Re: [rdiff-backup-users] No space left errors

[Andrew Ferguson]

On Mar 4, 2009, at 2:02 PM, Bob Mead wrote:

> > > At some point recently, the destination server did fill up, which  
> > > generated a lot of 'no space left on device' errors in my rdiff- 
> > > backup backup.logs. I have since cleared out ~260GB of space on  
> > > the destination server, and yet when I try to backup the 27GB from  
> > > the v1.04 server, I am still getting a "no space left" error.
> >
> >
> > The temp space is probably full. See the FAQ for some discussion:
> Thank you Andrew:
>
> /tmp has ~330MB free [and is using 3% of /tmp's available space] and
> this backup session *has* worked sucessfully before. I did research  
> the
> particular file my original message referenced, it is not on the  
> origin
> server and is not in the backup directory on the destination  
> (mirror) -
> something about the regression sequence perhaps? I also tried to run a
> different rdiff session (see traceback below) which also generated a  
> no
> space error (and also is trying to regress). Is there an explicit  
> way to
> see where python is looking for temp space in my specific  
> installation(s)?
> Thanks,
>    ~bob
>
> forgot to append this last time:
>
> Previous backup seems to have failed, regressing destination now.
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>  File "/usr/bin/rdiff-backup", line 23, in ?
>    rdiff_backup.Main.Main(sys.argv[1:])
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
> 285, in Main
>    take_action(rps)
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
> 255, in take_action
>    elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
> 299, in Backup
>    backup_final_init(rpout)
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
> 396, in backup_final_init
>    checkdest_if_necessary(rpout)
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
> 903, in checkdest_if_necessary
>    dest_rp.conn.regress.Regress(dest_rp)
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/connection.py",  
> line 445, in __call__
>    return apply(self.connection.reval, (self.name,) + args)
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/connection.py",  
> line 367, in reval
>    if isinstance(result, Exception): raise result
> IOError: [Errno 28] No space left on device
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>  File "/usr/bin/rdiff-backup", line 23, in ?
>    rdiff_backup.Main.Main(sys.argv[1:])
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
> 285, in Main
>    take_action(rps)
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line  
> 253, in take_action
>    connection.PipeConnection(sys.stdin, sys.stdout).Server()
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/connection.py",  
> line 352, in Server
>    self.get_response(-1)
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/connection.py",  
> line 314, in get_response
>    try: req_num, object = self._get()
>  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rdiff_backup/connection.py",  
> line 230, in _get
>    raise ConnectionReadError("Truncated header string (problem "
> rdiff_backup.connection.ConnectionReadError: Truncated header string  
> (problem probably originated remotely)
> address@hidden's password:
> Connection closed by 163.41.144.4


Bob,

With these two clues "probably probably originated remotely" and "No  
space left on device" that means that rdiff-backup is running out of  
disk space on the remote end, in this case, the machine called  
"ironwood". Because it is happening during a regression, then, on the  
destination, it is probably running out of temp space. Does 'df -h'  
report anything tight there?

Rdiff-backup could be using /tmp on ironwood. The list of locations  
searched by Python is:

   1. The directory named by the TMPDIR environment variable.
   2. The directory named by the TEMP environment variable.
   3. The directory named by the TMP environment variable.
   4. A platform-specific location:
          * On RiscOS, the directory named by the Wimp$ScrapDir  
environment variable.
          * On Windows, the directories C:\TEMP, C:\TMP, \TEMP, and  
\TMP, in that order.
          * On all other platforms, the directories /tmp, /var/tmp,  
and /usr/tmp, in that order.
   5. As a last resort, the current working directory.

from: http://www.python.org/doc/2.5.2/lib/module-tempfile.html


Andrew