Ubuntu 24.04 LTS – Common Problem 008 – Diagnosis and Fix

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Disk space reaches 100 percent and services fail due to no space left on device.

Environment & Reproduction

Ubuntu 24.04 server with verbose logging or large apt/snap caches under /var.

Root Cause Analysis

Unchecked journal growth, stale package caches, crash dumps, or runaway application logs.

Quick Triage

Run df -h and sudo du -xhd1 /var to locate pressure quickly. Prioritize restoring minimal free space.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Inspect journald usage via journalctl –disk-usage and identify top directories with du. Check logrotate status.

Solution – Primary Fix

Vacuum journal logs, clean apt cache with sudo apt clean, and remove stale crash files after backup.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Extend logical volume, move heavy data to another mount, or archive logs to external storage.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

At least 15 percent free space remains and affected services start normally.

Rollback Plan

Restore archived logs if needed for forensics and revert retention settings to prior values.

Prevention & Hardening

Configure journald size caps and logrotate policies, with alerting for disk thresholds.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

No space left on device, write failed, apt cache overflow warnings.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

View all Ubuntu 24.04 LTS tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

journald.conf manual, logrotate docs, Ubuntu storage management guide.