LVM from Scratch to Advanced on AWS EC2 (Beginner-Friendly, Production-Safe Guide)

Who This Blog Is For

This blog is written for:

• Beginners learning Linux storage

• DevOps aspirants practicing on AWS

• Anyone preparing for Linux / AWS interviews

• Readers who want hands-on, reproducible steps, not theory

No prior LVM knowledge is assumed.

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Environment Used (Reproducible Setup)

This entire lab was performed on AWS, not on a local VM.

AWS Resources

• EC2 Instance

  • OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

  • Instance type: t2.micro / t3.micro (practice)

• EBS Volumes

  • Root volume: 8 GB

  • Additional EBS volumes:

    • 10 GB

    • 12 GB

    • 14 GB

Note: On AWS, EBS volumes appear as NVMe devices (/dev/nvme*).

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Step 1: Connect to EC2

ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@<public-ip>

Update packages:

sudo apt update

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Step 2: Identify Disks (Important)

lsblk
df -h

You should see:

• / → root filesystem

• Unmounted disks like:

  • /dev/nvme1n1

  • /dev/nvme2n1

  • /dev/nvme3n1

These are empty EBS volumes.

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Step 3: Understand LVM (Simple Explanation)

LVM has three layers:

1. Physical Volume (PV)
   → Raw disk (EBS volume)

2. Volume Group (VG)
   → Pool of storage created from PVs

3. Logical Volume (LV)
   → Usable partition created from VG

This allows flexible storage growth without downtime.

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Step 4: Create Physical Volumes

sudo pvcreate /dev/nvme1n1 /dev/nvme2n1

Verify:

pvs

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Step 5: Create Volume Group

sudo vgcreate tws_vg /dev/nvme1n1 /dev/nvme2n1

Verify:

vgs

At this point, storage is pooled.

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Step 6: Create Logical Volume

sudo lvcreate -L 10G -n tws_lv tws_vg

Verify:

lvs
lsblk

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Step 7: Format the Logical Volume

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/tws_vg/tws_lv

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Step 8: Mount the Logical Volume

sudo mkdir /mnt/tws_lv_mount
sudo mount /dev/tws_vg/tws_lv /mnt/tws_lv_mount

Verify:

df -h

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Step 9: Test Data Persistence

cd /mnt/tws_lv_mount
mkdir devops
echo "LVM works on AWS!" > hello.txt

Unmount and remount:

sudo umount /mnt/tws_lv_mount
sudo mount /dev/tws_vg/tws_lv /mnt/tws_lv_mount
cat /mnt/tws_lv_mount/devops/hello.txt

✅ Data persists correctly.

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Step 10: Add New EBS Volume (Real AWS Scenario)

A new 14 GB EBS volume was attached via AWS Console.

Verify:

lsblk

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Step 11: Add New Disk to LVM

sudo pvcreate /dev/nvme3n1
sudo vgextend tws_vg /dev/nvme3n1

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Step 12: Extend Logical Volume (Live)

sudo lvextend -L +5G /dev/tws_vg/tws_lv

At this stage:

• lsblk → shows increased size

• df -h → still shows old size

This is expected.

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Step 13: Resize Filesystem (Critical Step)

sudo resize2fs /dev/tws_vg/tws_lv

Verify:

df -h

Filesystem is now expanded without downtime.

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Production Tip (One Command)

sudo lvextend -L +5G -r /dev/tws_vg/tws_lv

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Common Beginner Mistakes (Important)

• Forgetting filesystem resize after lvextend

• Formatting disks already used by LVM

• Not verifying changes using lsblk and df -h

• Confusing AWS NVMe device names

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Why This Matters in Real DevOps

• Storage can be expanded live

• No service interruption

• Works the same on AWS, Azure, GCP

• Frequently asked interview topic

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Happy learning and building on AWS.