System volume root's usage is 90% RN102

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Bernard46 wrote:

 

The log for today shows the following messages:-

The log messages says the ROOT directory is 84% full (and climbing by 1% every 2 or 3 days) - the df command seems to say a directory (md0 ?) is 89% full, but I'm not sure these are talking about the same thing - probably not.

 

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Actually it is the same.  md0 is the RAID array (virtual disk) for the OS partition (e.g., the root).

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Bernard46 wrote:

 

Please can someone shed some light on what is happening with this system and what I should do to resolve what looks like a serious problem looming?

 

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It'd be prudent to back up the data on the NAS right away.  A full root can result in a bricked NAS or damaged configuration files.

Once that is done, you have the option to do a factory default (which reformat the disks and does a clean install).  Then reconfigure the NAS and restore the files from backup.  That would completely resolve the issue.

The other option is to try to find the file(s) that are causing the problem, and then delete them.  That can take some time, and of course you do have to be cautious when deleting things.

If you want to look more closely, the best starting point is to remount the root as /mnt.  The reason is that there are other mount points on the root that appear to be part of the root partition, but really are folders on the data volume.  Exploring /mnt eliminates that problem.  This command will do that:

mount --bind / /mnt

Then enter

du -csh /mnt/*

That will give you the data stored in each in each subfolder, and give you a clue where the space is going.

You should see space usage similar to this:

root@RN102:~# mount --bind / /mnt
root@RN102:~# du -csh /mnt/*
4.0K    /mnt/apps
5.7M    /mnt/bin
4.0K    /mnt/boot
4.0K    /mnt/data
12K     /mnt/dev
9.4M    /mnt/etc
31M     /mnt/frontview
0       /mnt/ftp_ban.tbl
4.0K    /mnt/home
0       /mnt/homes
30M     /mnt/lib
16K     /mnt/lost+found
56K     /mnt/media
4.0K    /mnt/mnt
16M     /mnt/opt
4.0K    /mnt/proc
36K     /mnt/root
4.0K    /mnt/run
11M     /mnt/sbin
12K     /mnt/share_lun_ui_fix.sh
4.0K    /mnt/srv
4.0K    /mnt/sys
24K     /mnt/tmp
269M    /mnt/usr
446M    /mnt/var
815M    total
root@RN102:~#

Likely you'll see a folder on your NAS that has a lot more space than these.  You can then explore that further by adding the folder to the command.  For instance, this will look deeper into var:

root@RN102:~# du -csh /mnt/var/*
102M    /mnt/var/backups
85M     /mnt/var/cache
4.0K    /mnt/var/cores
4.0K    /mnt/var/ftp
260M    /mnt/var/lib
4.0K    /mnt/var/local
0       /mnt/var/lock
60M     /mnt/var/log
4.0K    /mnt/var/mail
16K     /mnt/var/netatalk
4.0K    /mnt/var/opt
13M     /mnt/var/readynasd
0       /mnt/var/run
16K     /mnt/var/spool
4.0K    /mnt/var/tmp
8.0K    /mnt/var/www
518M    total
root@RN102:~#​

Once you find the problem folder(s), you can list them with ls, and then post the details here. Then we can give you some further advice on what to do.