One of our build servers recently ran out of disc space while trying to
copy an entire database. This led me to investigate the database cluster,
which is stored on a RAID array with a total size of 1TB. Running a query
to list all databases and their sizes did not add up to the amount of
space being used by Postgres, so I had a look at the pgsql/base directory.
It appears that there are a few large directories that do not correspond
to any database. I wonder if these have been left behind accidentally by
Postgres.
Here are the database directories:
Size (kB) Directory Database
32 pgsql_tmp
4352 11510 template0
4368 1 template1
4464 11511 postgres
5368 30103627 xav-userprofile-test
6096 8088167 outerjoins-userprofile-12.0-copy
8676 30103406 xav-test
10052 31313164 common-tgt-items-kmr-modmine
19956 1108178 modmine-3-preview-18-feb-2008
89452 14578911 common-tgt-items-kmr
118940 9952565 production-xav-13
201192 1257481 common-tgt-items-gtocmine-rns
296552 7040137 common-tgt-items-flyminebuild
1557160 9843085
1699624 18456655 common-src-items-flyminebuild
3376096 278561
3995276 9064702 production-unimine-pride-beta5
8528136 1257482 gtocmine-rns
40815456 29233051
42278196 27473906
47112412 28110832
47913532 32728815 production-flyminebuild:ensembl-anopheles
60519524 32841289 production-flyminebuild:go
67626328 27377902
69513844 32856736 production-flyminebuild:flybase-dmel-gene-fasta
74289908 32938724 production-flyminebuild:pubmed-gene
75786720 32941684 production-flyminebuild:biogrid
77361800 32944072 production-flyminebuild:update-publications
80160256 32947141 production-flyminebuild:create-references
81333908 32574190 flybasemine-production
86356140 12110825
87544200 33049747 production-flyminebuild
So on this server, the wasted space takes up 276GB, which is not
acceptable. I believe that if we re-initialise the cluster and re-create
the databases, these directories would disappear. Taking a look at the
directory 12110825, all the files inside were last accessed several
months ago. So, I have a few questions:
1. Is this space used for anything, or is it just abandoned? Is this a
bug?
2. How do I reclaim this wasted space in a safe manner?
3. How do I prevent this happening again?
Matthew
--
An ant doesn't have a lot of processing power available to it. I'm not trying
to be speciesist - I wouldn't want to detract you from such a wonderful
creature, but, well, there isn't a lot there, is there?
-- Computer Science Lecturer
--
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