Bug 743498

Summary:	system-config-lvm unable to perform online resize of encrypted logical volumes
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Anthony Horton <anthony.horton>
Component:	system-config-lvm	Assignee:	Marek Grac <mgrac>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	high	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	15	CC:	agk, dwysocha, itamar, mbroz, mclasen, mgrac, prockai
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	x86_64
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2011-10-05 08:23:52 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:

Description Anthony Horton 2011-10-05 06:46:50 UTC

Description of problem:

system-config-lvm is unable to expand the size of a mounted encrypted logical volume.  This prevents using system-config-lvm to expand, for example, an encrypted /home logical volume (unless a Live CD is used).  The command line tools (lvexpand, cryptsetup and resize2fs) are able to perform online resizing of encrypted logical volumes, however.


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 1.1.16


How reproducible: Always


Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create one or more encrypted logical volumes during installation.
2. Run system-config-lvm.
3. Select an encrypted logical volume in the Logical View.
4. Click the 'Edit Properties' button.
5. Increase the 'LV size'.
6. Click the 'OK' button.


Actual results:

An error message popup with the text "Logical volume is not mounted but is in use. Please close all applications using this device (eg iscsi)"


Expected results:

The encrypted logical volume is successfully expanded.


Additional info:

The official Fedora installation guide recommends the use of LVM over physical
partitioning, leaving spare disc space unallocated during install to be
allocated later as required, and encrypting at least /home.  Consequently it is
important that the Logical Volume Management tools included with Fedora
properly support expanding encrypted /home logical volumes, any user who follows the recommendations of the installation guide is likely to need to do this eventually.

Comment 1 Marek Grac 2011-10-05 08:23:52 UTC

Thanks for reporting this bug but system-config-lvm lacks support for encrypted volumes at all. System-config-lvm is deprecated and one of the new tools should be used instead.

Comment 2 Anthony Horton 2011-10-05 08:47:55 UTC

OK but what new tools? I've not heard of any, and I've just checked the Fedora docs and system-config-lvm is the only tool mentioned for LVM management. Admittedly the LVM section has not been updated since Fedora 14.

Comment 3 Anthony Horton 2011-10-05 11:58:30 UTC

I've done some searching and been unable to find a replacement for system-config-lvm.  I found that the release notes for RHEL6 (not Fedora) state that system-config-lvm is deprecated in favour of gnome-disk-utility and lvm2, however lvm2 is the set of command line tools and while gnome-disk-utility does support encrypted logical volumes it had no resizing functionality, only deletion and creation.  There do not appear to be any other LVM related utilities in the Fedora repositories (nothing else comes up in a yum search).  If I'm correct in all this it means that Fedora currently provides no GUI tools able to resize encrypted logical volumes, despite the fact that the installation guide recommends users put themselves in a situation where they will probably have to do so.  It is somewhat out of character for Fedora to force users to use command line tools for necessary administrative tasks.

There is clearly a deficiency in the current Fedora documentation as it still points users towards the deprecated system-config-lvm only.

There is also clearly a need for an LVM management tool able to resize logical volumes, encrypted or not.  As system-config-lvm is deprecated this should probably be gnome-disk-utility.  I guess I'll file a bug against that.

Comment 4 Marek Grac 2011-10-06 20:39:48 UTC

@Anthony: Yes, you're completely right. Buf if I'm right then situation in other distros is not better and they are waiting for gnome-disk-utility too. Thanks for understanding