The Details

Unlike LVM GUI, blivet-gui reveals relatively few details about the devices and volumes. Although you can access some basic data in the Information menu item in the respective volume context menu, it does not include the number and size of the physical extents. However, blivet users can view this information and the underlying block devices and storage utilization by clicking on the respective volume group below the Disks header in the left window pane and then clicking on the light bulb icon directly below the bar graph (Figure 8).

Figure 8: The information page in blivet-gui is a little spartan in revealing details of devices and volumes.

GParted

GParted, a graphical interface for the free GNU Parted partitioning tool, which is available from the repositories of most Linux distributions, has supported LVM volume groups since version 0.14.0. It relies on a four-part user interface: A buttonbar for speed dialing some functions is found below a horizontal menu line. A horizontal bar that appears underneath visualizes the current volume and its structure.

Data for the respective volumes and partitions appear in a tabular list at the bottom. A selection box at top right in the program window next to the buttonbar lets you select the physical devices in the system. Depending on the selected information, the table display can be split at the bottom of the window to view detailed information about individual volumes (Figure 9).

Figure 9: The GParted interface is based on the well-known GNU Parted.

Even GParted does not perform the previously selected functions straightaway, but queues them first. You need to initiate the process explicitly to minimize the risk of accidentally deleting a whole disk because of a misguided choice.

Tools

GParted only partially implements support for LVM drives. Although you can create physical drives tagged as LVM on block devices, you cannot create volume groups and thus cannot define any mount points. Filesystems cannot be created on existing logical drives.

The main benefit of GParted, if you use an LVM system, is to grow (assuming you have enough free space on the block device) and shrink existing physical volumes without having to dismount the individual physical devices beforehand (Figure 10). To check devices, use the Check item in the context menu of the respective device.

Figure 10: Use the slider to change the size of a volume in GParted.

GParted, including the latest Live version, is therefore only suitable to perform a subset of the tasks needed by a current LVM system.