Increase ‘/’ Root Filesystem for VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager (Upgraded from 8.10 Onwards)

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

After upgrading VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager (vRLCM) from version 8.10 onwards, the root (/) filesystem may require expansion due to increased space utilization. This document outlines the prerequisite packages and step-by-step procedure to safely extend the root partition.

Note: This article applies only if VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager (vRLCM) was upgraded from version 8.10.

If VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager (vRLCM) was upgraded from version 8.12 or later, please refer to the article “Extend root and alt_root volumes on VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle appliance for versions 8.12.x and later.”

Environment

VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.10.x and later

Resolution

Important: Ensure a full image-level backup of the vRLCM virtual appliance is taken before proceeding.

Prerequisite:
The growpart utility from the cloud-utils package is required.

1. Download the required RPM packages:
   
   cloud-utils
   gptfdisk
   
   
2. Copy the RPM files to the vRLCM appliance using WinSCP or a similar tool.
3. Install the packages using either of the following commands:
   

   tdnf install -y <package-name>.rpm
   or
   rpm -ivh <package-name>.rpm

Procedure to Extend Root Filesystem:

1. Run 'lsblk' to verify the current disk layout.
   Confirm that the root partition (e.g., /dev/sda3 or /dev/sda4) resides on /dev/sda, typically a 10GB disk.
   
   
2. Shut down the vRLCM virtual machine.
3. Edit VM settings and extend Hard Disk 1 (root disk) from 10GB to 20GB (or desired size).
4. Power on the VM and log in via SSH.
5. Rescan the disk:
   

   echo 1 > /sys/class/block/sda/device/rescan

6. Verify the updated disk size using:
   

   lsblk

7. Extend the root partition using growpart:
   NOTE: Always validate the correct partition number before executing growpart and resize2fs.
   

   growpart /dev/sda <partition-number>
    (Example: growpart /dev/sda 3) 

8. Resize the filesystem:
   

   resize2fs /dev/sda<partition-number>
    (Example: resize2fs /dev/sda3) 

9. Verify the updated root filesystem size:
   

   df -h

10. The / filesystem should now reflect the expanded size.