How to create a dedicated `/var/lib/leapp` partition for leapp upgrades

Environment

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
• leapp

Issue

While upgrading a dedicated /var/lib/leapp partition is desired for additional space

Resolution

Warning: this is for experts only
The procedure assumes that you have space in the volume group to create a dedicated file system for /var/lib/leapp.
If this isn't the case, you will need some additional storage attached while performing the upgrade.

1. Delete the files currently under /var/lib/leapp

# rm -rf /var/lib/leapp/*

2. Find if your system is using XFS filesystems with ftype=0 set. This will be important later. If the command returns nothing, then your system does not have XFS filesystems with ftype=0 set

# findmnt -t xfs
TARGET  SOURCE                FSTYPE OPTIONS
/       /dev/mapper/rhel-root xfs    rw,relatime,seclabel,attr2,inode64,noquota
├─/usr  /dev/mapper/rhel-usr  xfs    rw,relatime,seclabel,attr2,inode64,noquota
├─/boot /dev/vda1             xfs    rw,relatime,seclabel,attr2,inode64,noquota
├─/home /dev/mapper/rhel-home xfs    rw,relatime,seclabel,attr2,inode64,noquota
└─/var  /dev/mapper/rhel-var  xfs    rw,relatime,seclabel,attr2,inode64,noquota
#

3. Compute the space required for the new partition

# expr $(findmnt -t xfs -n -o SOURCE | wc -l) \* $LEAPP_OVL_SIZE
15360

Note: If your file systems are XFS file systems with ftype=0, use the value computed in Step 3 plus a few Gigabytes as security.
Otherwise, use some arbitrary value such as 16 GB which should be sufficient. Refer to the output from Step 2 if you need to see whether you have XFS filesystems with ftype=0 set

4. Create the filesystem as an EXT4 filesystem
   It is up to you to create the device which will be mounted as /var/lib/leapp.
   Typically if you have enough space in your Volume Group, create a Logical Volume inside that.
   Alternatively, you may use dedicated storage (a raw disk, a LUN, etc.)

Assuming you have created the Logical Volume or attached some storage, create the filesystem:

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/<device>

5a. If you are using non-LVM storage for your /var/lib/leapp filesystem, determine the filesystem UUID:

# blkid

5b. If you are using LVM storage for /var/lib/leapp, determine the VG and LV names:

# vgs
# lvs

6. Edit /etc/fstab to automatically mount /var/lib/leapp during boot
   **It is It is necessary to add the file system to /etc/fstab because it will be required during the Upgrade phase after the reboot occurred

A typical /etc/fstab entry for /var/lib/leapp for non-LVM storage:

UUID=<UUID for the newly created filesystem found in blkid output>        /var/lib/leapp    ext4    defaults    1 2

A typical /etc/fstab entry for /var/lib/leapp for LVM storage:

/dev/mapper/<VGname-LVname for the newly created filesystem found in vgs and lvs output> /var/lib/leapp ext4 defaults 1 2

7. Reload systemd

# systemctl daemon-reload

8. Mount /var/lib/leapp

# mount /var/lib/leapp

9. Now that you have a dedicated /var/lib/leapp partition you may proceed with the leapp upgrade as normal

Root Cause

This process can be utilized when the /var/ or /var/lib/ partition does not have enough space dedicated to it in order to proceed with a leapp upgrade

Note that there are other resolutions outlined in [leapp] At least X MB more space needed on the filesystem which may be relevant if you are seeing those errors during leapp upgrades

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