Checkpoint Management ESX VM- resizepart R81.20

[Romaryo]

Hello everyone,

I have already seen a few SKs and topics here regarding expanding a Gaia volume.

I have the following setup:

We expanded the VM hard disk from 200 GB to 350 GB.

[Expert@fw-mgmt:0]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 375.8 GB, 375809638400 bytes, 734003200 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 419430399 209715199+ ee GPT

[Expert@fw-mgmt:0]# parted /dev/sda print

Model: VMware Virtual disk (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 376GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 17.4kB 314MB 314MB ext3
4 314MB 315MB 1049kB bios_grub
2 315MB 8902MB 8587MB linux-swap(v1)
3 8902MB 215GB 206GB lvm

Has anyone tried running

parted /dev/sda resizepart 3 ???

and can confirm whether this works?

Unfortunately, I don’t have a lab environment to test this.

best regards,

Roman

[alisson-lima]

Hi Ronan,

The disk expansion capabilities in VMware are not supported by Check Point. For a correct storage increase on your Check Point management server, please follow all the steps under this sk94671 - How to add hardware resources, such as log storage, to a Virtual Machine running Gaia OS,, where you'll need to add a second disk and use lvm_manager to resize the current partition.

I've been done it many times along the years. Please ensure you have a snapshot/backup of your environment, I already see many databases been wiped.

Thanks.

Alisson Lima
CCSM Elite

[the_rock]

I did it once before and it did work, but its been awhile. Definitely back in R81.10 days.

[Romaryo]

Yes — I know that Check Point does not officially support this, and I can understand why.

However, first of all, this is a Linux machine, and everything related to the disk system (GPT, LVM, etc.) happens at the operating system level. According to my understanding, this should therefore work independently of that.

In any case, since this is a VM, a snapshot minimizes the risk.

My action plan would be:

1. VM power off -> 2. Create a snapshot -> 3. VM power on -> 4. Maintenance mode -> 5. parted resizepart -> 6. pvresize ->7. Adjust via LVM manager -> reboot 

I will report back whether this works...

no risk - no fun! 🙂

best regards,

Roman

[Vincent_Bacher]

I did it using  sk94671 several times and it worked like a charm. Was R81.10 but there is no reason why it should not work with R81.20 or R82*.

Did not read the current version of the sk. Maybe what i say is already included: In my case i had to use  xfs_growfs /dev/vg_splat/lv_current instead of resize2fs /dev/vg_splat/lv_current 

[Romaryo]

Yes, of course it can work, but I don't find the solution very elegant 🙂

[the_rock]

I agree...still worth testing.

[Romaryo]

I got my idea from this sk156552. The difference is that the Cloud Appliance can fully recognize the enlarged HDD after a reboot. In this case, you probably need to extend the GPT manually.

best regards,

Roman

[the_rock]

I agree. Btw, sk @Vincent_Bacher referenced works fine, I had customers use it few times to extend disk space, no issues.

[Vincent_Bacher]

For the sake of completeness: It was @alisson-lima  who mentioned the sk, I merely quoted him, although I have also used this sk successfully several times myself. Or rather, I stored the commands in OneNote.

[Lesley]

lvm_manager in maintenance mode is good. Snapshot always good idea! 

Make sure you leave some space left for your GAIA snapshots. 

[PhoneBoy]

Worth noting that if you're going to take a snapshot at the VM level, it should be done with the VM powered off.
Otherwise, the snapshot may be corrupt. 

[the_rock]

100% valid point.

[Bob_Zimmerman]

It's "not supported" as in the people in the support call center won't help you with it, not "not supported" as in won't work. Having walked so many people through using vi over the phone to edit some important file, I definitely wouldn't want to walk somebody through using parted over the phone. Something goes wrong and they're hosed. If I'm going to be blamed for any problems, it's going to be my hands on the keyboard.

As long as you know what you're doing, it'll work. From your description of your plan, it sounds like you know what you're doing well enough for this, and the VM snapshot is a solid recovery strategy.

[the_rock]

If I'm going to be blamed for any problems, it's going to be my hands on the keyboard....SO, SO TRUE!

[Romaryo · Accepted solution]

Hi, I managed it using a clone of my prod VM!
Now we are thinking about whether we need to implement it on the prod VM, or if we should instead do the R82 upgrade shortly and then dimension the volumes accordingly.

In case anyone is interested, here is my test method.
WARNING, WARNING: You must fully understand what exactly this does!!!
And of course: don’t forget to make a backup!

This is about R81.20.
My GParted version is 3.1, and that was the first difficulty 🙂
This version does not support the resizepart command 🙂

But it would be too boring to stop right now.
We will use rm + mkpart 🙂

-----------------------------------------------------------------

[Expert@fw-mgmt:0]# parted /dev/sda
GNU Parted 3.1
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print
Model: VMware Virtual disk (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 376GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 17.4kB 314MB 314MB ext3
4 314MB 315MB 1049kB bios_grub
2 315MB 8902MB 8587MB linux-swap(v1)
3 8902MB 215GB 206GB lvm

(parted) unit s print
Model: VMware Virtual disk (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 734003200s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 34s 612385s 612352s ext3
4 612386s 614433s 2048s bios_grub
2 614434s 17386294s 16771861s linux-swap(v1)
3 17386295s 419430366s 402044072s lvm

(parted) 

rm 3

mkpart primary 17386295s 100%

set 3 lvm on

quit

pvresize /dev/sda3

check -> pvs

Done!

Thank you all for your support!

best regards,

Roman

[the_rock]

Awesome work!

[Romaryo]