Mounting LVM nested Partitons

With this post, I want to describe how you can mount partitions, nested within LVM volumes. A possible use-case includes file based backup of virtual machines running on LVM volumes.

In the example below, I use a Windows Server 2008 system partition (NTFS). The Windows server is running on a Debian KVM system.

You will need:

  • kpartx
  • (In this exampe also ntfs-3g)

Lets get started – first some information about the LVM setup:


root@SERVER:/# lvdisplay
  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Name                /dev/lvm/windoze2k8
  VG Name                lvm
  LV UUID                836UYu-lmuT-qCUg-2lRx-QNgZ-COf7-h6NUH6
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Status              available
  # open                 0
  LV Size                19.53 GiB
  Current LE             5000
  Segments               1
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     auto
  - currently set to     256
  Block device           254:1

The partition table of our LVM volume:


root@SERVER:/# fdisk -l /dev/lvm/windoze2k8

Disk /dev/lvm/windoze2k8: 21.0 GB, 20971520000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2549 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1a13ce21

                       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/lvm/windoze2k81   *           1        2550    20477952    7  HPFS/NTFS

Now, lets move on to the the actual doing:


root@SERVER:~# kpartx -a /dev/lvm/windoze2k8
root@SERVER:~# mkdir /mnt/lvm-windoze2k81 && mount /dev/mapper/lvm-windoze2k81 /mnt/lvm-windoze2k81

Et voila:


root@SERVER:~# ls /mnt/lvm-windoze2k81
autoexec.bat  bootmgr       config.sys              hiberfil.sys  PerfLogs     Program Files  System Volume Information  Windows
Boot          BOOTSECT.BAK  Documents and Settings  pagefile.sys  ProgramData  $RECYCLE.BIN   Users

To remove the mapping, do the following:


root@SERVER:/# umount /mnt/lvm-windoze2k81
root@SERVER:/# kpartx -d /dev/lvm/windoze2k8

Note
If you want to use such a setup to do file based backup of running virtual machines, it is wise to create a LVM snapshot first and applying kpartx on the snapshot device.

2 thoughts on “Mounting LVM nested Partitons

  1. Thanks a lot for this post! I came across your post so many times while searching and kinda overlooked it, but it only dawned upon me now the actual importance of kpartx tool for the purpose of mounting partitions inside the lvm volume. I am using lvm volume as block device to install linux on it from the KVM.
    Again thanks so much for sharing this information!
    I am a linux user for long and frankly still learning :-)

  2. I just like the helpful information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again right here regularly. I am moderately sure I’ll be told plenty of new stuff proper right here! Best of luck for the following!

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