Hi all. I have added a new, blank hard drive to my existing SuSE 7.0 server. I have it installed on the existing SCSI cable, the computer sees it and it's formatted using Yast.

My goal is to add needed space to this server and have this new HD act as more room for the 8G that's already in there.

My question is why can't I see the added 18G's of space in the server itself? When I use df -k it dosen't show.

Does anyone know what steps I've missed?

Johnny
(very new to this Linux stuff)

What kind of server? Maybe you need to share the new drive first. Did you mount the drive (make an entry in /etc/fstab)?

It's on a Dell Poweredge 1300. I did not make an entry in the /etc/fstab. Here's what it looks like:

/dev/sda1 /boot ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 2
/dev/sda3 / ext2 defaults 1 1
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
usbdevfs /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom auto ro,noauto,user,exec 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy auto noauto,user 0 0

I don't know what to add to this file to make that HD work, though.

Johnny

It is important to know which device node is used for the drive. Since you said it is SCSI, I would assume /dev/sdb.
You can find out if /dev/sdb1 is correct by typing 'fdisk -l' as root. This should show all recognised disks and the device names.
If there is only one partition on the drive, try to add the following line to /etc/fstab:

You need to create the mountpoint (mkdir </path/name>) and specify the correct filesystem (ext2?). On the next reboot it will be mounted automatically, to mount it without reboot type 'mount /dev/sdb1'.

Wow. I knew I came to the right place! You are correct that it is sdb1. Here's what fdisk returned:

Disk /dev/sda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1106 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 3 24066 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 4 20 136552+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda3 21 1106 8723295 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 2213 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 2213 17775891 5 Extended Units


I would like to ask to forgive my ingorrance in this matter, because I'm not sure what to type out. I'm guessing it would be:

/dev/sdb1 / ext2 defaults 1 1

This is only a guess...

Johnny

You don't want to mount it at / , but you could make the dir "/mnt/sdb2" or whatever you like just don't try to mount it at /.

Don't do that!
This would mount your new harddrive as root filesystem with (probably) nothing on it. The '/' (root) contains the whole Linux structure and if you mount an empty HDD as root filesystem, you will end up with a disfunctional system.

I guess you want to include the new drive as some kind of continuous extension of the current space. AFAIK this is only possible with some kind of RAID setup (no expert here, sorry). However, in a simple case, you just need to create a new mountpoint (e.g. /data) to make the new space available under this folder. The line in /etc/fstab would look like this:

The last number controls the checking of the filesystem (fsck). According to 'man fstab', '1' is used for the root-filesystem and '2' for all others. '0' would mean 'no check'. The other value ('0') controls something called 'dump' of which I have no idea what it does. So just leave it '0'. For additional options, see 'man mount' and 'man fstab'.

Yes, that is correct. I only want this disk to be an extenstion of the current disk. I'm just looking for added space. Right now the current disk is about full and I'm tried of just trying to delete stuff. 6G isn't enough these days in an office environment anyway.

I don't have a RAID setup in this server and I don't plan to do so.

It makes sense what you're saying, but before I go and try this, wouldn't the new disk need to have a /data partition setup before I can mount it?

Johnny

As I said, this will be quite complicated to accomplish. I am not sure if LVM (Logical Volume Manager) can do something like this...but I think you would need a RAID.

The disk needs to be formated with a filesystem of your choice, but that is it. The structure (/data) is created through the mounting.

Okay, that's cool. Thanx a bunch for all of your help! I have a much better idea what needs to be done to get this working.

Johnny