mfg1
asked on
Problems clearing space on / of linux partitions
I need to clear some space on my linux box but cannot work out why when I remove some files it is not reflected on the available space, please see df summary file attached.
I need to create some space in "/"
thank you in advance
DF-Partition-Size.txt
I need to create some space in "/"
thank you in advance
DF-Partition-Size.txt
By default 5% of disk space is reserved for root's emergency use. If you add the used+available blocks in your /dev/sda1 for example, 21166 + 166931 = 188097, you'll see that they sum up to just 95% of the total size 198337.
In other words, your root partition is so full that it is already using the emergency reserve. You'll need to free more space until only about 2872572 blocks are used. After that you will see the available-value start growing.
In other words, your root partition is so full that it is already using the emergency reserve. You'll need to free more space until only about 2872572 blocks are used. After that you will see the available-value start growing.
ASKER
ok I know this is a silly question but what sort of stuff should I be able to remove safely? temp files etc.
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ASKER
Yes i checked there and it turns out only 1 file was present which is tiny, any more :-)
/var/log often contains saved and compressed (gz file extension) old log-files like syslog.2.gz. These should be safe to delete or move to another partition.
Oops, I just noticed you have /var on a different partition. Ignore that advice.
ASKER
This was the files i was deleting before, however will this make any difference as the /var is on another partition?
15683016 10437996 4448348 71% /var
15683016 10437996 4448348 71% /var
ASKER
Ok sorry i thought i had it wrong there.
/var is not on the same volume as / !
ASKER
Yes that is correct, so not sure what else I can remove.
Try
du -kx / | sort -n
to see your biggest files/directories (at the bottom of the list)
du -kx / | sort -n
to see your biggest files/directories (at the bottom of the list)
ASKER
ok not sure about this but it says that tmp does have some stuff in it, see below.
2741128 /tmp
but when I check by going to,
#cd /tmp
#ls
there is only 1 file there
2741128 /tmp
but when I check by going to,
#cd /tmp
#ls
there is only 1 file there
lsof /tmp
?
?
ASKER
here is the information I got back thx
# lsof /tmp
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
bash 5418 root cwd DIR 253,0 4096 18 /tmp
lsof 5677 root cwd DIR 253,0 4096 18 /tmp
lsof 5678 root cwd DIR 253,0 4096 18 /tmp
# lsof /tmp
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
bash 5418 root cwd DIR 253,0 4096 18 /tmp
lsof 5677 root cwd DIR 253,0 4096 18 /tmp
lsof 5678 root cwd DIR 253,0 4096 18 /tmp
Also try
ls -al /tmp
to see any hidden files or directories
ls -al /tmp
to see any hidden files or directories
ASKER
this is what I get if I tab twice after cd in the tmp directory
tmp]# cd
.bayes/ env2 .ICE-unix/
tmp]# cd
.bayes/ env2 .ICE-unix/
ASKER
Here is the responce
tmp]# ls -al /tmp
total 16
drwxrwxrwt. 4 root root 4096 2011-02-16 10:36 .
drwxr-xr-x. 22 root root 4096 2011-02-16 09:32 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-02-08 18:33 .bayes
-rw-r--r-- 1 apache apache 0 2011-02-15 14:33 env2
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 4096 2010-11-06 13:29 .ICE-unix
tmp]# ls -al /tmp
total 16
drwxrwxrwt. 4 root root 4096 2011-02-16 10:36 .
drwxr-xr-x. 22 root root 4096 2011-02-16 09:32 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-02-08 18:33 .bayes
-rw-r--r-- 1 apache apache 0 2011-02-15 14:33 env2
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 4096 2010-11-06 13:29 .ICE-unix
What do you see after this:
cd /tmp
du .
cd /tmp
du .
Ok,
.bayes and .ICE-unix are those hidden directories AriMc was talking about above!
What's in there?
.bayes and .ICE-unix are those hidden directories AriMc was talking about above!
What's in there?
ASKER
I assume this is what you mean if not let me know and I will try again.
# ls -al /tmp/.bayes/
total 2741124
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-02-08 18:33 .
drwxrwxrwt. 4 root root 4096 2011-02-16 10:36 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2806890496 2009-11-26 14:27 .ps_1753.mem
# ls -al /tmp/.ICE-unix/
total 8
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 4096 2010-11-06 13:29 .
drwxrwxrwt. 4 root root 4096 2011-02-16 10:36 ..
# ls -al /tmp/.bayes/
total 2741124
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-02-08 18:33 .
drwxrwxrwt. 4 root root 4096 2011-02-16 10:36 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2806890496 2009-11-26 14:27 .ps_1753.mem
# ls -al /tmp/.ICE-unix/
total 8
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 4096 2010-11-06 13:29 .
drwxrwxrwt. 4 root root 4096 2011-02-16 10:36 ..
ASKER
thx for all these quick replies most appreciated.
SOLUTION
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ASKER
Ok should I move it to home for example?
Could it be that yout machine is running for more than 14 months now?
If this could be the case check with
lsof /tmp/.bayes/.ps_1753.mem
whether the file is still in use (No output means it's not in use).
If it's not in use remove it, it's from an old Xsession!
If this could be the case check with
lsof /tmp/.bayes/.ps_1753.mem
whether the file is still in use (No output means it's not in use).
If it's not in use remove it, it's from an old Xsession!
ASKER
ok I moved the file but when I check df it is still showing 0 available :-(
That's because /home is on the same device as / !
ASKER
sorry what an idiot bear with me
To avoid this in the future, you should think about having /tmp mounted at a different partition than /.
/tmp tends to get full from time to time, so having it mounted somewhere else allows the system to keep working (almost) normally.
/tmp tends to get full from time to time, so having it mounted somewhere else allows the system to keep working (almost) normally.
ASKER
Can I just say thank you to both of you guys for saving my life, really helped system now all working ok.
ASKER
t-max I would if I knew how, maybe that is something I should ask another day.
from which directory did you remove the files?
Please keep in mind that removing files from /var or /usr will have no effect on /, since these filesystems reside on different volumes.
The most common reason for space not getting freed is that the removed file's file handle is still in use by some process.
Try "lsof |grep deleted_file"
or even "lsof /"
You will most probably get a lot of output, but maybe there's a clue.
wmp