Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 4 - INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION Administration Manual

Also see for ENTERPRISE LINUX 4 - DEVELOPER TOOLS GUIDE: Installation guide Installation guide Tuning guide Installation guide Manual

Contents

82 Chapter 5. Managing Storage• Backup-related issues• Performance-related issues• Adding/removing storageThe following sections discuss each of these issues in more detail.5.7.1. Monitoring Free SpaceMaking sure there is sufficient free space available should be at the top of every system administrator’sdaily task list. The reason why regular, frequent free space checking is so important is because freespace is so dynamic; there can be more than enough space one moment, and almost none the next.In general, there are three reasons for insufficient free space:• Excessive usage by a user• Excessive usage by an application• Normal growth in usageThese reasons are explored in more detail in the following sections.5.7.1.1. Excessive Usage by a UserDifferent people have different levels of neatness. Some people would be horrified to see a speck ofdust on a table, while others would not think twice about having a collection of last year’s pizza boxesstacked by the sofa. It is the same with storage:• Some people are very frugal in their storage usage and never leave any unneeded files hangingaround.• Some people never seem to find the time to get rid of files that are no longer needed.Many times where a user is responsible for using large amounts of storage, it is the second type ofperson that is found to be responsible.5.7.1.1.1. Handling a User’s Excessive UsageThis is one area in which a system administrator needs to summon all the diplomacy and socialskills they can muster. Quite often discussions over disk space become emotional, as people viewenforcement of disk usage restrictions as making their job more difficult (or impossible), that therestrictions are unreasonably small, or that they just do not have the time to clean up their files.The best system administrators take many factors into account in such a situation. Are the restrictionsequitable and reasonable for the type of work being done by this person? Does the person seem to beusing their disk space appropriately? Can you help the person reduce their disk usage in some way(by creating a backup CD-ROM of all emails over one year old, for example)? Your job during theconversation is to attempt to discover if this is, in fact, the case while making sure that someone thathas no real need for that much storage cleans up their act.In any case, the thing to do is to keep the conversation on a professional, factual level. Try to addressthe user’s issues in a polite manner ("I understand you are very busy, but everyone else in your depart-ment has the same responsibility to not waste storage, and their average utilization is less than half ofyours.") while moving the conversation toward the matter at hand. Be sure to offer assistance if a lackof knowledge/experience seems to be the problem.Approaching the situation in a sensitive but firm manner is often better than using your authorityas system administrator to force a certain outcome. For example, you might find that sometimes acompromise between you and the user is necessary. This compromise can take one of three forms: