Re: Full disk and 2.3.x kernels.
Dancer (dancer@zeor.simegen.com)
Sat, 20 Nov 1999 02:38:17 +0000
Trever Adams wrote:
>
> This problem appeared in early 2.3.x kernels. I believe I first saw it
> in 2.3.11.
>
> Scenerio: Let your disk fill very close to full. Erase a few hundred
> megabytes of data so you can work on other things. Disk stays "full."
> Your apps give you many many errors of such.
>
> in 2.3.x<26 (26 may have been included in this), it never recovers. It
> takes a reboot to get your disk space back.
>
> In 2.3.x>28 (may include 26, I cant remember), two or three fails and
> then bam, you have your space back.
>
> Sync doesn't fix this. It seems to take failed writes.
>
> I am not sure how to get more detailed than this or how to create a test
> for you all save the conditions I observed. I am using an up to date (I
> believe) RedHat 6.1 base.
You know that disk-blocks held by open files are not released until
those files are closed? That means, that you can remove a logfile, but
if the process still has it open the space isn't released. A write
failing usually means that the process dies or reopens the file which
ends up releasing the space (finally), and it then being available for
reallocation.
D
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