Promoting Free Software

Configure LVM in Fedora 9

October 28th, 2008 • Category: Tutorials/Tips,fedora •

Aside from one small, but very important difference, configuring Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM) in Fedora 9 is just about the same as configuring it in Foresight Linux, CentOS, and StartCom. All four distros use the Anaconda installer.

Fedora 9, however, uses a version of Anaconda which has support for encrypting the system, encrypting partitions, and logical volume. So, you could configure LVM in Fedora 9 by using the tutorial we wrote for configuring LVM in Foresight as a guide.

If you choose to encrypt the system as shown in the image below, you will be asked for a passphrase which will be required during system boot. This option is not available in the version of Anaconda used by Foresight, CentOS, and StartCom. Note that the option here has nothing to do with LVM configuration, but it’s an import feature to point out.. If you installing Fedora 9, we strongly recommend that you enable this option.

Aside from being able to encrypt the system, the version of Anaconda used by Fedora 9 also gives you the option to encrypt logical volumes (and partitions) as shown in the image below.

And if you choose to encrypt a logical volume, the system will prompt you for a passphrase. the security advantages of this are obvious.

So if logical volume management is a new concept to you and you would like to configure it in Fedora 9, follow these instructions, and refer to the last two images in this post. You may also want to read about some of the basic benefits of using LVM.