resize KVM virtual image with kvm-img resize and gparted

Here’s an explanation of how to resize KVM virtual image.

just referred to http://itsignals.cascadia.com.au/?p=28. many thanks!

# uname –ri 3.5.0-28-generic x86_64 tail -1 /etc/lsb-release DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 12 Lisa" # qemu-system-x86_64 --version QEMU emulator version 1.2.0 (qemu-kvm-1.2.0+noroms-0ubuntu2.12.10.3, Debian), Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Fabrice Bellard # libvirtd --version libvirtd (libvirt) 0.9.13

before resizing the virtual image.

This VM has two partitions /dev/vda1 for / and /dev/vda2 for swap.

on the VM

root@ubuntu12-04-vm1:~# fdisk –l Disk /dev/vda: 5368 MB, 5368709120 bytes 4 heads, 32 sectors/track, 81920 cylinders, total 10485760 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 identifier: 0x0007c82d   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/vda1              63     7998046     3998992   83  Linux /dev/vda2         7999488     9998335      999424   82  Linux swap / Solaris root@ubuntu12-04-vm1:~# cat /etc/fstab # /etc/fstab: static file system information. # <file system>                                 <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass> proc                                            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0 /dev/sda1                                       /               ext4    defaults        0       0 /dev/sda2                                       swap            swap    defaults        0       0 root@ubuntu12-04-vm1:~# df -h Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/vda1       3.8G  3.4G  201M  95% / udev            243M  4.0K  243M   1% /dev tmpfs            99M  220K   99M   1% /run none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock none            246M     0  246M   0% /run/shm

shutdown the VM

on the KVM host

virsh # shutdown ubuntu12-vm1 Domain ubuntu12-vm1 is being shutdown

back up the virtual image.

on the KVM host

mint-1 images # cp ubuntu12-04-vm1.qcow2 ubuntu12-04-vm1.qcow2.backup

resize the virtual image

on the KVM

before resizing

mint-1 images # kvm-img info ubuntu12-04-vm1.qcow2 image: ubuntu12-04-vm1.qcow2 file format: qcow2 virtual size: 5.0G (5368709120 bytes) disk size: 3.9G cluster_size: 65536

resize the virtual image

mint-1 images # kvm-img resize ubuntu12-04-vm1.qcow2 +10G Image resized.

after resizing

mint-1 images # kvm-img info ubuntu12-04-vm1.qcow2 image: ubuntu12-04-vm1.qcow2 file format: qcow2 virtual size: 15G (16106127360 bytes) disk size: 3.9G cluster_size: 65536

boot gparted to resize /dev/vda1

on the KVM host , start virt-manager and edit the VM settings

go to boot options. boot from CD-ROM

mount gparted iso to boot gparted.

boot the VM

delete swap partition ( /dev/vda2 ) which is next to /dev/vda1.

To resize /dev/vda1 , unallocated space needs to be next to /dev/vda1.

delete swap ( /dev/vda2 )

resize /dev/vda1

create a swap partition

click Apply

shutdown the gprated

go to virt-manager and edit the VM configuration.

boot the VM via vHDD

I was able to resize /dev/vda1 from 3.8GB to 14GB :D

on the VM

root@ubuntu12-04-vm1:~# fdisk –l Disk /dev/vda: 16.1 GB, 16106127360 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1958 cylinders, total 31457280 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 identifier: 0x0007c82d   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/vda1              63    28671999    14335968+  83  Linux /dev/vda2        28672000    31457279     1392640   82  Linux swap / Solaris root@ubuntu12-04-vm1:~# root@ubuntu12-04-vm1:~# df -h Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/vda1        14G  3.4G  9.5G  27% / udev            243M  4.0K  243M   1% /dev tmpfs            99M  228K   99M   1% /run none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock none            246M     0  246M   0% /run/shm