Extending the VMware vCloud Usage Meter root partition

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

This article outlines how to extend the root partition of VMware vCloud Usage Meter to make more disk space available.

Symptoms:
The root partition of VMware vCloud Usage Meter runs out of space.

Environment

VMware vCloud Usage Meter 4.x

VMware vCloud Usage Meter 3.6.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 2.3.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 2.0.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 3.5.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 3.1.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 3.4.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 3.0.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 3.2.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 3.3.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 2.1.x
VMware vCloud Usage Meter 2.2.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the /var is filled up with the Postgres database data.

Resolution

1. To resolve this issue, extend the root partition.
   
   To extend the root partition: 
   1. Take a backup/clone of the virtual machine that needs its root partition extended.
      
      Note: This is important. Make sure the backup/clone is working.
       
   2. Open a console to the virtual machine, login as root and check the disks and mounts with df -h. You see output similar to:
      
      
       
   3. Shut down the virtual machine.
   4. In vSphere, right click the virtual machine and select Edit Settings.
   5. Select the Hard Disk 1 virtual disk and change Provisioned Size to the desired size (increase only).
   6. Open a console to the base virtual machine.
   7. Restart the virtual machine.
   8. When the GRUB boot menu is displayed, press the up or down arrow key to select the line that begins with:
      
      SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
       
   9. Type e to edit the boot behavior.
   10. Use the up or down arrow key to highlight the line that begins with:
       
       kernel /vmlinuz
        
   11. Type e to edit the kernel line.
   12. Add init=/bin/sh to the end of the line, separated by a space from the prior parameter.
   13. Press the enter key to return to the previous screen.
   14. Type b to boot the virtual machine into single user mode.
   15. After a # prompt is presented, type fdisk /dev/sda to begin manipulating the partition table.
   16. Type d to start the process of deleting the partition table information for the root partition.
       
       Note: The partition is being deleted and recreated with the increased size.
        
   17. Type 3 to specify the root partition.
   18. Type n to rebuild the partition table information for the root partition.
   19. Type p to specify a primary partition.
   20. Press the enter key to accept the default partition number (3).
   21. Press the enter key to accept the default first sector.
   22. Press the enter key to accept the default last sector.
   23. Type a to start the process of marking the root partition as bootable.
   24. Type 3 to specify the root partition.
   25. Type w to write the updated partition table.
       
       Note: This message is displayed and it can be safely ignored:
       
       WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
       The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
        
   26. Click Reset on the console menu to restart the virtual machine.
   27. Log in to the virtual machine as root.
   28. Run this command to extend the root partition:
       
       resize2fs /dev/sda3
        
   29. Verify the partition is now extended by running this command:
       
       df -h
        
   30. Reboot the virtual machine.
   
   
   

Additional Information