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Expanding a Storage Pool

Simplyblock is designed as on always-on a storage system. Therefore, expanding a storage pool is an online operation and does not require a maintenance window or system downtime.

When expanding a storage pool, its capacity will be extended, offering an extended quota of the overall storage cluster.

What Pool Expansion Changes

Expanding a storage pool updates the configured pool capacity limit (pool-max) and increases the quota available to logical volumes in that pool.

This operation does not add physical storage devices by itself. Physical capacity changes (for example, adding storage nodes or devices) are separate scaling operations.

Prerequisites

Before expanding a pool:

  • Ensure the target cluster is healthy and reachable.
  • Ensure you have operator permissions to modify pool settings.
  • Identify the correct storage pool ID.
  • Confirm the target size aligns with cluster capacity and policy.

Pre-Change Checks

Verify current pool state and limits before applying changes:

List storage pools
sbctl storage-pool list --cluster-id=<CLUSTER_ID>
Inspect current pool settings
sbctl storage-pool get <POOL_ID>

Perform the Expansion

To expand a storage pool, use the sbctl command line interface:

Expanding the storage pool
sbctl storage-pool set <POOL_ID> --pool-max=<NEW_SIZE>

The value of NEW_SIZE must be given as 20G, 20T, etc.

Examples:

  • --pool-max=500G
  • --pool-max=2T
  • --pool-max=10T

Verification

After applying the change, confirm the new pool limit:

Verify the updated pool limit
sbctl storage-pool get <POOL_ID>

Also verify that:

  • The updated size is reflected in the pool output.
  • Cluster health remains stable.
  • No new capacity or pool-related alerts are raised.

Troubleshooting

If expansion does not behave as expected:

  • Verify POOL_ID points to the intended pool.
  • Verify _NEW_SIZE_ format (for example 500G, 2T).
  • Re-run storage-pool get to confirm whether the change was persisted.
  • If monitoring values lag, allow a short interval for metrics refresh and re-check.

Operational Best Practices

  • Keep alert thresholds aligned with updated capacity policy.
  • Record pool capacity changes in your operational change history.