[BlueOnyx:18640] Re: RESOLVED: Tips for large disk installation

[Chris Gebhardt - VIRTBIZ Internet]

Hi All,

I was never able to get BlueOnyx installed on anything over a 2TB disk, 
as the installation would continually bomb when attempting to write the 
boot-loader.   I suspect this is because BlueOnyx is not (yet?) capable 
of supporting GPT and is stuck with MBR-only in the kickstart.

Since nobody had any better ideas, I pared back to a cumbersome, but 
ultimately successful way to install BlueOnyx to a server with a very 
large drive.

I am now the proud operator of what I can only assume is the - are you 
ready for it? -  WORLD'S LARGEST BLUEONYX SERVER (by disk space).

I accomplished this using VMware ESXi and BlueOnyx 5209R.  The disk(s) 
for the BlueOnyx system are carved out from one of our storage arrays. 
The goal was to create a 10TB BlueOnyx installation.

A quick run-down of the steps I followed are:

#1:  Create new virtual server with relatively small hard disk.  I chose 
100GB, but I suspect anything under 2TB would be fine.

#2:  Install BlueOnyx 5209R as a normal, standard installation.

#3:  Finalize 5209R installation, yum update, initial GUI configuration, 
etc.

#4:  In VMware, create a series of disks under 2TB so that fdisk can 
still manipulate them.   In this case, I added 8 additional disks, 1.5TB 
each.

#5:  From 5209R CLI, use fdisk to create a partition on each of the new 
disks.   I used a single primary partition, the entire size of the 
virtual disk.  Then change the type of partition to Linux LVM (hex code 8e).

#6:  Use vgextend to add new partitions to the LVM logical volume.
	EXAMPLE: vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/sdb1

Do this for each of the new partitions you have added.

#7:  Use lvextend to grow the /home LVM to consume the space created by 
adding the partitions to the logical volume.
	EXAMPLE: lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-home

#8:  Use resize2fs to grow the filesystem inside the new logvol.
	EXAMPLE: resize2fs /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-home


As I said, that's a little cumbersome.   But it seems to be a fairly 
reliable way to get things going if you need a giant disk available for 
a BlueOnyx server.

And of course, if you happen to need a giant BlueOnyx server but you 
don't want to roll your own, hit me up.   We'll be glad to hook you up 
with a hosted BlueOnyx system of ANY size, small or large.   Because 
after all, we're not just the home of BlueOnyx, but also the home of the 
largest BlueOnyx server on the planet.   LOL.  :)

Cheers,

-- 
Chris Gebhardt
VIRTBIZ Internet Services
Access, Web Hosting, Colocation, Dedicated
www.virtbiz.com | toll-free (866) 4 VIRTBIZ