free up space on /var

[Donald Thaler]

i need to free up space on /var so i can run swinstall.. there is a file :
/var/adm/sw/save_custom/PHCO_36028/jre_old.tar

that is 205mb... is there any reason i need to keep this file around, and if so is there any reason i couldn't copy it to another directory and then when swinstall is finished, copy it back ???

[Dennis Handly · Accepted solution]

>is there any reason I need to keep this file around

This is used to save the previous versions of your PHCO_36028 patch. If you are happy with PHCO_36028 or an even newer version, you can commit the patch and the save area will be removed.

>copy it to another directory and then when swinstall is finished, copy it back?

Yes, you can do that too. But cleanup may be more useful in the long run:
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1386206
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1269335

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Donald:

The file appears to be related to a problem that PHCO_36028 corrected, as documented in its patch notes:

/* begin_quote */

( SR: 8606485228 CR: JAGag38257 )
14. (Symantec Incident Number: 1082969)
While installing PHCO_33081, the old jre.tar file was not properly copied to a backup directory due to incorrect calculation of the required disk space.

Resolution:
Added check in the patch configuration script to copy the old jre.tar if enough disk space is available at backup directory.

/* end quote */

You should be able to copy it to another directory to regain space in '/var'. Once a superseding patch to PHCO_36028 has been applied, you could remove the old 'tar' archive.

If space in '/var' is desired, I'd run:

# cleanup -c 1

This safely removes rollback images of patches that have been superseded at least once.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Pete Randall]

I would recommend against messing with anything in /var/adm/sw. Generally these are fallbacks so you can back out patches, should the need arise.

Rather than risk your system by compromising your SD, consider running the cleanup command to remove older versions of patches.

"man cleanup for details"


Pete

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

1) Identify the problem areas: cd /var; du -k | sort -rn | more

2) cleanup will offer you the best bang for the buck, if you have been patching your system and the lowest amount of risk.

SEP

[T. M. Louah]

Good points above; cleanup /var with du and sort and use cleanup cmd. Additionally,
1. verify if you have any archived logs that you may suppress or move somewhere else.
2. look for any core file in /var:
# find / -type f -name core -exec file {} \;
once u determined importance you can delete them.
3. stuff in /var/tmp need to be identified and removed.
4. consider moving part of /var filesystem such as: "/var/adm/sw/save_custom/" to its own logical volume (filesystem).. there is documented procedures how2 achieve that.
T#