[linux-lvm] Reducing the size of a physical volume

[linux-lvm] Reducing the size of a physical volume

[Charles Lacour]

Is it possible to reduce the size of a physical volume?

I have a 20-GB partition set up as LVM, and an instance of
Gentoo inside it, all of which works fine.

I wanted to check out Mandrake 9.2, so I set up a "mandrake"
logical volume, but Mandrake doesn't seem to support LVM
(at least not installing to it - it did recognize what the partition
was, and even how full it was, but didn't give me any way to
select an individual logical volume within it.)

I rebooted back into Gentoo, figuring to reduce the size of the
LVM partition by several gigabytes, and I can't find a way to do
it. (I suppose if I got really, really brave I could delete the
partition with fdisk and add it back starting at the same point,
but ending sooner, but I'm _not_ that brave (or foolish, depending).

If the answer is "No, you can't", any recommendations on how to
allocate things so that I don't get burned by this again?

Only thought I've had is several smaller partitions, each of which is
a PV to LVM. You couldn't let go of a precise amount of space
(especially since number-of-partition limits mean your partitions may
have to be a few GB each), but it would be better than the position
I _think_ I'm in now, which is "screwed to the wall".

I'm not subscribed to the list, so please CC any replies to:

clacour (at-sign) greyhound.com

Thanks in advance,

Charles Lacour

Re: [linux-lvm] Reducing the size of a physical volume

[Brian J. Murrell]

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On Fri, 2003-10-17 at 17:20, Charles Lacour wrote:
> 
> I wanted to check out Mandrake 9.2,

Good idea.  :-)

> so I set up a "mandrake"
> logical volume, but Mandrake doesn't seem to support LVM

[ disclaimer: I have not gone through an "installation" of 9.2 yet --
all of my systems were 9.1 which I just urpmi --auto-select upgraded
after reconfiguring the sources -- but unless anything has changed since
9.1, my comments should be accurate ]

It sure does!  Diskdrake has supported creating PVs, VGs and LVs for
quite a few releases now but not creating / as an LV.  As of the last
release or two, I submitted enhancements to the installer to allow
installation onto a root LV.

Did you choose "Expert" installation, or choose the "Advanced" mode when
you got into Diskdrake?  You likely need to do that to see the LVM
options.

> (at least not installing to it - it did recognize what the partition
> was, and even how full it was, but didn't give me any way to
> select an individual logical volume within it.)

Hmmm.  I have not tried exactly what you are trying to do, but knowing
what I do about Diskdrake, I can't see why what you are doing
won't/wouldn't work.

> I'm not subscribed to the list, so please CC any replies to:
> 
> clacour (at-sign) greyhound.com

You sure do put up enough hoops one has to jump through to help you out
don't you?  If you want help with something the least you could do is
make it easy and straightforward to provide it.

b.

-- 
My other computer is your Microsoft Windows server.

Brian J. Murrell

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Re: [linux-lvm] Reducing the size of a physical volume

[Joachim Banzhaf]

Am Montag, 20. Oktober 2003 15:31 schrieb Brian J. Murrell:
> On Fri, 2003-10-17 at 17:20, Charles Lacour wrote:
> > I'm not subscribed to the list, so please CC any replies to:
> >
> > clacour (at-sign) greyhound.com
>
> You sure do put up enough hoops one has to jump through to help you out
> don't you?  If you want help with something the least you could do is
> make it easy and straightforward to provide it.

agreed, (but see the original from header and the - requested - cc :-)

Charles, if you really are concerned about adress harvesters, get yourself a 
free account like cl@gmx.com that you can easily afford to change when 
spamming starts to strike you.

Joachim Banzhaf

Re: [linux-lvm] Reducing the size of a physical volume

[Luca Berra]

I confirm Mandrake 9.2 is able to install on LVM.
That includes booting from LVM and using a LV as root fileystem.
you need to chose expert install to be able to do this tough.

Regards,
L.
On Mon, Oct 20, 2003 at 09:31:25AM -0400, Brian J. Murrell wrote:
>On Fri, 2003-10-17 at 17:20, Charles Lacour wrote:
>> 
>> I wanted to check out Mandrake 9.2,
>
>Good idea.  :-)
>
>> so I set up a "mandrake"
>> logical volume, but Mandrake doesn't seem to support LVM
>
>[ disclaimer: I have not gone through an "installation" of 9.2 yet --
>all of my systems were 9.1 which I just urpmi --auto-select upgraded
>after reconfiguring the sources -- but unless anything has changed since
>9.1, my comments should be accurate ]
>
>It sure does!  Diskdrake has supported creating PVs, VGs and LVs for
>quite a few releases now but not creating / as an LV.  As of the last
>release or two, I submitted enhancements to the installer to allow
>installation onto a root LV.
>
>Did you choose "Expert" installation, or choose the "Advanced" mode when
>you got into Diskdrake?  You likely need to do that to see the LVM
>options.



-- 
Luca Berra -- bluca@comedia.it
        Communication Media & Services S.r.l.
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