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Monitoring and ensuring adequate space for a Linux file-system is considered to be a critical task for any system administrator. An application called '''LVM''' is a very useful tool for Linux system administrators to easily manage file systems - even when the computer system is running!
'''LVM''' ('''Logical Volume Management''') is used to manage hard disk drives / partitions for Linux and Unix systems. LVM provides more flexibility than just working with partitioning hard disks / hard disk partitions. '''Volume Groups''' are areas used to define '''Physical Volumes''' (i.e. hard disks, disk partitions, or other forms of storage devices). '''Logical Volumes''' are then used to relate directories (mount points) to a specific physical volume or for a "range" or "span" of physical volumes.
Therefore, LVM allows more flexibility and growth potential for Linux systems (for example, having Logical volumes span multiple hard disks). CentOS uses LVM by default upon installation. Other Linux distributions may provide the capacity to install LVM, or later install and then use Logical Volume Management.