Monitor disk space on a dedicated server

Question: How can I configure a Unix server to tell me when the hard drive is getting full?

Answer: Unix, Linux, and Unix-like systems have a command called “df” that reports disk space information about the server’s file system. Entering the following command:

# df -P /

produces output like the following:

Filesystem 1024-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00 6983168 3824556 2798164 58% /

The next step involves configuring a shell script and setting up a cron job to periodically check the disk space and send a warning to notify you when the server’s file system is getting full. For a complete tutorial, see nixCraft.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Tags: command, cron, df, disk space, file system, reports, server