Free up storage space on a Cloud Server (Linux)

To be able to migrate your Cloud Server to VPS, you must have at least 100 MB of free space in the root and boot directories of your server. This article explains how to free up storage space on your Cloud Server so that it can be migrated.

To display the free space of the entire file system, enter the following command:

[root@localhost ~]# df -h

To display the used space of the entire file system, use the following command:

[root@localhost ~]# du -sh /

Log files become larger and larger over time. For this reason, it is advisable to empty them if you no longer need the data they contain.

To empty log files, proceed as follows:

• Check whether there are any log files on your Cloud Server that are taking up a lot of memory. To do this, enter the following command:

  [root@localhost ~]# ls -l -S -h /var/log

  
  After entering the command, the log files of the system programs are displayed in the /var/log directory. Example:

  [root@localhost ~]# ls -l -S -h /var/log
  total 351M
  -rw-rw----. 1 root utmp 183M May 7 09:12 btmp
  -rw-------. 1 root root 162M May 7 09:22 secure
  -rw-------. 1 root root 2.8M May 7 09:22 messages
  -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1.0M Apr 11 21:03 dnf.log.1
  -rw------- 1 root root 314K May 7 09:18 cron
  -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 312K Apr 16 10:00 dnf.librepo.log
  -rw-rw-r--. 1 root utmp 285K May 7 09:22 lastlog
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 128K Apr 16 10:00 dnf.log
  -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 77K Apr 16 10:00 dnf.rpm.log
  -rw-r----- 1 root root 16K May 7 08:50 cloud-init.log
  -rw------- 1 root root 15K May 7 08:50 vmware-vmsvc-root.log
  -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 15K Apr 16 08:19 hawkey.log
  -rw-r----- 1 root adm 13K May 7 08:50 cloud-init-output.log
  -rw------- 1 root root 7.7K May 7 08:50 vmware-vgauthsvc.log.0
  -rw-rw-r--. 1 root utmp 7.2K May 7 09:22 wtmp
  -rw------- 1 root root 3.9K May 7 08:50 vmware-vmtoolsd-root.log
  -rw------- 1 root root 1.3K May 7 08:50 kdump.log
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 253 Feb 10 2022 vmware-network.4.log
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 250 Mar 7 10:42 vmware-network.2.log
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 195 Mar 11 15:18 vmware-network.1.log
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 195 Feb 10 2022 vmware-network.5.log
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 193 Mar 7 10:37 vmware-network.3.log
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 193 May 7 08:50 vmware-network.log
  drwx------. 2 root root 99 Apr 16 03:31 audit
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 Mar 7 10:39 README -> ../../usr/share/doc/systemd/README.logs
  drwxr-x---. 2 chrony chrony 6 Jan 23 14:19 chrony
  drwx------. 2 root root 6 Feb 10 2022 private
  drwxr-x---. 2 sssd sssd 6 Feb 12 10:01 sssd
  -rw-------. 1 root root 0 Feb 10 2022 maillog
  -rw-------. 1 root root 0 Feb 10 2022 spooler
  -rw-------. 1 root root 0 Feb 10 2022 tallylog

• Open the desired log file with the vi editor and check whether you still need the content. To do this, adapt the following command and then enter it:

  [root@localhost ~]# vi /var/log/DATEINAME

  
  Example:

  [root@localhost ~]# vi /var/log/dnf.log

• If you do not need the entries in the respective log file, you can empty the log files. The file name remains unchanged. To empty a log file, replace the placeholder in the command listed below and then enter the command.

  [root@localhost ~]# > /var/log/DATEINAME.log

  
  Example:

  [root@localhost ~]# > /var/log/dnf.log.1

Plesk offers the option of creating regular backups of your entire server as well as backups of individual user accounts with websites or of individual subscriptions. If you regularly create backups with Plesk, we recommend that you delete backups that are no longer required.

You can find instructions in the following article:

Removing backup files from the server

To free up more storage space, you can delete large files that are no longer required. To do this, proceed as follows:

• Change to the desired directory.

• To display a list of the files in the directory, enter the following command:

  [root@localhost DIRECTORY]# du --block-size=MiB --max-depth=1 | sort -n

  
  Example:

  [root@localhost var]# du --block-size=MiB --max-depth=1 | sort -n
  1MiB ./crash
  1MiB ./local
  1MiB ./mail
  1MiB ./opt
  1MiB ./snap
  1MiB ./spool
  3MiB ./backups
  120MiB ./www
  141MiB ./cache
  672MiB ./tmp
  2231MiB ./lib
  4157MiB ./log
  7321MiB .

• Delete files that are no longer required. To do this, customise one of the commands listed below and then enter it:

  Delete single file:

  [root@localhost ~]# rm DATEINAME

  
  Delete multiple files:

  [root@localhost ~]# rm DATEINAME1 DATEINAME2

  
  Delete read-only files:

  [root@localhost ~]# rm -i DATEINAME

  
  Delete files and subfolders in a specific folder

  [root@localhost ~]# rm -r DIRECTORYNAME/*

To free up additional memory space, you can uninstall programs that are no longer required. In the commands listed below, replace the placeholder PACKETNAME with the name of the package you wish to uninstall.

CentOS 7

[root@localhost ~]# sudo yum remove PACKETNAME

Centos Stream 8 and 9, Rocky Linux 8 and 9 and AlmaLinux 8 and 9

[root@localhost ~]# sudo dnf remove PACKETNAME

Debian / Ubuntu

[root@localhost ~]# sudo apt purge PACKETNAME

Over time, old kernels accumulate due to updates. Depending on their number, these old kernels can take up a lot of memory. To delete old kernels, proceed as follows:

• To check the kernel version in use, enter the following command:

  [root@localhost ~]# uname -r

• To display a list of all kernel packages installed on the system, enter the following command:
  
  Debian / Ubuntu

  [root@localhost ~]# dpkg --list 'linux-image-*'

  
  CentOS, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux

  [root@localhost ~]# rpm -qa kernel

• To uninstall a kernel, customise the following command and then enter it:

  
  Debian / Ubuntu

  [root@localhost ~]# apt-get remove kernel-image-x-xx-xx

  
  CentOS, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux

  [root@localhost ~]# yum remove kernel-x.x.x-xxx

• Check the available memory. To do this, enter the following command:

  [root@localhost ~]# df -h