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Date:      Thu, 4 Jun 1998 12:16:35 -0400 (EDT)
From:      CyberPeasant <djv@bedford.net>
To:        guff@esther.falconsoft.com
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: /var fills up every night?
Message-ID:  <199806041616.MAA10956@lucy.bedford.net>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980604092330.25716A-100000@esther.falconsoft.com> from Tim Gustafson at "Jun 4, 98 09:26:46 am"

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Tim Gustafson wrote:
> hello
> 
> i have several FreeBSD machines, all of which run great, except for one
> that every night, the /var file system fills up to 108%.  by the time I
> get there the next day to see what's filling it up, it's down to like 9%.
> could this be a temporary file or something that's gumming up the works?
> 

These are the little var-elves cobbling together the bits for
the next day's work. Remember to set out milk and cookies from time to
time, and a wee cup of espresso coffee for Hacky, their chief programmer.

If you'd like to catch them in the act, edit the /etc/daily script.

Around line 115 there are lines like:

	echo "Checking subsystem status:"
	echo ""
	echo "disks:"
	df -k -t local
	echo ""

Adding a line like 
	du -k -a /var	>/home/elves
will show you a list of all files and their sizes.
	ls -laR /var	>/home/elves
will show more.  Note how I move it away from the email message,
and onto another file system.

There's some other instrumentation you could slip in there to
find out which process is writing, who owns, etc etc. My guess is it's
a big email in /var/mail or /var/spool/mqueue.

Dave
-- 
        DISCLAIMER: If it can be disclaimed, it is.
	DISCLAIMER: In particular, I don't represent any organization.

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