Thread: Disk is filling up with large files. How can I clean?

Disk is filling up with large files. How can I clean?

From
Mikael Petterson
Date:
Hi,
 
I find our disk is filling up.
 
sudo find /var/lib -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} \; | awk '{ print $9 ": " $5 }'
/var/lib/rpm/Packages: 278M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16583: 392M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16588: 173M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16633: 106M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16644: 179M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16662: 438M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16665: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16667: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16668: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16780: 466M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16786: 182M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16788: 163M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16789: 315M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16790: 126M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16665.2: 403M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.7: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.6: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.9: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.8: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.6: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.4: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.5: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16668.3: 586M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.10: 458M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.1: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.2: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.2: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16668.1: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.3: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.3: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.4: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16665.1: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.5: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.1: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16668.2: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16667.1: 741M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/4652676: 502M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/4652688: 155M
 
How can I clean up?
 
What can I do to clean up. We are using pgsql 12.
 
Br,
 
//Mikael


 

 

Re: Disk is filling up with large files. How can I clean?

From
Torsten Förtsch
Date:
Filenames like 16665, 16665.1, 16665.2 etc all represent the same table (or similar). The number 16665 is called the file node.

To get a list of file nodes for a specific database you can run:

SELECT oid::regclass::text, relfilenode FROM pg_class;

The /16384/ in the path represents the database. To decipher that you can run:

SELECT datname, oid FROM pg_database;

Once you have all that information, you know which database to connect to and which tables are big. Then you can DROP/DELETE/TRUNCATE or so.

Useful functions in that context are pg_relation_size(), pg_table_size(), pg_total_relation_size() and some more. Check out the manual for more information.

Example:
SELECT oid::regclass::text, relfilenode, pg_relation_size(oid) as size FROM pg_class ORDER BY size DESC;


On Wed, Oct 9, 2024 at 10:10 AM Mikael Petterson <mikaelpetterson@hotmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
 
I find our disk is filling up.
 
sudo find /var/lib -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} \; | awk '{ print $9 ": " $5 }'
/var/lib/rpm/Packages: 278M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16583: 392M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16588: 173M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16633: 106M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16644: 179M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16662: 438M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16665: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16667: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16668: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16780: 466M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16786: 182M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16788: 163M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16789: 315M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16790: 126M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16665.2: 403M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.7: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.6: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.9: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.8: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.6: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.4: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.5: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16668.3: 586M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.10: 458M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.1: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.2: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.2: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16668.1: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.3: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16659.3: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.4: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16665.1: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.5: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16586.1: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16668.2: 1.0G
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/16667.1: 741M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/4652676: 502M
/var/lib/pgsql/12/data/base/16384/4652688: 155M
 
How can I clean up?
 
What can I do to clean up. We are using pgsql 12.
 
Br,
 
//Mikael


 

 

Re: Disk is filling up with large files. How can I clean?

From
Philip Semanchuk
Date:

> On Oct 9, 2024, at 5:52 AM, Torsten Förtsch <tfoertsch123@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Filenames like 16665, 16665.1, 16665.2 etc all represent the same table (or similar). The number 16665 is called the
filenode. 
>
> To get a list of file nodes for a specific database you can run:
>
> SELECT oid::regclass::text, relfilenode FROM pg_class;
>
> The /16384/ in the path represents the database. To decipher that you can run:
>
> SELECT datname, oid FROM pg_database;
>
> Once you have all that information, you know which database to connect to and which tables are big. Then you can
DROP/DELETE/TRUNCATEor so. 

Mikael, if you’re unaware of VACUUM FULL (as opposed to just VACUUM), you should read about that too.

Hope that helps,
Philip


Re: Disk is filling up with large files. How can I clean?

From
Ron Johnson
Date:
On Wed, Oct 9, 2024 at 9:02 AM Philip Semanchuk <philip@americanefficient.com> wrote:

> On Oct 9, 2024, at 5:52 AM, Torsten Förtsch <tfoertsch123@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Filenames like 16665, 16665.1, 16665.2 etc all represent the same table (or similar). The number 16665 is called the file node.
>
> To get a list of file nodes for a specific database you can run:
>
> SELECT oid::regclass::text, relfilenode FROM pg_class;
>
> The /16384/ in the path represents the database. To decipher that you can run:
>
> SELECT datname, oid FROM pg_database;
>
> Once you have all that information, you know which database to connect to and which tables are big. Then you can DROP/DELETE/TRUNCATE or so.

Mikael, if you’re unaware of VACUUM FULL (as opposed to just VACUUM), you should read about that too.

VACUUM FULL with an almost-full disk probably isn't the wisest idea.

--
Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
<Redacted> crustacean!

Re: Disk is filling up with large files. How can I clean?

From
Adrian Klaver
Date:
On 10/8/24 04:06, Mikael Petterson wrote:
> Hi,
> I find our disk is filling up.

Query the pg_stat_activity view:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/monitoring-stats.html#MONITORING-PG-STAT-ACTIVITY-VIEW

and look for rows that have with state showing 'idle in transaction'.

Report back what you find.

You should also check out this post:

https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/reasons-why-vacuum-wont-remove-dead-rows/


> What can I do to clean up. We are using pgsql 12.
> Br,
> //Mikael
> 
> 

-- 
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com




Re: Disk is filling up with large files. How can I clean?

From
Greg Sabino Mullane
Date:
On Wed, Oct 9, 2024 at 4:10 AM Mikael Petterson <mikaelpetterson@hotmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
 
I find our disk is filling up.
 
sudo find /var/lib -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} \; | awk '{ print $9 ": " $5 }'
... 

Those files only add up to about 30GB. That's pretty small these days : time for a bigger disk? Or perhaps the space is elsewhere: probably want to do something like 
sudo find / -xdev -maxdepth 2 -exec du -sh {} \; | grep -E 'G|M' | sort -g

Cheers,
Greg

Re: Disk is filling up with large files. How can I clean?

From
Sergey Fukanchik
Date:
Another possibility is orphaned files.
See https://www.dbi-services.com/blog/can-there-be-orphaned-data-files-in-postgresql/
and https://github.com/bdrouvot/pg_orphaned
--
Sergey

On Wed, 9 Oct 2024 at 19:02, Greg Sabino Mullane <htamfids@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Oct 9, 2024 at 4:10 AM Mikael Petterson <mikaelpetterson@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I find our disk is filling up.
>>
>> sudo find /var/lib -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} \; | awk '{ print $9 ": " $5 }'
>
> ...
>
> Those files only add up to about 30GB. That's pretty small these days : time for a bigger disk? Or perhaps the space
iselsewhere: probably want to do something like 
> sudo find / -xdev -maxdepth 2 -exec du -sh {} \; | grep -E 'G|M' | sort -g
>
> Cheers,
> Greg
>


--
Sergey