How to increase the system disk space on Panorama KVM

The goal is to replace the default system disk size of 81 GB on Panorama VM (version 11.1.5 or higher) with a new disk of 224 GB. The new disk size must be exactly 224 GB and nothing else. 

The whole procedure takes about 1 hour, due to a few reboots, the new disk initialisation time, and the disk cloning time.

• Before the procedure, with the default 81 GB system disk:

admin@Panorama> show system disk-partition

Disk /dev/vda: 81 GiB, 86973087744 bytes, 169869312 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x000b9918

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/vda1            2176   2056319   2054144 1003M 83 Linux
/dev/vda2         2097280  18874368  16777089    8G 83 Linux
/dev/vda3        18874496  35651584  16777089    8G 83 Linux
/dev/vda4        35651648 169869311 134217664   64G  f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/vda5        35651712  85983232  50331521   24G 83 Linux
/dev/vda6        85983360  98566144  12582785    6G 83 Linux
/dev/vda7        98566272 102760448   4194177    2G 83 Linux
/dev/vda8       102760576 169869311  67108736   32G 83 Linux

admin@Panorama> show system disk-space

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root       7.9G  5.2G  2.4G  70% /
none            3.8G   96K  3.8G   1% /dev
/dev/vda5        24G  2.5G   21G  11% /opt/pancfg
/dev/vda6       5.9G  3.3G  2.3G  60% /opt/panrepo
tmpfs           3.8G  128M  3.7G   4% /dev/shm
cgroup_root     3.8G     0  3.8G   0% /cgroup
/dev/vdb1       220G   52G  157G  25% /opt/panlogs
/dev/loop0       63G  344M   60G   1% /opt/mongobuffer

• After the upgrade, the new 224 GB system disk would look like this:

admin@Panorama> show system disk-partition

Disk /dev/vda: 224 GiB, 240518168576 bytes, 469762048 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xfcf49723

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/vda1              63   4016249   4016187   1.9G 83 Linux
/dev/vda2         4016250  36033794  32017545  15.3G 83 Linux
/dev/vda3        36033795  68051339  32017545  15.3G 83 Linux
/dev/vda4        68051340 468857024 400805685 191.1G  f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/vda5        68051403 228074804 160023402  76.3G 83 Linux
/dev/vda6       228074868 276093089  48018222  22.9G 83 Linux
/dev/vda7       276093153 276109154     16002   7.8M 83 Linux
/dev/vda8       276109218 468857024 192747807  91.9G 83 Linux

admin@Panorama> show system disk-space

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root        16G  5.2G  9.2G  37% /
none            3.8G   88K  3.8G   1% /dev
/dev/vda5        76G  2.5G   69G   4% /opt/pancfg
/dev/vda6        23G  3.4G   19G  16% /opt/panrepo
tmpfs           3.8G  128M  3.7G   4% /dev/shm
cgroup_root     3.8G     0  3.8G   0% /cgroup
/dev/vda8        91G   25G   62G  29% /opt/panlogs
/dev/loop0       36G  341M   34G   1% /opt/mongobuffer

• KVM
• Panorama VM
• PAN-OS version 11.1.5 and higher

You will need the followings

• super admin rights on Panorama
• administrator rights on the KVM hypervisor (root/sudo)
• 224 GB of disk space available on the KVM system
• the serial console access onto the Panorama VM

1. Take the configuration backup of your Panorama with a super admin user.

Panorama > Setup > Operations > Export named Panorama configuration snapshot > running-config.xml (do not select any Device Group & Template for a full backup)

2. Shutdown Panorama

Panorama > Setup > Operations > Shutdown Panorama

admin@Panorama> request shutdown system

3. Create a new virtual disk of exactly 224 GB and of the same type as the existing system disk.

For instance, if your existing 81 GB system disk is of type VirtIO, then create a new virtual disk of 224 GB of the type VirtIO. Or create a new disk of type SATA disk if the existing old disk is of type SATA.

4. Attach the new disk and start Panorama, monitor the booting events on the serial console.

If Panorama does not start due to a kernel panic error, you will need to change the disks' order. More information here: KVM Panorama does not boot after adding a new virtual disk

5. During the first reboot after adding the new disk, please wait for the new disk to get initialised. It may take some time (~20 minutes) before you will be able to successfully login on Panorama.

6. After the login, confirm that the new disk of 224 GB is successfully visible.

admin@Panorama> show system disk-partition

Disk /dev/sda: 81 GiB, 86973087744 bytes, 169869312 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x000b9918

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1            2176   2056319   2054144 1003M 83 Linux
/dev/sda2         2097280  18874368  16777089    8G 83 Linux
/dev/sda3        18874496  35651584  16777089    8G 83 Linux
/dev/sda4        35651648 169869311 134217664   64G  f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5        35651712  85983232  50331521   24G 83 Linux
/dev/sda6        85983360  98566144  12582785    6G 83 Linux
/dev/sda7        98566272 102760448   4194177    2G 83 Linux
/dev/sda8       102760576 169869311  67108736   32G 83 Linux


Disk /dev/sdb: 224 GiB, 240518168576 bytes, 469762048 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x5ec5dccf

Device     Boot Start       End   Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1        2048 469762047 469760000  224G 83 Linux

7.  Then, start the cloning by running this command

The system will restart in order to unmount the old disk and do the cloning.

admin@Panorama> request system clone-system-disk target sdb

8. Monitor the progress of the disk cloning process from the serial console and wait for the success message:

Disk cloning procedure completed. Please shutdown the system and switch disks.

9. Once the cloning is completed, shutdown Panorama. Remove the old 81 GB system disk from the VM settings. Make sure the new disk gets the first in the order. Start Panorama.

10. Login and confirm that it is working fine with the new system disk.

admin@Panorama> show system disk-space
admin@Panorama> show system disk-partition