View and Change Drive Partition Properties

The Storage page enables Cockpit administrators to view and change host storage device information and partition properties as needed. Configurable properties available for managing partitions include: mount, unmount, format, and delete. Other properties are also available for initializing a drive and changing the current disk partitioning format (MBR, GBT). For information about how to create a disk partition, see Create Physical Disk Partitions and Storage Partitioning Considerations and Prerequisites.

Note:

System administrators can manage storage partitions using the command line. For more information about managing Oracle Linux storage devices, see Using Disk Partitions in the Oracle Linux 8: Managing Storage Devices or Oracle Linux 9: Managing Storage Devices.

What Do You Need?

• The Cockpit web console must be installed and accessible.

  For details, see these topics: Install and Enable Cockpit and Log in to the Cockpit Web Console.

• The cockpit-storaged package must be installed.

  Note:

  If the cockpit-storaged package isn't installed, seeInstall and Manage Add-on Applications
• An available drive and partitions on host that you want to view or manage.
• Administrator privileges.

Steps

Using the Cockpit web console, follow these steps to view and manage drive and partition configuration properties on the host system.

1. In Cockpit navigation pane, click Storage.

   The Storage page appears.

2. In the Storage page, navigate to the Drives table and then click a drive entry that you want to view.

   The Storage [drive model name] page appears providing information about the drive and its configured partitions or contents.

3. In the Storage [drive model name] page, perform any of the following:
   • View drive details and partition or content information:
     1. In the Storage [media model name] page, review the Drive details and the applicable Partitions table or Contents table.

        For example, the information on this page might appear as follows:

        • Drive panel: This panel typically displays the: 1) Model [examples: harddisk, VBox harddisk, blockvolume, CD-ROM, and so on]; 2) Firmware, 3) Serial No; 4) Capacity; and 5) Device file system directory path.
        • Partitions table: If the drive media type is a hard disk drive or block storage device, a partitions table appears following the Drive table.
          This Partitions table typically identifies: 1) the standard partitions and logical volume, 2) the partition file system directory path, 3) the partition file system type (EXT 4 or XFS), and 4) if the partition is mounted, the mount point directory appears.

          Note:

          The logical volumes only appear in the partition table when the drive is part of a volume group.
          Partition configurable options include:

          • For standard disk partitions, the standard configurable properties typically include Create New Partition Table, Mount, Unmount, Delete, Format, and Create Partition. For encrypted partitions, extra configurable properties are provided for managing the encryption keys and passphrases.
          • For logical volumes, the standard configurable properties typically include Lock, Format, and Delete. For encrypted partitions, extra configurable properties are provided for managing the encryption keys and passphrases.

            Note:

            For information about logical storage groups, see Manage Logical Volumes With LVM.
        • Contents table: If the drive media is for example a CD-ROM device, a Contents table appears. The Contents table typically identifies: 1) the file system directory path, 2) the file system type, and 3) if the media is mounted, the mounted directory path.
     2. To expand entries appearing in the Partition table or Contents table, navigate to an entry in a row and then click the down arrow icon.

        One of the following occurs:

        • For standard disk partition entries, the table row expands displaying tabs for viewing: 1) the partition details, 2) the file system information, and 3) for encrypted partitions, the partition encryption properties.
        • For logical volume partition entries, the table row expands displaying: 1) the logical volume management partition details, and 2) for encrypted logical partitions, a second tab appears displaying the logical volume encryption properties.
        • For content entries, the table row expands displaying the storage media file system directory path and configurable properties for editing the Name of the file system and the Mount point directory configuration.
     3. (Optional) In the expanded File system tab, click the edit links to change either the file system Name or the Mount point configuration information.

        Note:

        The properties for Name and Mount point are only configurable for standard physical files systems.
     4. (Optional) In the expanded Encryption partition tab, click the edit links to change the encryption passphrase properties or click the Plus [+] or Minus [-] icons to add or remove encryption keys. For more information about configuring encryption properties, see Encrypt Block Devices With LUKS or Unlock Encrypted Devices Using Tang Server Key.
   • Initialize drive with new partition table properties.

     WARNING:

     Initializing a drive erases all data on the disk.
     1. In the Storage [drive model name] page, click Create Partition Table.

        The Initialize [drive file directory path] dialog appears.

     2. In Initialize [drive file directory path] dialog, specify the following information:

        Partitioning	In the Partitioning drop-down list box, select the appropriate partitioning format for creating and organizing disk partitions.
        Overwrite	Select or clear the Overwrite checkbox. When selected, the deleted data is overwritten with zeros, making the deleted data unrecoverable.

        A summary of changes appears for review.

     3. Review the changes and then click one of the following:
        • Initialize: To proceed with initializing the drive.
        • Cancel: To dismiss the Initialize [drive file directory path] dialog.

        Attention:

        To create new partitions on an initialized drive, see Step 4 in Create Physical Disk Partitions For information about the default partition layout created at installation or the number of disk partitions available by each partitioning format, see Storage Partitioning Considerations and Prerequisites
   • Unmount or mount a disk partition:

     Important:

     Before unmounting a partition, ensure that the file system for that partition isn't in use by any system process; otherwise, the unmount operation fails and an error message appears indicating the partition file system is in use.
     1. In the Partition table, find the partition entry and then select Unmount or Mount from the actions [⋮] menu.

        When the mounting a partition, the partitioned file system becomes accessible and attaches it to the existing host directory structure.

   • Format a physical standard partition or logical volume partition:

     WARNING:

     Formatting a partition deletes all the data and sets up a file system. Create a back up copy of any important data before wiping the data on the partition.
     1. In the Partition table, find a partition entry that you want to format and then select Format from the adjacent Actions [⋮] menu.

        The Format [partition file name] dialog appears.

     2. In the Format [partition file name], enter the following information and then click Format.

        Name	In the Name text box, enter a name for the newly created file system.
        Type	In the Type drop-down box, select a file system format type, for example: XFS (recommended). The default high performance scalable file system format for Oracle Linux systems disk devices. For more details, see Oracle Linux XFS file system technical details https://www.oracle.com/linux/technologies/xfs-overview.html EXT4. A scalable extension of the ext3 file system, which was the earlier default file system of Oracle Linux 5 No File system. Data is saved as one large body of data with no way to tell where any piece of data is found or how to later view and retrieve it.
        Overwrite	Select or clear the Overwrite checkbox. When selected, the deleted data is overwritten with zeros, making the deleted data unrecoverable.
        Mount options	Select one or more mount point options.
        Encryption	In the Encryption drop-down list box, select the appropriate encryption option. For more information, see Lock Disk Device With LUKs.

   • Delete an unmounted physical partition:

     WARNING:

     The partition must be unmounted before deleting it. Deleting a partition removes the allocated partition space and its data. Backup any disk partitioned data that you don't want to lose.
     1. In the Partition table, find the unmounted physical partition entry that you want to delete and then select Delete from the adjacent Actions [⋮] menu.
     2. A confirmation dialog appears indicating that partition and its data will be removed. Click Yes to continue the deletion process.

        At the completion of the deletion process, both the partition data and the allocated space are removed.