From: kgermann@zeos.com (Ken Germann)
Subject: Re: SCO Unix 3.2.2, C News and lack of inodes
Organization: Zeos International, Ltd
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 00:17:38 GMT

In article <1992Oct10.053522.13166@xenitec.on.ca> news@xenitec.on.ca (xenitec.on.ca News Administrator) writes:
>Tom Haapanen writes:
>> We are running SCO Unix 3.2.2 with the latest C News software.  We have
>> a full feed with pretty rapid expiry, so I have been just barely managing
>> with a 200 MB news filesystem.  I was going to move the news spool to a
>> new 300 MB+ partition to allow a little bit more flexibility, but recently
>> I have been running out of inodes on that filesystem.  Now, the inodes
>> for the news filesystem are set at 65,535 already, which is the maximum.
>> 
>> What can I do to avoid running out of inodes every other night?
>
>Nothing, with the set-up you have.
>
>And the problem is bound to get worse, given the second derivative of the
>news flow.
>
>If you can't/won't upgrade to 3.2v4, so as to get the capability of
>symbolic links, then you have to expire more rapidly. I'm expiring maps in
>.2 day (they get copied to a different drive), control in .1 day, the sex
>groups in .7 day, and most others in 5.5 days, keeping just a few around
>for 7 or more days.
>
>My users either keep up or they don't.
>
>I do have 3.2v4, but I'm staying with a single 200 MB partition for the
>moment, trying to husband the resources. That second derivative will surely
>bite me in a few months, and I'll then take comp or alt off to another
>partition.
>
>-- 
One "fix" that I have implemented is /usr/spool is mounted on its own
file system. i.e. /dev/spool is a 100 MB EFS file system that is mounted
as /usr/spool. The advantages are that you have less of a problem with
the inode tables overflowing and you don't put your root file system at
risk because there isn't any disk space left in the event that news is
larger than expected or doesn't expire correctly. I realize that you
could have news stall if there isn't any disk space. But, I also needed
to make better use of the disk space on root. 

Mount Dir  Filesystem              blocks      used      free   %used
/          /dev/root               490002    422544     67458    86%
/u         /dev/u                  300000    201580     98420    67%
/usr/spool /dev/spool              294904    102116    192788    34%
/usr2      /dev/usr2               645118    340318    304800    52%
/usr3      /dev/usr3               645118    172314    472804    26%

I offloaded the /usr/spool directory to tape. After verifying that the 
backup was good for /usr/spool, I deleted all the files in /usr/spool.
mount /dev/spool /usr/spool. Restored the backup of /usr/spool. Checked
the file permissions to make sure they were all correct. This fixed
the problem with the inodes.

Any questions or comments on this implementation would be welcomed.
Post or E-mail. 

I intend to do the same with /tmp when I rebuild the system in the next
month or so.
-- 
Ken Germann              ZZZZ EEEE  OO   SSS    ZEOS International, Ltd.  
support@zeos.com   INET     Z E    O  O S       Technical Support Dept.
uunet!zeos!support UUCP    Z  EE   O  O  SS     530 5th Ave N.W.
800-228-5390      VOICE   Z   E    O  O    S    St. Paul, MN 55112
612-633-7337             ZZZZ EEEE  OO  SSS     FAX         612-633-4607
Newsgroups: biz.sco.general,comp.unix.sysv386,news.software.b