Configure LVM in Mandriva Linux Free 2009

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Mandriva Free is one of the editions of desktop Linux distros published by Mandriva, the French Linux solutions provider. The others being Mandriva One and Mandriva Powerpack. In this tutorial, we are going to offer a step-by-step guide on how to configure Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM) in Mandriva Linux Free 2009.

Mandriva Linux One, the LiveCD version with the option to install to hard disk does not have support for configuring LVM. We think that LVM configuration is an option in Mandriva Linux Powerpack, but we are yet to review that edition of Mandriva Linux. In Mandriva Free, LVM is not the default, but toggling to “Expert Mode” during the installation process gives you the option to configure LVM.

Using Linux LVM adds a layer of flexibility to disk storage management that is not possible with the traditional method of disk partitioning. Like Fedora, StartCom, CentOS, and Debian, Mandriva Free has the option for automatic LVM partitioning. With Openfiler and Foresight Linux, however, you have to do it manually, which means that you must have more than a basic understanding of LVM in order to configure LVM in these two distros.

By default, Mandriva Free creates the following partitions:

• / (about 7.8 GB)
• swap about 4.0 GB
• /home (the rest of the available disk space)

But that is not good enough. We need some flexibility in storage management, and LVM is what gives us that flexibility. For creating LVM, here are the steps we need to take. Note that while we are dealing specifically with Mandriva Free, these are the same steps that should be followed when creating LVM in any other distro that supports it:

We begin the core part of this tutorial at the point during the installation process where disk partitioning starts (about four screens into the installation process). In the screenshot below, you are presented with three options. For the purpose of this tutorial, select the last option as shown.


This next screenshot shows the disk drives detected in the system. Note that it is very likely that there are existing partitions on the detected drive(s), so you may have to delete those partitions before you see what’s shown in this image. Before moving to the next screen, you need to click on the “Toggle to expert mode” button. If not, the installer will auto create partitions for you if you click the “Next” button. So before you click “Next”, click on “Toggle to expert mode”.

Now that we are in “Expert mode”, time to start creating partitions. Selecting (click) the disk drive you want to partition gives you the option to start creating partitions. Click on “Create”.

The first partition we need to create is a non-LVM, primary boot partition (/boot). /boot doesn’t require too much space. Most distros assign 100 MB to /boot, and that should be more than enough, but if the day is bright and you are feeling good, give it 200 MB. It will not break a thing.

Now that /boot has been created (the reddish sliver on the disk represents /boot), click on the unused part of the disk, and then click on “Create”.

What we are going to create is a physical volume (PV). If we were doing this from the command line, this is where we would have issued the pvcreate command. What this does is initialize the rest of the disk space for use by LVM. Assign all the unused disk space to the PV, and for filesystem type, select “Linux Logical Volume Manager” (this should the third item on the third row)