deru_94
Level 1 (4 points)
Servers Enterprise

Q: OS X Server 5.2 HD space is slowly shrinking

Dear all,

 

I have an OS X Server Version 5.2 (OS X 10.11.6) and the space of the Server HD is getting slowly full (About 2GB per hour). I have also restarted the Spotlight indexing but it didn't solve the problem.

 

After a restart I get the space back (about 90GB), but now it startet again to get full...

 

I'm using the server as an OD-Server. I have heard about similar issues when you have iOS Network Accounts activated, or if you have time machine enabled. But this solved not the Problem.

 

Maybe someone has an idea of what is the problem?

 

Thanks for you help

Xserve, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), OS X Server 5.2

Posted on Oct 5, 2016 3:11 AM

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deru_94

Q: OS X Server 5.2 HD space is slowly shrinking

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  • Helpful answers

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Oct 6, 2016 5:33 AM in response to deru_94
    Level 6 (9,384 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Oct 6, 2016 5:33 AM in response to deru_94

    Two possibilities that occur to mind are that the server is running out of RAM memory and is having to use increasing amounts of virtual memory. This would be consistent with the space being recovered after a reboot. You can check this in Activity Monitor. It is I suggest best to have at least 8GB of RAM.

     

    The other is that some log files can very rapidly grow to large sizes using up many gigabytes of space, however this would not be consistent with the space being recovered after a reboot.

  • by deru_94,

    deru_94 deru_94 Oct 6, 2016 5:45 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Oct 6, 2016 5:45 AM in response to John Lockwood

    Hi John Lockwood,

     

    Thanks for your reply.

    The activity monitor says that only 4GB of the 12GB are in use. There should be enough space, I guess.

     

    The folder with log files is only about 200MB big. So I think it couldn't be the problem...

     

    Best regards

    Denis

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Oct 6, 2016 6:40 AM in response to deru_94
    Level 6 (9,384 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Oct 6, 2016 6:40 AM in response to deru_94

    It sounds like you have 12GB of RAM which is normally more than enough, however it is the amount being swapped in and out of RAM which is the important figure.

     

    /private/tmp and /private/var/tmp would be locations to look in to check for stuff that might be being thrown away automatically during a reboot.

     

    A command du -h would show you the size of each file and folder, don't run this from / or it will list everything, however you could try it in the above directories.

  • by deru_94,

    deru_94 deru_94 Oct 6, 2016 6:47 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Oct 6, 2016 6:47 AM in response to John Lockwood

    I have checked the two folder with du -h

    There are only some KB of data.

     

    Thanks for your reply

  • by dwbrecovery,

    dwbrecovery dwbrecovery Oct 6, 2016 9:41 AM in response to deru_94
    Level 3 (662 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Oct 6, 2016 9:41 AM in response to deru_94

    Hi deru_94,

    Check these four Folders under /Library/Server:    Logs, ProfileManager, ServerDocs, Caching

    - Caching ,  if used consider moving to another disk

    - ServerDocs, not the issue but still check:  sudo serveradmin status documents

    - Logs and ProfileManager, can grow if there is a configuration error somewhere in Server.app.

     

    hope this helps

    cheers, dwbrecovery

  • by deru_94,

    deru_94 deru_94 Oct 10, 2016 12:44 PM in response to dwbrecovery
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Oct 10, 2016 12:44 PM in response to dwbrecovery

    Hi dwbrecovery,

     

    Thank you for your ideas.

    Unfortunately in the 3 folders were only some MB...

    I have also booted in the recovery and did the first aid over the disk utility, but this also didn't solved the problem..


    Best

    deru_94

  • by dwbrecovery,

    dwbrecovery dwbrecovery Oct 11, 2016 6:45 AM in response to deru_94
    Level 3 (662 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Oct 11, 2016 6:45 AM in response to deru_94

    Hi deru_94,

    A couple more ideas to track down the use:

    - Run Activity Monitor viewing All Processes under the Disk Tab sorted on Bytes Written.

    - Use a cloning disk program, such as Carbon Copy Cloner, with the "SafetyNet On" option to store modified and deleted files between Task runs on the destination disk.    Trial available.

     

    hth as always, dwbrecovery