How do I create an LVM logical volume on an entire EBS volume?

LVM allows you to allocate disk space and strip, re-mirror, and resize logical volumes. Using LVM, you can allocate an EBS volume or a set of EBS volumes to one or more physical volumes.

To use LVM on your EBS volume and extend the partitions:

1. Create physical volumes (PV) from your EBS volume.
2. Create a volume group (VG) and add the physical volumes into the volume group.
3. Create a logical volume (LV) and mount directory on the LVM.
4. Create and mount a file system.
5. Resize the logical volume.

Note: For more information on using LVM with Nitro-based instances, see Chapter 11. LVM (Logical Volume Manager) on the Red Hat Customer Portal website.

Note: If you've already created LVM on your volume and mounted it for use, then follow the instructions beginning at Extend the logical volume.

Create physical volumes from your EBS volumes

The underlying physical storage unit of an LVM logical volume is a block device such as a partition of an EBS volume or an entire EBS volume. You can create a PV on a single EBS volume or multiple EBS volumes.

Note: Nitro-based instances expose volumes as NVMe devices. The block device names follow the pattern /dev/nvme1n1, /dev/nvme2n1, /dev/nvme3n1 and so on. If you're using a Nitro-based instance, then replace the device names in the following steps with the appropriate device name. For more information on device naming, see Device name considerations.

1.    Open the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud console.

2.    Create your EBS volume, and then attach the volume to your instance.

3.    Use the pvcreate command to create a physical volume. The following example uses one volume, /dev/xvdf, to create the physical volume.

Use the pvs or pvdisplay command to view the physical volume's details:

Create volume groups and add the physical volumes into the volume group

Use the vgcreate command to create a volume group to combine the new physical volumes. The following example uses one physical volume to create the volume group Dock.

Use the vgs or vgdisplay to view the new volume group's details:

Create a logical volume (LV) and a mount directory

1.    Use the lvcreate command to create logical volumes (partitions) from your volume group. The following example creates one 9 GB logical volume, station1, from the Dock volume group.

Use the lvs or lvdisplay command to view the logical volume's details:

2.    Use the mkdir command to create a mount directory. The following example creates the directory /mnt1.

Create and mount a file system

1.    Use the following commands to create a file system and mount the partitions for use:

Run the mkfs -t command to create the file system. Note: Replace xfs with your file system type, if different. For example, ext2, ext3, or ext4.

Run the lsblk -f command to verify creation of the new file system. Note: The file system type you created in the previous step appears under FSTYPE.

Run the mount command to mount the file system on the mount directory you created in the previous step:

2.    Edit the mount options in the /etc/fstab file so that the new mount persists after reboot.

Note: Replace xfs with your file system type in the /etc/fstab entry, if different.

Extend the logical volume

You have two options for extending logical volumes:

• Option 1: Increase the size of the existing EBS volume.
• Option 2: Add additional EBS volumes to your volume group.

Note: When increasing the size of your existing volume, size changes usually take effect within a few seconds when the volume enters the optimizing state. The volume's performance is affected while in the optimizing state, but doesn't fall below the source configuration specification. Depending on your volume type, performance changes might take from a few minutes to a few hours. For more information, see Monitoring the progress of volume modifications.

Option 1: Increase the size of the existing EBS volume

1.    Modify the size of the existing EBS volume.

2.    Run the pvresize command to resize the physical volume:

Use the pvs or pvdisplay to view the physical volume details:

Use the vgs or vgdisplay to view the volume group's details:

3.    Run the lvextend command to extend the logical volume:

Use the lvs or lvdisplay command to view the logical volume's details:

4.    Extend the file system:

Note: Depending on your use case, follow the steps for XFS or Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 file systems.

Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 file systems:

XFS file systems:

Option 2: Add additional EBS volume to the volume group

1.    Create another EBS volume of 10 GB and attach the volume to the instance. In the following example, the volume's block device name is /dev/xvdi.

2.    Use the vgextend command to extend the volume group and add the new volume. The following example extends the volume group Dock to include the volume /dev/xvdi.

To confirm the extension, use the vgs or vgdisplay command. The following example indicates that there are now two PV in the Dock volume group.

3.    Use the lvextend command to extend the logical volume:

4.    Resize the file system.

Note: Depending on your use case, follow the steps for XFS or Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 file systems.

Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 file systems:

XFS file systems: