Want to expand Solaris 10_x86 root UFS partition

b1f30 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-14-2008

OS: Solaris 10_x86.

Problem:

Server needs to be patched, but root "/" is near full.

/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0 4.2G 3.9G 284M 94% /

The /exports/home dir has a lot more space, and I'd like to either move root "/" to it, or delete it all together:

/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s7 12G 4.7G 7.1G 40% /export/home

Note: Server *can* have downtime, but I *don't* have another disk in the system I can install onto or partition.

/etc/vfstab:

Code:

# cat /etc/vfstab 
#device         device          mount           FS      fsck    mount   mount
#to mount       to fsck         point           type    pass    at boot options
#
fd      -       /dev/fd fd      -       no      -
/proc   -       /proc   proc    -       no      -
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s1       -       -       swap    -       no      -
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0       /dev/rdsk/c1t1d0s0      /       ufs     1       no      -
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s7       /dev/rdsk/c1t1d0s7      /export/home    ufs     2       yes     -
/devices        -       /devices        devfs   -       no      -
ctfs    -       /system/contract        ctfs    -       no      -
objfs   -       /system/object  objfs   -       no      -
swap    -       /tmp    tmpfs   -       yes     -

Ideas?

pupp · #2 (**permalink**) 08-14-2008

looking for the output of format as far as the disk with the root partition on it. we can make a better assessment with that.

however, you would have to back up /export/home. change start cylinder of /export/home (shrinking this), change cylinders for swap and then change the end cylinder for root (thus making it larger). save, label etc.

once out growfs /dev/rdsk/c1t1d0s0. newfs /export/home. restore /export/home

something to this effect.

b1f30 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-14-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by pupp

looking for the output of format as far as the disk with the root partition on it. we can make a better assessment with that.

however, you would have to back up /export/home. change start cylinder of /export/home (shrinking this), change cylinders for swap and then change the end cylinder for root (thus making it larger). save, label etc.

once out growfs /dev/rdsk/c1t1d0s0. newfs /export/home. restore /export/home

something to this effect.

Any of these items need to be done in single user mode per se?

I'm following your thought here - makes sense - but I'm just trying to apply what I know.

Thanks for the insight. I will start doing some RTFM before I post more 'WTF'.

;-)

jlliagre · #4 (**permalink**) 08-14-2008

I don't think there is anything to change with swap which should be located elsewhere assuming you used the default layout.

To be sure, post the output of this command:

Code:

# prtvtoc /dev/dsk/c1t1d0s2

However, there is an issue with these steps. The growfs command cannot be used with the root partition according to its documentation. That means this won't work even in single user mode.

One possible workaround would be to boot on an installation media and run all of that from a shell there.

In any case, you should really make a reliable backup of your system before attempting this.

pupp · #5 (**permalink**) 08-14-2008

interesting. i see what you mean jiliagre. thanks for pointing that out. i thought i had seen it before but i guess the documentation proves me wrong (i've actually never attempted to grow the root fs but i've done this with other FSs).

when i get home i want to try this out on the root fs though. see if it truly is the case.

b1f30 · #6 (**permalink**) 08-14-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

I don't think there is anything to change with swap which should be located elsewhere assuming you used the default layout.

To be sure, post the output of this command:

Code:

# prtvtoc /dev/dsk/c1t1d0s2

However, there is an issue with these steps. The growfs command cannot be used with the root partition according to its documentation. That means this won't work even in single user mode.

One possible workaround would be to boot on an installation media and run all of that from a shell there.

In any case, you should really make a reliable backup of your system before attempting this.

Code:

# prtvtoc /dev/dsk/c1t1d0s2
* /dev/dsk/c1t1d0s2 partition map
*
* Dimensions:
*     512 bytes/sector
*      63 sectors/track
*     255 tracks/cylinder
*   16065 sectors/cylinder
*    2211 cylinders
*    2209 accessible cylinders
*
* Flags:
*   1: unmountable
*  10: read-only
*
* Unallocated space:
*       First     Sector    Last
*       Sector     Count    Sector 
*    35471520     16065  35487584
*
*                          First     Sector    Last
* Partition  Tag  Flags    Sector     Count    Sector  Mount Directory
       0      2    00    1092420   8964270  10056689   /
       1      3    01      16065   1076355   1092419
       2      5    00          0  35487585  35487584
       7      8    00   10056690  25414830  35471519   /export/home
       8      1    01          0     16065     16064

I found a huge vmcore file that was 600+MB. None of my lab people needed it, so I backed it up to another server, then rm -rf'ed it locally. Now I've got some space to work with, and the patching seems to be coming along just fine.

I'm keeping my eye on this thread anyhow, since you make some valid points.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

P.S. The command I used to find the vmcore file:

Code:

find / -size +100000

Neo · #7 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by b1f30

I found a huge vmcore file that was 600+MB. None of my lab people needed it.....

This is a reason that many people simply set the file size of core files and dumps to zero (or simply disable completely), as they don't debug them (since they are not application or kernel developers).

If you don't use them and do not actively look for or manage them, they can really cause problems, as you experienced.

So, if you are not using them (or do not know how to use them), just disable them.....

You can always turn them back on if you start to see problems where you might need a core file, etc

Edit: See also:

http://developers.sun.com/solaris/ar...core_dump.html

See for example, this example, in the link above:

Below is a typical scenario, which shows the current system configuration for core dumps:

Quote:

-bash-3.00# coreadm
global core file pattern:
global core file content: default
init core file pattern: core
init core file content: default
global core dumps: disabled
per-process core dumps: enabled
global setid core dumps: disabled
per-process setid core dumps: disabled
global core dump logging: disabled

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