Thread View: comp.sys.sequent
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3 total messages
Started by Mike Iglesias
Tue, 02 Oct 1990 17:06
Space in root partition disappearing
Author: Mike Iglesias
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 1990 17:06
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 1990 17:06
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We're having a problem on our Sequent Symmetry (Dynix 3.0.12) where the disk space in the root partition gets used up. I have been going crazy trying to find what's causing it. I can't find any files being created, none of the directories is growing in size, etc. /tmp is on a separate partition, so it's not that. / is owned by root, is only writable by root. There are no non-standard suid root programs running. The disk space eventually comes back, and everything is ok. Of course, during the time disk space is low, someone runs passwd/chfn/chsh and the /etc/passwd file gets truncated. I've resorted to having cron run a script several times a day that saves the passwd file on another partition so I can restore it quickly (when the disk space returns!). If anyone has any ideas on how to find what's using the disk space, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Mike Iglesias University of California, Irvine Internet: iglesias@draco.acs.uci.edu BITNET: iglesias@uci uucp: ...!ucbvax!ucivax!iglesias
Re: Space in root partition disappearing
Author: David Hawkins
Date: Wed, 03 Oct 1990 17:02
Date: Wed, 03 Oct 1990 17:02
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iglesias@draco.acs.uci.edu (Mike Iglesias) writes:
>We're having a problem on our Sequent Symmetry (Dynix 3.0.12) where the
>disk space in the root partition gets used up. I have been going
>crazy trying to find what's causing it. I can't find any files
>being created, none of the directories is growing in size, etc. /tmp
>is on a separate partition, so it's not that. / is owned by root,
>is only writable by root. There are no non-standard suid root programs
>running.
We have the same problem with our Sequent Balance. It's the temporary
passwd file in /etc that doesn't get cleared after a
passwd/chfn/chsh You can check that with fsck -n /dev/rzd0a
(or whatever your root partition is on) and noticed the size/owner of
the unlinked file. Unfortunately it happens on an irregular basis. We
had a big problem with this for a long time and then it quit
happening. Not sure why. It could be related to the size of our
password file, which is over 330K.
later, david
--
David Hawkins System Operator {apple,pacbell,hplabs,ucbvax}!well!dhawk
"Don't fight forces; use them." -- R. Buckminster Fuller
Re: Space in root partition disappearing
Author: Mike Iglesias
Date: Thu, 04 Oct 1990 04:14
Date: Thu, 04 Oct 1990 04:14
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In article <2708C926.19205@orion.oac.uci.edu> iglesias@draco.acs.uci.edu (Mike Iglesias) writes: >We're having a problem on our Sequent Symmetry (Dynix 3.0.12) where the >disk space in the root partition gets used up. I have been going >crazy trying to find what's causing it. I can't find any files >being created, none of the directories is growing in size, etc. /tmp >is on a separate partition, so it's not that. / is owned by root, >is only writable by root. There are no non-standard suid root programs >running. As many people have suggested (both here and via email), we had programs keeping /etc/passwd open. This being the begining of the quarter, and we encourage students to change their passwords when they first log on, we had several copies of the passwd file floating around until processes exited (mostly caused by a locally written math quiz system). We've fixed the offending programs and things are much better now. Thanks to all who took the time to respond! Mike Iglesias University of California, Irvine Internet: iglesias@draco.acs.uci.edu BITNET: iglesias@uci uucp: ...!ucbvax!ucivax!iglesias
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