# What's using space on root? **URL:** \ **Category:** SLES Configure-Administer\ **Created:** [August 31, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/whats-using-space-on-root/21786 "2011-08-31T21:46:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/whats-using-space-on-root/21786/1 "2011-08-31T21:46:02Z")
Hello. I have a SLES 11 SP1 server running GroupWise, and the root partition filled up. I’ve freed up some space but I’m having a hard time accounting for all the space that df tells me is used. du tells me that there’s about 1.8 GB of space used on root; df tells me there’s 3.3 GB used. Here are my partitions: mail:~ # cat /etc/fstab LABEL=boot /boot ext3 acl,user\_xattr 1 2 /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-3600508e00000000075cb2e1d614cf10d-part5 swap swap acl,user\_xattr 0 0 /dev/system/root\_lv / ext3 acl,user\_xattr 1 1 /dev/system/opt\_lv /opt ext3 acl,user\_xattr 1 2 /dev/system/srv\_lv /srv ext3 acl,user\_xattr 1 2 /dev/system/tmp\_lv /tmp ext3 acl,user\_xattr 1 2 /dev/system/usr\_lv /usr ext3 acl,user\_xattr 1 2 /dev/system/var\_lv /var ext3 acl,user\_xattr 1 2 /dev/system/home\_lv /home reiserfs acl,user\_xattr 1 2 proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0 debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs noauto 0 0 usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0 devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0 /dev/system/gwsystem /gwsystem ext3 acl,user\_xattr 1 2 And here’s the space used on each partition: mail:~ # df -H Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/system-root\_lv 4.3G 3.3G 813M 80% / devtmpfs 2.1G 140k 2.1G 1% /dev tmpfs 2.1G 25k 2.1G 1% /dev/shm /dev/sda3 208M 62M 135M 32% /boot /dev/mapper/system-opt\_lv 4.3G 1.2G 2.9G 30% /opt /dev/mapper/system-srv\_lv 4.3G 164M 3.9G 5% /srv /dev/mapper/system-tmp\_lv 3.2G 280M 2.8G 10% /tmp /dev/mapper/system-usr\_lv 8.5G 3.3G 4.8G 41% /usr /dev/mapper/system-var\_lv 6.4G 5.1G 928M 85% /var /dev/mapper/system-home\_lv 8.6G 3.1G 5.6G 35% /home /dev/mapper/system-gwsystem 106G 61G 41G 61% /gwsystem df: `/media/disk-1’: No such file or directory Here’s the space used by directory: mail:/ # du -sh \* 3.4M backup 8.9M bin 54M boot 160K dev 75M etc 44K gwcache.db 56G gwsystem 2.8G home 97M lib 17M lib64 16K lost+found 1.2G media 8.0K mnt 1007M opt du: cannot access `proc/6489/task/6489/fd/4': No such file or directory du: cannot access `proc/6489/task/6489/fdinfo/4’: No such file or directory du: cannot access `proc/6489/fd/4': No such file or directory du: cannot access `proc/6489/fdinfo/4’: No such file or directory du: cannot access `proc/6550': No such file or directory 0 proc 1.5G root 12M sbin 4.0K selinux 21M srv 0 sys 72K template 198M tmp 2.9G usr du: cannot access `var/lib/ntp/proc/6489/task/6489/fd/4’: No such file or directory du: cannot access `var/lib/ntp/proc/6489/task/6489/fdinfo/4': No such file or directory du: cannot access `var/lib/ntp/proc/6489/fd/4’: No such file or directory du: cannot access `var/lib/ntp/proc/6489/fdinfo/4': No such file or directory du: cannot access `var/lib/ntp/proc/6605’: No such file or directory 4.7G var mail:/ # If I eliminate everything from that list that’s on a different partition I’m left with this: 3.4M backup 8.9M bin 54M boot 160K dev 75M etc 44K gwcache.db 97M lib 17M lib64 16K lost+found 1.2G media 8.0K mnt 0 proc 1.5G root 12M sbin 4.0K selinux 0 sys 72K template ‘media’ is a Dell RD1000 backup cartridge. What am I missing here? Thanks. Keith ## – ketchukf ketchukf’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=4205](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=4205) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=443996](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=443996) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/whats-using-space-on-root/21786/2 "2011-08-31T21:57:03Z")
On Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:46:02 +0000, ketchukf wrote: [color=blue] > Hello. I have a SLES 11 SP1 server running GroupWise, and the root > partition filled up. I’ve freed up some space but I’m having a hard time > accounting for all the space that df tells me is used. du tells me that > there’s about 1.8 GB of space used on root; df tells me there’s 3.3 GB > used. Here are my partitions:[/color] I would grab a copy of filelight and use it to analyze the usage. I find it’s a great tool to visually see where disk space is being used up. [http://software.opensuse.org/search?q=filelight&baseproject=SUSE%](http://software.opensuse.org/search?q=filelight&baseproject=SUSE%25) 3ASLE-11&lang=en&exclude\_debug=true This is the SLE11 version, but it should work fine on SLE11 SP1. Jim – Jim Henderson, CNA6, CDE, CNI, LPIC-1, CLA10, CLP10 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/whats-using-space-on-root/21786/3 "2011-09-01T17:56:02Z")
ketchukf;2133405 Wrote:[color=blue] > Hello. I have a SLES 11 SP1 server running GroupWise, and the root > partition filled up. I’ve freed up some space but I’m having a hard time > accounting for all the space that df tells me is used. du tells me that > there’s about 1.8 GB of space used on root; df tells me there’s 3.3 GB > used. Here are my partitions: > > What am I missing here? > Thanks. > Keith[/color] There is a case/situation in linux where df shows space used, but du does not. The case is that, if you have a child-process that has deleted a bunch of files and then the child-process goes away but parent process still exist, the files have not been removed from the inode list, so it appears your space is still in use. You should be able to either reboot, or restart the service. For example, this happens with apache from time to time. …now that i’m thinking about it some more, the case for apache is that, if apache has a log file it’s writing to and you delete the log file, apache still holds the file open in memory and the system things the file exist. Restarting apache will clear this up. You may be able to find the space in use using the lsof command. bb ## – bbendily bbendily’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=16043](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=16043) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=443996](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=443996) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/whats-using-space-on-root/21786/4 "2011-09-14T19:16:02Z")
The problem is related to the backup disk, a Dell RD1000. Typically when it’s inserted it’s mounted at /media/disk, but for whatever reason it once mounted to /media/disk-1. Then, I think, the backup job tried to write to /media/disk which didn’t exist but was created on the root partition. When the backup job ran it filled up root. I didn’t see that /media/disk was on the root partition because I ‘knew’ it was the external disk. Is there a command that lists directories and the disk partitions they’re on? Thanks for the help. ## – ketchukf ketchukf’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=4205](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=4205) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=443996](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=443996) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/whats-using-space-on-root/21786/5 "2011-09-14T19:46:30Z")
On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:16:02 +0000, ketchukf wrote: [color=blue] > Is there a command that lists directories and the disk partitions > they’re on?[/color] “mount” will tell you where partitions are mounted. Jim – Jim Henderson, CNA6, CDE, CNI, LPIC-1, CLA10, CLP10