is already 25140992 blocks long. Nothing to do! – Caesar Jan 09 '13 at 10:44
  • Partition itself should also be resized ... and you cannot do this live (or is not recommend it) ... – Sacx Jan 09 '13 at 11:51
  • ok. Thank you. How about adding a drive in XenCenter as a additional one and copy everything to this drive, then set this drive as main/root/only drive and delete the old one? Is this simplier? – Caesar Jan 09 '13 at 11:57

1 Answers1

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Since you are not using LVM, you will have to reboot to do this. Use fdisk or parted to delete the existing partition, and recreate it with the exact same starting sector, but longer size. Make sure you are using sectors as the units. You can do this with the u command in fdisk if it isn't already, and with the unit s command to parted.

You will get an error informing the kernel of the changes since the partition is still in use. Reboot, then run resize2fs on the device.

psusi
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  • thank you for your answer, this would be the possible way to do that with just one disk. I added one more (XenServer Disk), so I have two. On the second one I created the partitions a mounted the main one. Now I just need help with copying (this is not the problem) and with the right commands to tell Debian Squeeze to use new partitions (on the new disk) only. The old disk will be unmounted and deleted. – Caesar Jan 09 '13 at 15:14
  • @Caesar, I suggest you do it this way instead, but if you want to do that, you will need to change the UUID to that of the new disk in `/etc/fstab` and `/boot/grub/menu.lst` ( last I checked, if you are using Xen you still have to use legacy grub ). – psusi Jan 09 '13 at 15:34