Normally when you have added new storage to a running Virtual machine, you probably won’t see the new storage automatically.
This is because the SCSI bus to which the storage devices are connected needs to be rescanned to make the new hardware visible.
As a system administrator, to maintain the linux server uptime is very important and it is better to add a new hard disk without reboot the server.
There is one simple command to rescan the SCSI Bus and add SCSI Devices. The command will trigger the linux rescan scsi bus device on the system.
The following steps has been tested on CentOS 7, RHEL 7 and Oracle Linux 7.
Steps to Add a New Hard Disk Without Rebooting on CentOS 7/ RHEL 7
1. Add the new 20GB vdisk from the ESXi or vCenter :
2. Show current disk and partition :
[root@centos7 ~]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 32.2 GB, 32212254720 bytes, 62914560 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
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x0006b96a
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 1026047 512000 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1026048 62914559 30944256 8e Linux LVM
Disk /dev/mapper/centos-swap: 2147 MB, 2147483648 bytes, 4194304 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
Disk /dev/mapper/centos-root: 29.5 GB, 29536288768 bytes, 57688064 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
3. Identify host bus number :
[root@centos7 ~]# ls /sys/class/scsi_host/
host0 host1 host2
4. Rescan the SCSI Bus to Add a SCSI Devices :
[root@centos7 ~]# echo “- – -” > /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/scan
[root@centos7 ~]# echo “- – -” > /sys/class/scsi_host/host1/scan
[root@centos7 ~]# echo “- – -” > /sys/class/scsi_host/host2/scan
4. Verify the disk and partiton and make sure 20GB has been added. In this case, the following line appeared “Disk /dev/sdb: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes, 41943040 sectors” and confirmed that 20GB has been added without reboot the server :
[root@centos7 ~]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 32.2 GB, 32212254720 bytes, 62914560 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
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x0006b96a
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 1026047 512000 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1026048 62914559 30944256 8e Linux LVM
Disk /dev/mapper/centos-swap: 2147 MB, 2147483648 bytes, 4194304 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
Disk /dev/mapper/centos-root: 29.5 GB, 29536288768 bytes, 57688064 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
Disk /dev/sdb: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes, 41943040 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