While installing DPX Client for Linux on Linux machines with Logical Volume Management (LVM), the installer prompts you to either enable or disable the Block Data Protection. Then, you may see an error about a lack of free physical extent (PE) and fail to install the program.
Tip. To use the Block Data Protection, the disks in the Linux client must be managed by LVM. Without LVM and the Block Data Protection, you can use only file-level backups for the Linux client.
Symptom
Run the DPX Client installer for Linux on the Linux client system as instructed in the product manual ("Catalogic DPX Deployment Guide"), get the error as shown in the following example, and fail to install the program:
$ sudo ./DPX-4.8.1-linux-x64-installer.bin
...
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Do you want to enable Block Data Protection on this node? Block Data
Protection uses block-level snapshot backup.
[1] Yes
[2] No
Please choose an option [1] : 1
...
Please wait while Setup installs Catalogic DPX on your computer.
Installing
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Warning: The free space requirement for Advance Recovery in volume group:
linux-volumegroup1 is not satisfied. The minimum required free space is 10%
( 383 PE ) of the allocated space of all the logical volumes in the volume
group. You have 0 PE free number of physical extents for this volume group.
Press [Enter] to continue:
Error: There has been an error.
The free space requirement for Advance Recovery is not satisfied. Block Data
Protection cannot be installed. The minimum required free space is 10% of the
allocated space of all the logical volumes in the volume group.
Press [Enter] to continue:
$Resolution
As shown in the error message, you need to prepare a volume group which is managed by LVM to install DPX Client, and at least 10% of PE in the entire volume group must be free PE.
Check the PE in the volume group in which you are trying to install DPX Client by using the vgdisplay command. In the following example, there are one volume group with the capacity of 15.00 GiB and no free PE at all:
$ sudo vgdisplay
--- Volume group ---
VG Name linux-volumegroup1
System ID
Format lvm2
...
VG Size <15.00 GiB
PE Size 4.00 MiB
Total PE 3839
Alloc PE / Size 3839 / <15.00 GiB
Free PE / Size 0 / 0
VG UUID 000000-0000-0000-0000-aaaa-aaaa-aaaaaaIn this case, you have to take either one of the actions:
Attach a new disk and add its volume to the existing volume group so that you can use the new volume for free PE. Use the vgextend command to add a new volume in the primary volume group.
Shrink the primary partition and its volume group while keeping the original disk size so that you can make more free PE in this disk.
Assume that you decided to create free PE by adding a new 16-GiB disk in this client machine. Go back to the Linux shell and see the path to the disk. In the following example output, the new 16-GiB disk appears with the file path: /dev/sdb:
$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 16 GiB, 17179869184 bytes, 33554432 sectors
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 2048 2099199 2097152 1G 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 2099200 33554431 31455232 15G 8e Linux LVM
...
Disk /dev/mapper/linux-volumegroup1-root: 13.4 GiB, 14382268416 bytes, 28090368 sectors
...
Disk /dev/mapper/linux-volumegroup1-swap: 1.6 GiB, 1719664640 bytes, 3358720 sectors
...
Disk /dev/sdb: 16 GiB, 17179869184 bytes, 33554432 sectors
Create a physical volume with the pvcreate command:
$ sudo pvcreate /dev/sdb
Physical volume "/dev/sdb" successfully created.Confirm that the physical volume /dev/sdb was created indeed by repeating the vgdisplay command:
$ sudo pvdisplay
--- Physical volume ---
PV Name /dev/sda2
VG Name linux-volumegroup1
PV Size <15.00 GiB / not usable 3.00 MiB
Allocatable yes (but full)
PE Size 4.00 MiB
Total PE 3839
Free PE 0
Allocated PE 3839
PV UUID 000000-0000-0000-0000-aaaa-aaaa-aaaaaa
"/dev/sdb" is a new physical volume of "16.00 GiB"
--- NEW Physical volume ---
PV Name /dev/sdb
VG Name
PV Size 16.00 GiB
Allocatable NO
PE Size 0
Total PE 0
Free PE 0
Allocated PE 0
PV UUID 999999-9999-9999-9999-ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZZZInclude the new physical volume /dev/sdb in the original volume group "linux-volumegroup1":
$ sudo vgextend linux-volumegroup1 /dev/sdb
Volume group "linux-volumegroup1" successfully extendedConfirm that the new physical volume, /dev/sdb was added to the volume group "linux-volumegroup1" indeed, and it added free PE by repeating the pvdisplay command:
$ sudo pvdisplay
--- Physical volume ---
PV Name /dev/sda2
VG Name linux-volumegroup1
PV Size <15.00 GiB / not usable 3.00 MiB
Allocatable yes (but full)
PE Size 4.00 MiB
Total PE 3839
Free PE 0
Allocated PE 3839
PV UUID 000000-0000-0000-0000-aaaa-aaaa-aaaaaa
--- Physical volume ---
PV Name /dev/sdb
VG Name linux-volumegroup1
PV Size 16.00 GiB / not usable 4.00 MiB
Allocatable yes
PE Size 4.00 MiB
Total PE 4095
Free PE 4095
Allocated PE 0
PV UUID 999999-9999-9999-9999-ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZZZRetry to run the DPX Client installer, and ensure that the installation was done successfully at this time:
$ sudo ./DPX-4.8.1-linux-x64-installer.bin
...
Please wait while Setup installs Catalogic DPX on your computer.
Installing
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Setup has finished installing Catalogic DPX on your computer.
...In a supported web browser, go to the HTML5-based DPX Management Interface of the Catalogic DPX Master Server, and add this client node.