[SOLVED] trying to increase the size of my primary partition

jzoudavy · 05-02-2013, 05:26 PM

Hi experts

I am stumped with this. Here is what I have:

One SUSE 11 with SP1 virtual machine (VM running on VWare vCenter), 50 gig HD, on root partition, 12 gig memory and 12 Gig swap file.

Code:

linux:~ # df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2              48G   46G  154M 100% /
devtmpfs              5.9G  108K  5.9G   1% /dev
tmpfs                 5.9G   88K  5.9G   1% /dev/shm

linux:~ # free -tom
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:         11980       2236       9744          0         10       1536
Swap:         1498          0       1498
Total:       13478       2236      11242

fstab content:
/dev/sda1            swap                 swap       defaults              0 0
/dev/sda2            /                    ext3       acl,user_xattr        1 1
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0
/dev/sdb             /                    ext3       acl,user_xattr        1 2

I am trying to install this work application on it and that's what providing the swap file requirement. (I get an error about requiring 12 gig swap file if I don't have it) But for some reason the application keeps eating up the space as I install the various packages it needs. So I figured, no problem, I will just add a second hard disk, mount it under root, edit the fstab, and I should be fine.

So from vmware I add the second hard disk, another 50 gig should fix it. But on linux it always shows up as sdb, instead of being part of sda2. so sda2 remains 50 gig and my application still can't install because it doesn't expand into sdb for some reason. (Dev guys left for the day already, and their environment always just calls for a single partition root on sda.)

Also, the sdb that I mount, would disappear if I restart the VM. Which is absolutely not acceptable under any circumstances. That is also why from the partition table up above you do not see sdb.

I am mounting sdb via this document that I found here: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-disk-format/

Now application wise there is nothing I can do, it is another department and something I intend to use, not develop, so I am not touch that can of worms.

My next plan of attack is to just create a new bloody vm with 100gig hd and install suse on it again because i do need a working version of the app. but in the meanwhile, if someone could help me figure this out, I would appreciate it.

if you any questions please feel free to ask.

Thanks
davy

273 · 05-02-2013, 05:39 PM

You can't do what you are trying to. You can't just mount another disk at a mount point to extend the room on that mount point. You need to read up on disks, partitions and mount points before you break something.
Your best course of action here is, as you mentioned, create a new VM with a large enough hard drive.
The other option would be something like shut down the VM, resize the virtual hard drive, boot the VM with a parted magic CD image, resize the filesystem of the VM, then restart the VM. That may work.

chrism01 · 05-02-2013, 06:26 PM

Another possibility is that if you know the main dir where you need extra space eg /app, you can make that a mount point and mount sdb1 there.
That's the nearest equivalent of what you tried, I think.
Incidentally, you must partition it with at least one partition, hence sdb1, not 'sdb'.

jzoudavy · 05-03-2013, 12:43 PM

hey guys

thanks for all your advice, i made a new vm with a bigger disk and bigger swap file and now it is working. t

davy