Logical Volume Managers for Linux users

The volume manager also helps reducing the amount of disk space allocated to a logical volume, but with some requirements: the volume can’t be mounted and the size of the filesystem where it is hosted must be reduced first.

In addition, LVM allows to add disk space to a server creating a new group of volumes or adding space to a existing group of volumes expanding a logical volume in that group or creating a new one. To add a new logical volume you should follow these steps:

1. Install a new hard drive if necessary.
2. Optional: Create a partition on the hard drive.
3. Create a physical volume of the full hard drive or a partition on the hard disk.
4. Assign the new physical volume to an existing volume group or create a new group of volumes.
5. Create a new logical volume from the space of the group of volumes.
6. Create a filesystem in the new logical volume.
7. Add the appropiate entries to mount the filesystem: to /etc/fstab
8. Mount the filesystem.

For further info and tips on LVM read the original article