📖 ~1 min read
Table of contents
Symptom & Impact
System reports no space left despite free GB available; yum and service logs fail to write.
Environment & Reproduction
Frequently caused by millions of tiny files in caches, temp directories, or mail/spool paths.
Root Cause Analysis
Inode table exhausted on target filesystem, preventing creation of new files regardless of block free space.
Quick Triage
Check `df -ih`, list high file-count directories, and inspect journalctl for repeated ENOSPC by system services.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
Quantify inode hotspots using `find` counts, review cleanup candidates, and verify no active process dependency.
Solution – Primary Fix
Purge safe high-volume files, clear stale yum cache, and restore inode headroom for normal operations.
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Solution – Alternative Approaches
Migrate heavy small-file workloads to XFS volumes sized with expected inode utilization patterns.
Verification & Acceptance Criteria
Inode usage drops below threshold and previously failing service and package operations recover.
Rollback Plan
Recover removed files from backup if accidental deletion impacts application functionality.
Prevention & Hardening
Automate tmp/cache cleanup and alert on inode utilization trends before saturation events.
Related Errors & Cross-Refs
`df -ih && find /var -xdev -type f | wc -l && journalctl -xe`
Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for rhel-7.
View all rhel-7 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →
Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.
References & Further Reading
Filesystem operations and troubleshooting documentation for inode management on RHEL 7.
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