Error: Read-only file system

Resolving The Problem

The first place to check is with your System Administrators, ask them if any changes have been made to the file system in question. If the answer is none then the next place to look is in the /var/log/messages file for the previous few days. This log will show if any errors may have occurred that changed the status of the file system. As an example; the system below received an error on the device where the file system resides. As a matter of course the system then re-mounts the file system as read-only. If the file system was always read-write and then suddenly goes into a read-only state then most times it has been dismounted and remounted either manually or by the system for various reasons. If it has been the evidence and reasons why can be found in /var/log/messages.

Jul 26 21:19:55 netezza03 kernel: EXT3-fs error (device emcpowere1): ext3_readdir: directory #402050 contains a hole at offset 4096
Jul 26 21:19:55 netezza03 kernel: Aborting journal on device emcpowere1.
Jul 26 21:19:57 netezza03 kernel: ext3_abort called.
Jul 26 21:19:57 netezza03 kernel: EXT3-fs error (device emcpowere1): ext3_journal_start_sb: Detected aborted journal
Jul 26 21:19:57 netezza03 kernel: Remounting filesystem read-only

To resolve this you need to contact your System Administrator(s) and ask them to remount it in a read-write state.