You can use fdisk to change your partition table while running. Refer to Live resizing of an ext4 filesytem on Linux (on The silence of the code blog):
Disclaimer: The following instructions can easily screw your data if you make a mistake. I was doing this on a VM which I backed up before performing the following actions. If you lose your data because you didn’t perform a backup don’t come and complain.
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First: Increase the disk size.
In ESXi this is simple, just increase the size of the virtual disk. Now you have a bigger hard drive but you still need to a) increase the partition size and b) resize the filesystem.
Second: Increase the partition size.
You can use
fdiskto change the partition table while running. The stock Ubuntu install has created 3 partitions: one primary (sda1), one extended (sda2) with a single logical partition (sda5) in it. The extended partition is simply used for swap, so I could easily move it without losing any data.
Delete the primary partition
Delete the extended partition
Create a new primary partition starting at the same sector as the original one just with a bigger size (leave some for swap)
Create a new extended partition with a logical partition in it to hold the swap space
me@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 268.4 GB, 268435456000 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 32635 cylinders, total 524288000 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: 0x000e49fa Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 2048 192940031 96468992 83 Linux /dev/sda2 192942078 209713151 8385537 5 Extended /dev/sda5 192942080 209713151 8385536 82 Linux swap / Solaris Command (m for help): d Partition number (1-5): 1 Command (m for help): d Partition number (1-5): 2 Command (m for help): n Partition type: p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free) e extended Select (default p): p Partition number (1-4, default 1): Using default value 1 First sector (2048-524287999, default 2048): Using default value 2048 Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-524287999, default 524287999): 507516925 Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 268.4 GB, 268435456000 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 32635 cylinders, total 524288000 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: 0x000e49fa Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 507516925 253757439 83 Linux Command (m for help): n Partition type: p primary (1 primary, 0 extended, 3 free) e extended Select (default p): e Partition number (1-4, default 2): 2 First sector (507516926-524287999, default 507516926): Using default value 507516926 Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (507516926-524287999, default 524287999): Using default value 524287999 Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 268.4 GB, 268435456000 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 32635 cylinders, total 524288000 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: 0x000e49fa Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 507516925 253757439 83 Linux /dev/sda2 507516926 524287999 8385537 5 Extended Command (m for help): n Partition type: p primary (1 primary, 1 extended, 2 free) l logical (numbered from 5) Select (default p): l Adding logical partition 5 First sector (507518974-524287999, default 507518974): Using default value 507518974 Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (507518974-524287999, default 524287999): Using default value 524287999 Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 268.4 GB, 268435456000 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 32635 cylinders, total 524288000 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: 0x000e49fa Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 507516925 253757439 83 Linux /dev/sda2 507516926 524287999 8385537 5 Extended /dev/sda5 507518974 524287999 8384513 83 Linux Command (m for help): t Partition number (1-5): 5 Hex code (type L to list codes): 82 Changed system type of partition 5 to 82 (Linux swap / Solaris) Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 268.4 GB, 268435456000 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 32635 cylinders, total 524288000 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: 0x000e49fa Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 507516925 253757439 83 Linux /dev/sda2 507516926 524287999 8385537 5 Extended /dev/sda5 507518974 524287999 8384513 82 Linux swap / Solaris Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. 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) Syncing disks. me@ubuntu:~$ sudo rebootI noticed afterwards that I didn’t set the bootable flag but apparently you don’t really need it.
Third: Enlarge the filesystem.
You can do this with
resize2fsonline on a mounted partition.me@ubuntu:~$ df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1 91G 86G 12M 100% / udev 3.9G 4.0K 3.9G 1% /dev tmpfs 1.6G 696K 1.6G 1% /run none 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock none 3.9G 144K 3.9G 1% /run/shm none 100M 16K 100M 1% /run/user me@ubuntu:~$ sudo resize2fs /dev/sda1 resize2fs 1.42.5 (29-Jul-2012) Filesystem at /dev/sda1 is mounted on /; on-line resizing required old_desc_blocks = 6, new_desc_blocks = 16 The filesystem on /dev/sda1 is now 63439359 blocks long. me@ubuntu:~$ df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1 239G 86G 142G 38% / udev 3.9G 12K 3.9G 1% /dev tmpfs 1.6G 696K 1.6G 1% /run none 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock none 3.9G 152K 3.9G 1% /run/shm none 100M 36K 100M 1% /run/userSlight catch: After rebooting the swap space wasn’t active. Turned out you need to run
mkswap, adjust/etc/fstabto the new UUID and turn the swap onme@ubuntu:~$ sudo mkswap /dev/sda5 Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 8384508 KiB no label, UUID=141d401a-b49d-4a96-9b85-c130cb0de40a me@ubuntu:~$ sudo swapon --all --verbose swapon on /dev/sda5 swapon: /dev/sda5: found swap signature: version 1, page-size 4, same byte order swapon: /dev/sda5: pagesize=4096, swapsize=8585740288, devsize=8585741312Edit
/etc/fstabto replace the UUID for the old swap partition with the new one frommkswap.