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All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

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Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#451

Post by eevilspock »

louloulou wrote: post #424
victor9000 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perfect example of the tragedy of the commons. If individuals don't create these balloon files then they won't be able to use the file server when they need it, yet by creating these balloon files the collective action depletes the shared resource of its main function.

If only there was some way to allocate resources based on their value to the user, like with prices or something.

That would be great if everyone were truly on a level playing field.

You could make that so in this shared computing scenario, but our broader world is systemically rigged in favor of some people and against others. Capitalism depends on the un-levelness of the playing field for cheap labor.

i.e. while it can be useful if prices are attached to commodities (with caveats around externalities etc), it is not a good thing that prices are attached to humans, making some people's being and work less valued than others.

Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#452

Post by prewett »

This reminds me of an old gamedev story that I have no idea how to find. The project was getting near to shipping, they had cut all the space they could cut, but they still needed another megabyte of space. After a week of this, the senior dev told the narrator to meet him in his office, and he closed the door. He opened one of the project files and deleted a 1 MB static array. "At the beginning of development I always reserve space for just this occasion," he said. Shortly afterwards he emerged from his office, announced that he had been able to find some extra space, and was lauded as a hero.

Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#453

Post by noxer »

Just because HN likes to bashes Windows. I tell you that Windows runs pretty much normal if the disk is full. Had that happen many times and intentionally did this for tests as well.

Even disconnecting the disk technically doesn't break the OS. Because of the "Windows To Go" feature, the OS can detects this and pauses.

(Note: Windows To Go is officially removed from current versions but the code that freezes is still there. However, whether that works with your hardware is basically a gambling... so yeah dont try at home/work.)

Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#454

Post by lostlogin »

njovin wrote: post #335
victor9000 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perfect example of the tragedy of the commons. If individuals don't create these balloon files then they won't be able to use the file server when they need it, yet by creating these balloon files the collective action depletes the shared resource of its main function.

This is similar to how some government agencies retain their budgets. At the end of the budget period they've only spent 80% of their allocated budget, so they throw out a bunch of perfectly good equipment/furniture/etc. and order new stuff so that their budget doesn't get cut the following year, rather than accepting that maybe they were over-budgeted to begin with. Rinse, repeat, thus continuing the cycle of wastin…

> This is similar to how some government agencies retain their budgets.

The non-government sector isn’t immune to this.

Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#455

Post by lostlogin »

skissane wrote: post #382
njovin wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is similar to how some government agencies retain their budgets. At the end of the budget period they've only spent 80% of their allocated budget, so they throw out a bunch of perfectly good equipment/furniture/etc. and order new stuff so that their budget doesn't get cut the following year, rather than accepting that maybe they were over-budgeted to begin with. Rinse, repeat, thus continuing the cycle of wastin…

Years ago I worked as a research assistant for a university. One day, my boss (a professor) pulled me aside for an impromptu meeting. "I have $5000 left in a research grant I need to spend this week or else it's gone forever – do you have any ideas of what I should spend it on?" Unfortunately I couldn't think of much. I suggested maybe we buy some more computers with it but I'm sure he'd already thought of that himse…

This is usually handled much more elegantly by senior academic staff.

You contact a department who’s services you use a lot, then you arrange to pre-pay for services. Ideally you negotiate a discount.

Then you use the service and state which grant to draw from.

This way you have grants paying for things that are completely unrelated to their intent, you have one nightmare of a billing system which no one understands and you get to use everybody cent.

Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#456

Post by JustARandomGuy »

_carbyau_ wrote: post #272
woko wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hoarders will buy the rest of it. During the 2-month lockdown a year ago, I would purchase 4 frozen pizzas at a time when I had a chance to buy them, because I was so upset that I could not buy one when I wanted a single one during the 2 previous weeks, because of hoarders who had been faster than me. People think of toilet papers, but it is not just that. Pasta, rice, flour, yeast, plenty of useful things went missi…

I noticed a weird thing here. All the regular pasta rapidly disappeared. Rice also was gone. But "Gluten Free"(I am a GFer) pasta - in this case, pasta made from rice - was fine! I amused myself with the idea that people:"would rather starve to death than eat that GF crap." :-)

Out of curiosity: did people really experience empty grocery shelves or are phrases such as "rapidly disappeared" meant more as hyperbole?

I live in a Chicago suburb, and while variety did decrease (I still can't get Coke Zero Cherry) the basics were always in stock throughout the pandemic time.

Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#457

Post by martyvis »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #364
woko wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hoarders will buy the rest of it. During the 2-month lockdown a year ago, I would purchase 4 frozen pizzas at a time when I had a chance to buy them, because I was so upset that I could not buy one when I wanted a single one during the 2 previous weeks, because of hoarders who had been faster than me. People think of toilet papers, but it is not just that. Pasta, rice, flour, yeast, plenty of useful things went missi…

Is fish not considered meat?

Not in some cultures. My youngest daughter isn't a big meat eater, and certainly hates seafood. She was on an organised tour to Spain with her youth orchestra so ticked the "vegetarian" box for meals. Inevitably her meal came with fish as the protein. Apparently in Spain, fish aren't considered as sentient like chicken or hoofed animals and hence are akin to vegetables.

Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#458

Post by phkahler »

rgj wrote: post #79

In the mid nineties I worked in a research institute. There was a large shared Novell drive which was always on the verge of full. Almost every day we were asked to clean up our files as much as possible. There were no disc quota for some reason. One day I was working with my colleague and when the fileserver was full he went to a project folder and removed a file called balloon.txt which immediately freed up a few p…

This happens at some restaurants - we'll save a table while you get the food. Half the place is people not eating be cause it's so busy.

Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#459

Post by burnte »

tlibert wrote: post #241
geocrasher wrote: post #124

For everyone saying "This isn't a real solution!" I'd like to explain why I think you're wrong. 1) It's not intended to be a Real Solution(tm). It's intended to buy the admin some time to solve the Real Issue. 2) Having a failsafe on standby such as this will save an admin's butt when it's 2am and PagerDuty won't shut up, and you're just awake enough to apply a temp fix and work on it in the morning. 3) Because "FIX…

Real Solutions (tm) are indeed nice, but hackers get shit done - this is an utterly shameless hack, and I do it myself.

It's a tool, and should be celebrated as such. It gives you breathing rom to actually solve the problem. It's an early warning system. :)

Re: All my servers have an 8 GB empty file on disk

#460

Post by MereInterest »

dahdum wrote: post #412
bluedino wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the right way to do it is with an archiving service/appliance

Archiving is likely solving the wrong problem, for legal reasons they don’t want those old emails hanging around.

Sounds like the retention policy is also solving the wrong problem. If for legal reasons you want to destroy any potential evidence, maybe it's a good idea to stop doing illegal actions.
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