Logical Volume Management

A brief guide in using logical volume manager (LVM) for disk space control.

created: Mon, November 9 2020 updated: Wed, July 24 2024 status: in-progress tags:

LVM Components

The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is a linux utility for mapping storage devices to storage volumes.
I am motivated to write this document due to not remembering the terminology and steps for resizing my root btrfs partition, despite setting aside free space on my initial linux setup.

LVM Components

The following is my LVM version, examples shown are from my primary laptop.

lvm version

LVM version:     2.03.02(2) (2018-12-18)
Library version: 1.02.155 (2018-12-18)
Driver version:  4.41.0
Configuration:   ./configure --build=x86_64-linux-gnu --prefix=/usr --includedir=${prefix}/include --mandir=${prefix}/share/man --infodir=${prefix}/share/info --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --disable-silent-rules --libdir=${prefix}/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --libexecdir=${prefix}/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --runstatedir=/run --disable-maintainer-mode --disable-dependency-tracking --exec-prefix= --bindir=/bin --libdir=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --sbindir=/sbin --with-usrlibdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --with-optimisation=-O2 --with-cache=internal --with-device-uid=0 --with-device-gid=6 --with-device-mode=0660 --with-default-pid-dir=/run --with-default-run-dir=/run/lvm --with-default-locking-dir=/run/lock/lvm --with-thin=internal --with-thin-check=/usr/sbin/thin_check --with-thin-dump=/usr/sbin/thin_dump --with-thin-repair=/usr/sbin/thin_repair --enable-applib --enable-blkid_wiping --enable-cmdlib --enable-dmeventd --enable-dbus-service --enable-lvmlockd-dlm --enable-lvmlockd-sanlock --enable-lvmpolld --enable-notify-dbus --enable-pkgconfig --enable-readline --enable-udev_rules --enable-udev_sync

Physical Volumes (PVs)

These are the actual hardware (HDD, SSD), that store your information.
They serve as the foundation for the logical volumes and volume groups.

pvdisplay

--- Physical volume ---
PV Name               /dev/mapper/nvme0n1p3_crypt
VG Name               udia-lenovo-c740-vg
PV Size               953.11 GiB / not usable 0   
Allocatable           yes 
PE Size               4.00 MiB
Total PE              243997
Free PE               46241
Allocated PE          197756
PV UUID               tev150-KazX-GKQB-pTdJ-I0cO-L1YY-rrJk9B

Volume Groups (VGs)

Volume groups are disk abstractions that depend on the physical volumes.
They may span multiple physical volumes or reside within a single physical volume. They can be resized and moved between physical volumes.

vgdisplay

--- Volume group ---
VG Name               udia-lenovo-c740-vg
System ID             
Format                lvm2
Metadata Areas        1
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                1
Act PV                1
VG Size               953.11 GiB
PE Size               4.00 MiB
Total PE              243997
Alloc PE / Size       197756 / 772.48 GiB
Free  PE / Size       46241 / <180.63 GiB
VG UUID               TfKBVz-fpfe-RkhE-jtjG-v6rl-psdG-tTpGRr

Logical Volumes (LVs)

Logical volumes are equivalent to a disk partition on a non-LVM system, but due to LVM, can extend across multiple physical hard drives.

lvdisplay

--- Logical volume ---
LV Path                /dev/udia-lenovo-c740-vg/root
LV Name                root
VG Name                udia-lenovo-c740-vg
LV UUID                kuvG5D-dS2o-AcDI-T91Y-5ffH-9KMm-ATloyU
LV Write Access        read/write
LV Creation host, time udia-lenovo-c740, 2020-06-24 20:26:01 -0600
LV Status              available
# open                 1
LV Size                <37.94 GiB
Current LE             9712
Segments               2
Allocation             inherit
Read ahead sectors     auto
- currently set to     256
Block device           254:1
 
--- Logical volume ---
LV Path                /dev/udia-lenovo-c740-vg/swap_1
LV Name                swap_1
VG Name                udia-lenovo-c740-vg
LV UUID                kQ0w8H-lEq5-F2rG-mtiE-daf1-SKyy-DINnxb
LV Write Access        read/write
LV Creation host, time udia-lenovo-c740, 2020-06-24 20:26:01 -0600
LV Status              available
# open                 2
LV Size                <15.71 GiB
Current LE             4021
Segments               1
Allocation             inherit
Read ahead sectors     auto
- currently set to     256
Block device           254:2
 
--- Logical volume ---
LV Path                /dev/udia-lenovo-c740-vg/home
LV Name                home
VG Name                udia-lenovo-c740-vg
LV UUID                n76nkw-wdZ0-fblQ-nXVo-awcZ-fg27-ItAEu6
LV Write Access        read/write
LV Creation host, time udia-lenovo-c740, 2020-06-24 20:26:01 -0600
LV Status              available
# open                 1
LV Size                <718.84 GiB
Current LE             184023
Segments               1
Allocation             inherit
Read ahead sectors     auto
- currently set to     256
Block device           254:3

Resize root partition

The following is the output of sudo fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 953.9 GiB, 1024209543168 bytes, 2000409264 sectors
Disk model: SAMSUNG MZVLB1T0HBLR-000L2              
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 0823A578-0160-4023-BB9A-8988BA36AAF2

Device           Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1    2048    1050623    1048576   512M EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 1050624    1550335     499712   244M Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p3 1550336 2000408575 1998858240 953.1G Linux filesystem


Disk /dev/mapper/nvme0n1p3_crypt: 953.1 GiB, 1023398641664 bytes, 1998825472 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 /dev/mapper/udia--lenovo--c740--vg-root: 38 GiB, 40735080448 bytes, 79560704 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 /dev/mapper/udia--lenovo--c740--vg-swap_1: 15.7 GiB, 16865296384 bytes, 32940032 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 /dev/mapper/udia--lenovo--c740--vg-home: 718.9 GiB, 771848404992 bytes, 1507516416 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

Because my root partition is running btrfs, I can increase the space with the following:

# increase root partition by 10 GiB
lvextend -l +2560 /dev/udia-lenovo-c740-vg/root
# resize partition to take up available space
btrfs filesystem resize max /