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LFCS: Storage (20%)

This section covers managing LVM, filesystems, remote storage, swap, automount, and monitoring storage performance.

1. LVM Storage

Learn

  • Logical Volume Manager (LVM) basics: PV, VG, LV.
  • Create, extend, reduce volumes.

Commands

# Create physical volume
sudo pvcreate /dev/sdb

# Create volume group
sudo vgcreate vg01 /dev/sdb

# Create logical volume
sudo lvcreate -L 10G -n lv01 vg01

# Extend logical volume
sudo lvextend -L +5G /dev/vg01/lv01
sudo resize2fs /dev/vg01/lv01

# Reduce logical volume (careful)
sudo umount /mnt
sudo e2fsck -f /dev/vg01/lv01
sudo resize2fs /dev/vg01/lv01 5G
sudo lvreduce -L 5G /dev/vg01/lv01

Exercises

  1. Create a new LVM on a spare disk.
  2. Extend the logical volume and verify size.

2. Virtual Filesystem Management

Learn

  • Mount/unmount filesystems.
  • Persistent mounts in /etc/fstab.

Commands

# Mount filesystem
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt

# Unmount filesystem
sudo umount /mnt

# Add to /etc/fstab
/dev/sdb1 /mnt ext4 defaults 0 2

Exercises

  1. Mount a new disk temporarily.
  2. Add it to /etc/fstab for persistent mounting.

3. Create, Manage, Troubleshoot Filesystems

Learn

  • Create ext4, xfs, btrfs filesystems.
  • Check and repair filesystem errors.

Commands

# Create filesystem
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb2

# Check filesystem
sudo fsck /dev/sdb1

# Repair filesystem
sudo fsck -y /dev/sdb1

Exercises

  1. Format a partition as ext4.
  2. Simulate a filesystem error and repair it.

4. Remote Filesystems & Network Block Devices

Learn

  • Mount NFS, CIFS, or iSCSI shares.
  • Manage remote storage connections.

Commands

# Mount NFS
sudo mount -t nfs server:/share /mnt

# Mount CIFS
sudo mount -t cifs //server/share /mnt -o username=user,password=pass

# iSCSI discovery
sudo iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p 192.168.1.100
sudo iscsiadm -m node -l

Exercises

  1. Mount an NFS share.
  2. Connect to an iSCSI target.

5. Swap Space

Learn

  • Add, remove, and monitor swap.

Commands

# Create swap file
sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

# Permanent swap
echo "/swapfile none swap sw 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

# Monitor swap
swapon -s
free -h

Exercises

  1. Create a swap file and activate it.
  2. Remove swap file and update /etc/fstab.

6. Filesystem Automounters

Learn

  • Configure autofs to mount filesystems on access.

Commands

# Install autofs
sudo apt install autofs

# Configure map
sudo nano /etc/auto.master
# /mnt /etc/auto.nfs
sudo systemctl restart autofs

Exercises

  1. Configure automount for an NFS share.
  2. Test automatic mounting by accessing the directory.

7. Monitor Storage Performance

Learn

  • Use tools to monitor disk I/O and performance.

Commands

# I/O statistics
iostat -x 2 3

# Disk usage
df -h

# Disk usage by directory
du -sh /var/log/*

# Monitor disk events
iotop -o

Exercises

  1. Check disk I/O using iostat.
  2. Identify large directories consuming storage.

Exam Tips

  • Understand LVM creation, resizing, and removal.
  • Know how to mount local and remote filesystems permanently.
  • Be able to manage swap and monitor storage performance.
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