Disk Space Management

Running out of disk space can have a severe impact on the SUSE Manager database and file structure which, in some cases, is not recoverable.

SUSE Manager monitors some directories for free disk space. You can modify which directories are monitored, and the warnings that are created. All settings are configured in the /etc/rhn/rhn.conf configuration file.

When the available space in one of the monitored directories falls below a warning threshold, a message is sent to the configured email address and a notification is shown at the top of the sign-in page.

1. Monitored Directories

By default, SUSE Manager monitors these directories:

  • /var/lib/pgsql

  • /var/spacewalk

  • /var/cache

  • /srv

You can change which directories are monitored with the spacecheck_dirs parameter. You can specify multiple directories by separating them with a space.

For example:

spacecheck_dirs = /var/lib/pgsql /var/spacewalk /var/cache /srv

For more information about volumes, see https://documentation.suse.com/suma/5.0/en/suse-manager/installation-and-upgrade/container-management/persistent-container-volumes.html.

2. Thresholds

By default, SUSE Manager creates a warning when a monitored directory has less than 10% of total space available. A critical alert is created when a monitored directory falls below 5% space available.

You can change these alert thresholds with the spacecheck_free_alert and spacecheck_free_critical parameters.

For example:

spacecheck_free_alert = 10
spacecheck_free_critical = 5

3. Shut Down Services

By default, SUSE Manager shuts down the spacewalk services when the critical alert threshold is reached.

You can change this behavior with the spacecheck_shutdown parameter. A value of true enables the shut down feature. Any other value disables it.

For example:

spacecheck_shutdown = true

4. Disable Space Checking

The space checking tool is enabled by default. You can disable it entirely with these commands:

systemctl stop spacewalk-diskcheck.timer
systemctl disable spacewalk-diskcheck.timer

Disabling the spacewalk-diskcheck.timer will stop periodic email alerts if the alert threshold is reached, but the warning notification will still appear at the top of the sign-in page.