No space left on device

[Tguitarful]

Hello,

 

My ESXi host stopped syncing with vCenter. When I checked the error, I realized it was disk space. Luckily I had SSH enabled and was able to try some commands. When I tried using the df -h command, I got the error:

"No space left on device

Error when running esxcli, return status was: 1

 

Errors:

/etc/vmware/esx.conf.LOCK.2544888: symlink failed: No space left on device"

 

I tried to follow the path in the link: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/318926/investigating-disk-space-on-an-esx-or-es.html

However, I have several Datastores shared in a cluster and it ends up showing me results from these as well and I cannot change these datastores, as the VMs remain active.

 

It would be wonderful to have your help in this case please.

[a.tinivelli]

I guess you should try deleting logs and redirecting them to another location, i.e. a capable datastore. More details on your installation (which boot device is used...) could help

https://www.nakivo.com/blog/change-vmware-esxi-logs-location/

[Tguitarful]

Hello a.tinivelli, thanks for reply,

The command mentioned in the link also returns the error "Connection failed". By the way, shouldn't these logs disappear after rebooting?
When I list the /var/logs path, it shows several files, I don't know if they are the same ones that I can delete. Some of them appear like this:

 vmauthd.log -> /scratch/log/vmauthd.log

All these files are small, about 1KB, I don't think this will solve the problem. I used vdf -h and it showed several places with free space, including RAM. Is there any way I can see where else it is being used, whether it is actually logs or temporary?

[vmotiontheinfo]

Hi @Tguitarful

Were you able to fix the issue? To answer your questions

>> shouldn't these logs disappear after rebooting?

Ideally yes, as by default, ESXi logs are stored in a temporary filesystem (/var/run/log or /var/log) that gets cleared on every reboot. This is designed to save storage space and keep the system running efficiently. However, it means that if your host crashes or is rebooted unexpectedly, you'll lose valuable troubleshooting information.

>> All these files are small, about 1KB, I don't think this will solve the problem

For Example, 1000 Files each sized 1KB makes up 1MB, so kindly revisit the files and its sizes & delete them accordingly.