Ubuntu 16.04 LTS /var partition full causing service failures

📖 ~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

Applications fail to write logs and package operations stop.

Environment & Reproduction

Busy Ubuntu 16.04 host with high log and cache growth.

Root Cause Analysis

Unbounded logs, cache, or crash dumps consume /var capacity.

Quick Triage

Identify largest directories and active writers under /var.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Use du and journal inspection to locate space spikes.

Solution – Primary Fix

Purge stale caches, rotate logs, and expand storage if needed.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Relocate heavy data paths and symlink with proper controls.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Free space remains healthy and failed services recover cleanly.

Rollback Plan

Restore moved data and previous mount configuration.

Prevention & Hardening

Set log retention limits and disk alert thresholds.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Correlate with inode exhaustion and package lock failures.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

View all Ubuntu 16.04 LTS tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

Ubuntu log management and storage capacity planning guidance.