My system thinks /dev/root is full when it isn't

[Toni Puga]

My / ran out of space. I found a log file of about 200MB and removed it. In spite of that my df and bdf commands and in fact every command tells me:
vxfs: msgcnt 218 mesg 001: V-2-1: vx_nospace - /dev/root file system full (1 block extent)
I checked again and I only see about 143MB of /etc and 158MB of /sbin and the size of my /dev/root is about 590MB.
Before planning a reboot of the system I would like to know if there's any other option.
Thank you very much in advance.

[Tommy Brown · Accepted solution]

Toni, I have had similar problem.. The Large file is still in use and cannot relinquish the Inode (I think) until the process has released it.
Tommy

[likid0]

what process was using that logfile??

probably you need to stop that process to regain the space.

check with lsof using the pid of the process who writes to the log you deleted, and look for big numbers in the SIZE/OFF column.

[Michael Steele_2]

Hi

The log file that you deleted, was still being consumed by a running process. This process is still trying to write to that deleted log file.

Try this:

cd /
# touch filename
# find / -xdev -type f -newer /tmp/aslam -exec ls -l {} +|sort -rnk5|head

You will get a file with no name, BUT, it will have an inode. Use ls -li / I to verify the inode number and file exits.

Now use 'lsof' or 'fuser' to id the pid and kill the process. Which is ultimately what you want.

Note that a reboot would be much easier.

[Dennis Handly]

>Michael: The log file that you deleted ...
>find / -xdev -type f -newer filename
>You will get a file with no name

Huh? If the file is deleted find(1) won't find it.

>Now use 'lsof' or fuser(1m) to id the PID and kill the process.

Yes, this is what you'll need to use.

[Toni Puga]

Thank you to everybody who answered.
I just restarted the process and everything went right, so the problem is fixed.
Thanks again and best regards.

Toni Puga

[Toni Puga]

Sorry for the repetitive messages. As I said previously, it's solved.