Troubleshooting
Problem
Backupios fails with "...0511-432 A write error occurred: There is not enough space in the file system..."
Symptom
Scenario 1 - Error when writing the backup image to a user-created file system
# /usr/ios/cli/ioscli backupios -file /backup/vio Backup in progress. This command can take a considerable amount of time to complete, please be patient... Creating information file (/image.data) for rootvg. Creating list of files to back up. Backing up 139525 files.............................. 35424 of 139525 files (25%).............................. 102762 of 139525 files (73%)..backup: 0511-432 A write error occurred: There is not enough space in the file system. backup: 0511-079 The backup media may be damaged. Use a different disk to run the backup. 0512-005 savevg: Backup Completed. The backup command completed with errors. The messages displayed on Standard Error contained additional information.
Scenario 2 - Error when writing the backup image to /home/padmin, even after excluding the Virtual Media Repository
$ backupios -file /home/padmin/vios_backups/co-vio01_mksysb -mksysb -nomedialib
/home/padmin/vios_backups/co-vio01_mksysb doesn't exist.
Creating /home/padmin/vios_backups/co-vio01_mksysb
Creating information file for volume group voptvg.
Creating list of files to back up.
Backing up 11 files...backup: 0511-432 A write error occurred: There is not enough space in the file system.
backup: 0511-079 The backup media may be damaged.
Use a different disk to run the backup.
0512-005 savevg: Backup Completed.
The backup command completed with errors.
The messages displayed on Standard Error contained additional
information.
Not able to save structure for Volume Group "voptvg".
Backup in progress. This command can take a considerable amount of time
to complete, please be patient...
Creating information file (/image.data) for rootvg.
Creating list of files to back up.
.
Backing up 138107 files...................backup: 0511-432 A write error occurred: There is not enough space in the file system.
backup: 0511-079 The backup media may be damaged.
Use a different disk to run the backup.
0512-005 savevg: Backup Completed.
The backup command completed with errors.
The messages displayed on Standard Error contained additional
information.
Cause
The file system specified with -file flag does not have enough space or the VIOS has a virtual media repository (VML) which is not being excluded.
Environment
PowerVM Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) 3.1
Diagnosing The Problem
1. Determine the "%Used" for the file system specified with -file flag. As padmin, run:
$ df -g
2. Determine if there is a virtual media repository configured on the VIOS. As padmin, run:
$ lsrep
3. If the VML is configured, check to so if it is mounted (/var/vios/VMLibrary), as it is the case in the following sample output.
Consider this scenario. Suppose /home is 60 %Used (6 of the 10 GB total file system size is used). If you are trying to create the backup image to a local directory within /home/padmin and the virtual media repository, /var/vio/VMLibrary, is not excluded from the backup image (by using -nomedialib flag), then the "...There is not enough space in the file system..." error would be valid in this scenario since /home only has 4 GB (40%) free, and teh repository is 59% used (>10 GB) .
Resolving The Problem
Scenario 1 - Error when writing the backup image to a user-created file system
Note that managing a VIOS partition via oem_setup_env (which includes creating a user file system via that shell) is not supported as noted at
Recommendation
1. Remove the user-created file system.
2. Ensure /home file system is not full, see Diagnosing Full File Systems in PowerVM VIOS .
3. If the VIOS has the virtual media repository configured, and it is mounted, retry backupios command using /home file system and exclude the virtual media repository from the backup using -nomedialib flag, i.e.
$ backupios -file /home/padmin/<my_backupios_file_naame> -mksysb -nomedialib
Scenario 2 - Error when writing the backup image to /home/padmin, even after excluding the Virtual Media Repository
Recommendation
Clean up /home file system.
By design, /home file system is 10 GB in size and should not be changed. Increasing file system space on a VIOS via oem_setup_env shell is not supported as noted at What is the purpose of oem_setup_env in PowerVM VIOS?
This file system is intended to be used as a "temporary" holding place. For example, when the VIOS needs to be updated, the VIOS software fixes can be placed in a /home/padmin subdirectory, but they should be removed once the VIOS update is complete.
Other common files that can easily fill up /home are ISO images that may have been ftped into /home/padmin or a subdirectory in order to populate the VIOS Virtual Media Repository (VML). This is commonly done on environments where there is no AIX NFS server. If the VIOS in question has a VML that already contains the ISO images, but those same ISO files still remain in a location within /home/padmin, they should be removed.
In summary, the %Used for /home file system should be pretty low, as previously shown. If it is not, determine what is using the space and clean up any files that may no longer be needed. For more details refer to
Diagnosing Full File Systems in PowerVM VIOS .Document Location
Worldwide
[{"Type":"MASTER","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB57","label":"Power"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SSPHKW","label":"PowerVM Virtual I\/O Server"},"ARM Category":[{"code":"a8m50000000L0LGAA0","label":"PowerVM VIOS-\u003EFILE SYSTEM"}],"ARM Case Number":"TS012600184","Platform":[{"code":"PF025","label":"Platform Independent"}],"Version":"3.1.2;3.1.3;3.1.4"}]
Was this topic helpful?
Document Information
Modified date:
11 April 2023
UID
ibm10870580