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How to Increase the TurboTier R4 data disk from 1 TB

Updated today

This article describes the procedures for increasing the data volume capacity for TurboTier R4 in a Linux environment. You can achieve this by either expanding an existing disk or adding a new physical disk to the Volume Group.

Prerequisites

Before modifying your storage configuration, ensure the following:

  • All TurboTier data is completely synced to the cloud.

  • Stop the TurboTier service by executing this command

    service Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads stop

Option 1: Increase Data Volume by increasing the existing disk

The following workflow outlines the process for extending existing storage volumes in a Linux infrastructure.

  1. Increase data disk size in VMware.

    • Navigate to the settings of your virtual machine in VMware.

    • Increase the size of the desired disk. For example, extend the disk by 1TB.

  2. Connect to the Linux server

    • Use a terminal client like PuTTY to log in to the Linux server.

  3. Verify current disk size and structure

    • Run the following command to check disk usage and structure:
      ​lsblk: Displays disk usage and mounted partitions.

  4. The Linux kernel maintains a cached view of block device geometries. Trigger a manual bus rescan to discover the new capacity without a reboot:
    ​

    echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/class/block/sdb/device/rescan

  5. Move the partition boundaries to encompass the newly available sectors:


    ​sudo growpart /dev/sdb 1

    Note: The default volume provided in the R4 TurboTier OVA is DOS formatted. It cannot be extended beyond 2 TB. If you require more than 2 TB, add an additional disk.


    ​

  6. Synchronize LVM metadata with the new partition boundary:
    ​
    ​sudo pvresize /dev/sdb1
    ​

  7. Run the following command to allocate all unassigned space to the Logical Volume and resize the filesystem simultaneously:
    ​

    lvm lvextend -r -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/vg-lv

    -l +100%FREE: Allocates all unassigned Extents in the Volume Group.

    -r (--resizefs): Invokes the filesystem-specific resize tool (e.g., resize2fs for ext4 or xfs_growfs for XFS) in a single atomic-like operation.
    ​

  8. Confirm the new size using lsblk.
    ​

  9. Update the volume size in the Edit Volume section on the Enterprise Workloads Management Console.

    Recommendation:

    As a best practice, allocate 90% of the total physical volume size in the Druva User interface to prevent the volume from getting 100% full.

    Example :1 TB default volume, and the recommended volume would be approximately 920 GB, for 2TB it will be ~1800 GB.

Option 2: Add an additional data disk (Recommended)

To add a new disk, initialize the hardware and incorporate it into the Volume Group (VG) to expand available capacity.

  1. Shutdown the Virtual Machine

    • Power off the virtual machine before adding the new disk.

  2. Attach a New Disk in VMware

    • Add a new virtual disk to the machine with the desired size (e.g., 400 GB).

  3. Power on the Virtual Machine

    • Start the virtual machine and log in via SSH.

  4. Identify the New Disk

    • Run the following command to identify the newly added disk:
      ​lsblk

    • Example output:
      ​

      root@cloudcache:~# lsblk
      NAME      MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
      fd0         2:0    1    4K  0 disk
      sda         8:0    0   64G  0 disk
      ├─sda1      8:1    0 55.9G  0 part /
      ├─sda2      8:2    0    8G  0 part [SWAP]
      ├─sda14     8:14   0    4M  0 part
      └─sda15     8:15   0  106M  0 part /boot/efi
      sdb         8:16   0    3T  0 disk
      └─sdb1      8:17   0    2T  0 part
        └─vg-lv 252:0    0    2T  0 lvm  /mnt/data
      sdc         8:32   0  500G  0 disk /mnt/data/vmac
      sdd         8:48   0  400G  0 disk
      sr0        11:0    1 1024M  0 rom

  5. Initialize the new disk as a physical volume

    • Format the new disk for use with LVM:
      ​​pvcreate /dev/sdd
      ​

  6. Extend the Volume Group

    • Add the new physical volume to your existing volume group:
      ​​vgextend vg /dev/sdd
      ​

  7. Extend the Logical Volume

    • Allocate the free space to the logical volume and resize the filesystem:
      ​​lvm lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/vg-lv -r

    • The -r flag automatically resizes the filesystem.
      ​

  8. Verify the New Size

    • Check the updated volume and filesystem size:
      ​​vgs or lsblk
      ​

  9. Update the volume size in the Edit Volume section on the Enterprise Workloads Management Console.
    ​

    Recommendation:

    As a best practice, allocate 90% of the total physical volume size in the Druva User interface to prevent the volume from getting 100% full.
    Example:1 TB default volume, and the recommended volume would be approximately 920 GB, for 2TB it will be ~1800 GB.

Example for Adding a 400 GB Disk

For a scenario where you’ve added a 400 GB disk (/dev/sdd):

  1. Initialize the disk:

    pvcreate /dev/sdd
    ​

  2. Extend the volume group:

    vgextend vg /dev/sdd
    ​

  3. Extend the logical volume and resize the filesystem:
    ​

    root@cloudcache:~# lvm lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/vg-lv -r
      Size of logical volume vg/lv changed from <2.00 TiB (524287 extents) to 2.39 TiB (626686 extents).
      Logical volume vg/lv successfully resized.
    resize2fs 1.46.5 (30-Dec-2021)
    Filesystem at /dev/mapper/vg-lv is mounted on /mnt/data; on-line resizing required
    old_desc_blocks = 256, new_desc_blocks = 306
    The filesystem on /dev/mapper/vg-lv is now 641726464 (4k) blocks long.

  4. Verify the size:

    1. vgs
      ​

      OR
      ​

    2. lsblk
      ​

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