[Maia-users] amavis tmp dir huge: why?

[Robert LeBlanc]

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Stefan G. Weichinger wrote:

> today I noticed that /var on one of my servers was pretty filled up.
> 
> 23GB used of 30GB size was quite unusual, so I fired up "du" and found
> that /var/spool/amavis/tmp used 15GB alone.
> 
> My question: Why does that happen? Shouldn't the temporary files get
> deleted by amavisd-maia? Anything I should set up additionally?

In ordinary operation amavisd-maia cleans up its temporary files
automatically whenever an amavisd-maia child terminates cleanly.  Files
only get left behind when an amavisd-maia child suffers a fatal error,
or gets terminated abruptly (e.g. kill -9), such that it doesn't get a
chance to do its cleanup routine.

If you're amassing a growing number of files in the working directory,
check your amavisd-maia logs to see if there's any evidence of fatal
errors (grep for "TROUBLE").  If you find that you're experiencing fatal
errors on a regular basis, you should investigate those error messages
to pinpoint the cause and resolve it.  If those files date back many
months (i.e. a slow accumulation) you have a chronic issue to
investigate; if they snowballed very recently (i.e. a fast accumulation)
you have an acute issue to look into.  Again, your logs may provide some
clues.

Routinely deleting the contents of the working directory (e.g. as part
of your amavisd-maia start-up init script) can help ensure that you
always start with a clean slate, but this does nothing to solve the
underlying problem, which should be investigated regardless.

- --
Robert LeBlanc <rjl at renaissoft.com>
Renaissoft, Inc.
Maia Mailguard <http://www.maiamailguard.com/>

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