This article is intended to help customers who have received a low disk space warning for a Linux® server by providing remediation steps.

Check Rackspace status#

Before using the following steps, check https://status.rackspace.com for open issues that might be impacting your server instance.

Process overview#

This article describes the following troubleshooting steps in detail:

Log in to the device.
Check for open tickets.
Determine the amount of disk space.
Clean up the server.
Verify the new disk space after the cleanup.

Log in to the device#

Log in to your server by opening a remote desktop connection. For instructions, see Connect to a server by using SSH on Linux or Mac OS X.

Check open support tickets#

Check your open support tickets for information about any incidents that might be affecting the service. To check your open support tickets, log in to the Cloud Control Panel and click Tickets > Ticket List in the top navigation bar.

Determine the amount of disk space#

To determine disk space, enter the following one-line program on the command line to retrieve information on the server’s current status:

  FS='./';resize;clear;echo "== Server Time: ==";date;echo -e "\n== Filesystem Information: ==";df -PTh ${FS} | column -t;echo -e "\n== Inode Information: ==";df -PTi ${FS} | column -t;echo -e "\n== Largest Directories: ==";du -hcx --max-depth=2 ${FS} 2>/dev/null | grep -P '^([0-9]\.*)*G(?!.*(\btotal\b|\./$))' | sort -rnk1,1 | head -10 | column -t;echo -e "\n== Largest Files: ==";find ${FS} -mount -ignore_readdir_race -type f -exec du {} + 2>&1 | sort -rnk1,1 | head -20 | awk 'BEGIN{ CONVFMT="%.2f";}{ $1=( $1 / 1024 )"M"; print;}' | column -t;echo -e "\n== Largest Files Older Than 30 Days: ==";find ${FS} -mount -ignore_readdir_race -type f -mtime +30 -exec du {} + 2>&1 | sort -rnk1,1 | head -20 | awk 'BEGIN{ CONVFMT="%.2f";}{ $1=( $1 / 1024 )"M"; print; }' | column -t;

Note: You must cd to the alerting file system or change the variable FS at the beginning of the one-line program. For example, the alerting file system in the ticket might be / or /var/log. You can also view file system usage by entering the disk file system command df -h on the server.

Example output

The following code block shows example output for this command:

  == Filesystem Information: ==
  Filesystem                 Type  Size   Used  Avail  Use%  Mounted on
  /dev/mapper/mint--vg-root  ext4  219G   22G   186G   11%   /


  == Inode Information: ==
  Filesystem                 Type  Inodes    IUsed   IFree     IUse%  Mounted  on
  /dev/mapper/mint--vg-root  ext4  14557184  383516  14173668  3%     /


  == Largest Directories: ==
  11G   ./home
0G  ./home/ian8775
6G  ./usr
7G  ./usr/lib
3G  ./usr/share
5G  ./home/ian
1G  ./var

  == Largest Files: ==
00M ./home/ian8775/Downloads/CentOS-7-x86_64-LiveGNOME.iso
43M ./home/ian8775/.thunderbird/dpo71zou.default/ImapMail/webmail.rackspace.com/INBOX
61M ./home/ian8775/Dropbox/2016-02-26T15-04-43-381733000Z.sav
70M ./opt/google/chrome/chrome
83M ./home/ian8775/.config/Rambox/Partitions/outlook365_2/Cache/data_3
88M ./home/ian8775/.config/Slack/Cache/data_3
01M ./home/ian/.config/Slack/Cache/data_3
94M ./home/ian8775/.thunderbird/dpo71zou.default/global-messages-db.sqlite
40M ./usr/share/atom/resources/app.asar
14M ./usr/share/spotify/libcef.so
48M ./home/ian/install_files/atom-amd64.deb
48M ./home/ian8775/install_files/atom-amd64.deb
61M ./opt/Rambox/rambox
61M ./home/ian8775/Downloads/Rambox-0.5.12/rambox
60M ./home/ian8775/Downloads/Rambox-0.5.10/rambox
73M ./usr/lib/slack/slack
01M ./home/ian8775/Dropbox/Ian's Work Computer Docs/.config/Slack/Cache/data_3
96M ./home/ian8775/Dropbox/CompTIA Aplus Training Kit Exam 220-801 And Exam 220-802 V413HAV.pdf
30M ./usr/lib/thunderbird/libxul.so
29M ./opt/zoom/libQt5WebEngineCore.so.5.6.2

  == Largest Files Older Than 30 Days: ==
00M ./home/ian8775/Downloads/CentOS-7-x86_64-LiveGNOME.iso
43M ./home/ian8775/.thunderbird/dpo71zou.default/ImapMail/webmail.rackspace.com/INBOX
61M ./home/ian8775/Dropbox/2016-02-26T15-04-43-381733000Z.sav
70M ./opt/google/chrome/chrome
88M ./home/ian8775/.config/Slack/Cache/data_3
01M ./home/ian/.config/Slack/Cache/data_3
94M ./home/ian8775/.thunderbird/dpo71zou.default/global-messages-db.sqlite
40M ./usr/share/atom/resources/app.asar
14M ./usr/share/spotify/libcef.so
48M ./home/ian/install_files/atom-amd64.deb
48M ./home/ian8775/install_files/atom-amd64.deb
61M  ./opt/Rambox/rambox
61M ./home/ian8775/Downloads/Rambox-0.5.12/rambox
60M ./home/ian8775/Downloads/Rambox-0.5.10/rambox
73M ./usr/lib/slack/slack
01M ./home/ian8775/Dropbox/Ian's	Work	Computer	Docs/.config/Slack/Cache/data_3
96M ./home/ian8775/Dropbox/CompTIA	Aplus	Training  Kit	Exam  220-801	And  Exam  220-802  V413HAV.pdf
30M ./usr/lib/thunderbird/libxul.so
29M ./opt/zoom/libQt5WebEngineCore.so.5.6.2
05M ./usr/lib/firefox/libxul.so

The output shows disk space as well as inode usage information because some low disk alerts have IRs that refer to inodes rather than disk space.

Inodes are the number of directory and files permitted in a file system (directory entries). If you run out of inodes, the file system behaves in the same way as a full disk and generates a similar alert. Inode usage of 90% or more is considered critical.

Clean up the server#

Perform the following steps to delete old or unnecessary system files and folders.

Evaluate the status of the server by comparing the output from the one-line program to information from any previous related tickets, alerts, and automated diagnostics.

Remove Rackspace installers and other unnecessary data#

Remove installers and directories that were created when they were extracted. These items are not needed after an installation is complete. These files are typically found in the /root/.rackspace/ and /home/rack directories.

Note: To delete a file from the command line, change directory to the file’s location and type del <file name>.

The following directories and files can be safely removed:

/home/rack/brocade*
/home/rack/bna*
/home/rack/bfa*
/home/rack/.rackspace
/home/rack/cv#/
/root/.rackspace/cv#/
/root/.rackspace/mngd_backup/
/root/.rackspace/mngd_storage/
/root/.rackspace/nimbus-installer/

If the server is not running on a virtual machine (VM), you can also delete the following file:

/root/.rackspace/nimbusinstallers-*.tar.gz

Note: If the server is running on a virtual machine, do not delete the file /root/.rackspace/nimbusinstallers-*.tar.gz. This file is the Nimbus installer, which might be used for the cloning process.

Remediate an inode usage alert#

The method of resolving an inode-related alert is different from resolving a disk space-related alert. Rather than looking for large, unnecessary files, look for many small ones and delete them.

Verify the new disk space after the clean up#

To determine disk space, run the same one-line program that you ran earlier. Make a note of the amount of free space.

Conclusion#

If you follow these troubleshooting steps and disk space is still low, contact the Rackspace Support team by creating a support ticket. Log in to the Cloud Control Panel and click Tickets > Create Ticket in the top navigation bar.

To expedite the issue, include all of the troubleshooting steps that you have already taken.