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[LDM #LTE-486303]: LDM direstory slowly showing percent used increasing

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  • Subject: [LDM #LTE-486303]: LDM direstory slowly showing percent used increasing
  • Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:51:58 -0600
Hi Bill,

> We have received reports that over time the directory that files are
> being written to is showing an increase in percent used.
> 
> LDM writes files to the /data/Incoming directory. A separate process
> then moves these files to another location removing them from
> the /data/incoming.  Normally the /data/incoming show 2 to 3 percent,
> but over time some sites see these grow to 15 percent or higher. Doing a
> ls on the directory does not show any old file.  Stopping LDM and
> restarting  drops the percent used back to 2 to 3 percent.
> 
> Using ldm-6.6.5

I suspect that one or more pqact(1) processes are holding some large files open 
for a long time.  In UNIX, if a file is removed while a process has it open, 
then the directory entry for the file will be deleted (so that an ls(1) won't 
show it) but the file will still exist and can even be written to and read from 
by the process that has it open.  The file won't truly disappear until the 
process that has it open terminates (via the "ldmadmin stop").

I recommend using the lsof(1) and ls(1) utilities to determine what large files 
the pqact(1) processes are keeping open and then adding the "-close" option to 
the relevant FILE actions in the pqact(1) configuration-file or files.

Let me know if this diagnosis is all wet.  :-)

> Thanks you
> 
> --
> William Gery - KA2FNK
> Office 816-268-3152
> Cell   816-585-5211 note new number
> 
> Regional Systems Manager
> National Weather Service
> Central Region Headquarters
> 7220 NW 101st Terrace
> Kansas City, MO 64153-2371

Regards,
Steve Emmerson

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: LTE-486303
Department: Support LDM
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed