LVM logical volume full

When an LVM logical volume fills up, extending it is the tempting fix, but it hides whatever is filling the volume and spends free space the volume group may need. 2501 frees space safely, never extends the volume itself, and says whether growing it is really warranted.

The volume group has free space, so growing the volume looks like the quick answer. But if a service is logging errors in a loop, the bigger volume fills too.

What 2501 does

The LVM disk specialty brings the same investigation and cleanup discipline as on any full partition: it finds what is filling the volume and why, removes only what is safe to remove, and reports what each removal recovered. When safe cleanup is not enough, it hands over the numbers: what it recovered, what needs a service fix, such as runaway logging, what needs a person's decision, such as database files, and whether extending into the volume group's free space is recommended, and why.

You stay in control

• You choose the level: investigate only, act after a person confirms, or act on its own within your rules. The level is set per specialty, not per ticket.
• Storage changes stay with you: the agent never extends a volume or changes storage configuration; it recommends, and a person decides.
• Your rules apply: retention periods, and paths that are never cleaned unattended, such as data directories.
• Some actions are never allowed: blacklisted commands and hosts stay out of reach, whatever a ticket asks for.

Frequently asked

Can a volume be full with space left? Yes, when it runs out of inodes, usually because of a very large number of small files. The investigation covers inodes as well as space.

Can it just report what it would remove? Yes. In investigate-only mode it reports what fills the volume and what it would remove, and removes nothing.

Related

• Disk Manager LVM
• Guardrails: what an agent may never touch