How To
Summary
For system clean up or if trying to determine why system storage is full, refer to the Check "The Usual Storage Suspects" tool. This tool shows a summary screen listing the current system ASP size and percentage full and then when you press F5 to start scanning the "Usual Suspects", it will first check temporary storage, then history log files, spooled files, journal receivers, and finally displays system clean up settings and status of the QSYSSCD job. If one of the categories is taking up a lot of space, there are also detail reports that may help narrow down the "suspect" list even further.
Steps
When run for the first time, only the system information, system ASP size, and percent system ASP used are filled in. All other fields are blank, as shown below. After the first time, the screen will be filled in with data from the last completed scan.
The system information includes:
- System name (blurred in above screen shot)
- IBM i Version, Release, and modification level
- IBM machine type
- IBM model
- System serial number (blurred in above screen shot)
- Partition number
The instructions at the top, and in the status area for each "suspect", indicate that F5 should be used to start a scan. Pressing F5 will start the scan and update the screen with status as the tool runs. It will also show the date and time that the scan started.
After all of the "Usual Suspects" have been checked, all of the fields will show data and a completion message will be issued.
Temporary storage:
If temporary storage is high (more than 10% - 15%), press F9 and review the TempStorage.txt file to see the temporary storage summary report generated by the QMGTOOLS/DSPTSTGSUM command. More temporary storage tools are available on the QMGTOOLS/TMPSTG menu.
Sample TempStorage.txt detail report:
************Beginning of data**************
Temp Storage Summary for XXXXXXXX (V7R3M0 42A #######-8)
Collected 17 Apr 2026 15:45:22
.
System ASP . . . . . . . . : 286 G % of % of
% system ASP used . . . . : 71.92 ASP 1 Total
Total . . . . . . . . . . : 286 G ----- -----
Current temp used . . . . : 8346 M 2.9 2.9
Peak temp used . . . . . . : 10585 M 3.7 3.7
Leaked temp storage . . . : 12 M 0.0 0.0
.
SQE overall size . . . . . : 1833 M 0.6 0.6
SQE ACTIVE CURSOR SUMMARY
Total SQE cursors on the system - 36
Total SQE ROQ sizes on the system - 2290224 (2 MB)
Job with largest SQE temp usage - QDBSRV05 QSYS 451867 used 821720 bytes.
Cursor with largest SQE temp usage - CDCE038C74000000 used 777064 bytes.
.
Bucket groups:
Current Temporary Storage Peak Temporary Storage
--------------------------- ----------------------
LIC: 3.80 G 45.6 % 5.05 G 41.3 %
OS: 0.29 G 3.5 % 0.29 G 2.4 %
Jobs: 4.25 G 50.9 % 6.89 G 56.3 %
--------------------------- ----------------------
Total: 8.35 G 12.23 G
.
Current Top 5 buckets:
Bucket Bucket Name Temp Storage
------- ----------------------------- ---------------------
1 *MACHINE 1.96 G 23.5 %
9 *DATABASE SQE Heap 0.90 G 10.7 %
3 *PASE 0.44 G 5.3 %
65738 ADMIN2 QLWISVR 485608 0.40 G 4.8 %
65727 ADMIN1 QWEBADMIN 485609 0.35 G 4.2 %
------- ----------------------------- ---------------------
.
Current Top 5 Jobs:
Bucket Job Temp Storage
------- ----------------------------- ---------------------
65738 ADMIN2 QLWISVR 485608 0.40 G 4.8 %
65727 ADMIN1 QWEBADMIN 485609 0.35 G 4.2 %
65605 QPADEV0004 XXXXXXXX 486130 0.34 G 4.0 %
65888 ADMIN5 QLWISVR 485610 0.33 G 4.0 %
65675 QPADEV0001 XXXXXXX 486484 0.30 G 3.6 %
------- ----------------------------- ---------------------
.
Top 5 Job Groups (First 5 Characters of Job Name):
Name Temp Stg G % Jobs Avg G/Job Max G/Job
------ ------------ ----- -------- ---------- ----------
ADMIN* 1.47 17.7 8 0.18 0.40
QPADE* 0.64 7.7 9 0.07 0.34
QTFTP* 0.30 3.6 11 0.03 0.03
QSQSR* 0.20 2.4 22 0.01 0.02
QUSRD* 0.17 2.0 1 0.17 0.17
------ ------------ ----- -------- ---------- ----------
************End of Data********************
History log:
If the QHST files are taking up a significant amount of storage, take note of the number of days to keep "System journals and system logs" at the bottom of the screen, then press F9 and check the HistoryLog.txt detail file to see how many files exist and what date range they cover. If the date range is more than the number of days that system clean up leaves, that could mean that clean up is not running. Also, if the number of files is significantly more than the number of days to keep, that could be an indication of something abnormal filling up the history log - review of QHST messages should be done to determine if the quantity of messages is normal or not.
Sample HistoryLog.txt detail report:
************Beginning of data**************
QHST File Summary for XXXXXXXX V7R3M0 9009-42A*#######-8
Collected 2026-04-17 15:45:22
Found 38 history log files in library QSYS, totaling 30060544 bytes, dated 2026/03/19 to 2026/04/17
************End of Data********************
Spooled files:
If spooled files are using a significant amount of storage, press F9 to review the SpooledFiles.txt detail report. The detail report shows the size of the QSPL library and lists the output queues in ASP 1, showing the number of spooled files and the amount of storage they occupy. At the bottom of the report is an estimate of how much space is used by deleted spooled files (shown as "RCLSPLSTG DAYS(*NONE) return estimate). This value is calculated by subtracting the amount of storage used by spooled files from the size of the QSPL library. Note that there is overhead not accounted for by this calculation - it is only an estimate. If a particular outq is using lots of storage, review the spooled files on that queue to determine if they can be deleted or not, and if maybe they were generated by a rogue application that needs to be investigated.
Sample SpooledFiles.txt detail report -
************Beginning of data**************
Spooled File Summary for XXXXXXXX V7R3M0 9009-42A*#######-8
Collected 2026-04-17 15:45:22
Library QSPL: 1,124,229,120 bytes.
Spooled Files:
Library Out queue File count Bytes
---------- ---------- ------------ -------------------
QGPL QPRINT 1277 287,354,880
QUSRSYS QEZDEBUG 325 209,825,792
XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX 2827 181,538,816
QUSRSYS QEZJOBLOG 201 67,284,992
QSRVAGT QS9SRVAGT 4 294,912
QUSRSYS QDBGSRV 9 258,048
-------------------
Total: 746,557,440
RCLSPLSTG DAYS(*NONE) return estimate: 377,671,680
************End of Data********************
Journal receivers:
If journal receivers account for a large amount of storage, press F9 and review the JournalReceivers.txt file to see which journal receivers are using the most storage.
Sample JournalReceivers.txt detail report:
************Beginning of data**************
Spooled File Summary for XXXXXXXX V7R3M0 9009-42A*#######-8
Collected 2026-04-17 15:45:22
Found 649 journal receivers in ASP 1, using 48701372 kilobytes.
Journal Receivers:
JRNRCV lib Journal JRNRCV count Kilobytes
---------- ---------- ------------------- -------------------
QGPL QAUDJRN 472 47,916,612
QRECOVERY QDBJRNXRFQ 1 278,820
QRECOVERY QDBJRNFILE 1 213,372
QRECOVERY QDBJRNCOLM 1 168,164
QUSRBRM QJ1ACM 65 40,196
XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX 25 21,800
XXXXXXXXXX QSQJRN 17 9,860
QRECOVERY QSQJRN 1 9,316
XXXXXXX XXXXXX 11 6,380
XXXXXXXX QSQJRN 10 6,120
.
.
.
QSRVAGT QSJJRN 1 580
QNEWNAVSRV QNAVJRN 1 580
QSMU QNSCRJRN 1 580
QRECOVERY QSQTTJRN 1 580
QMGTC QYPSDBJRN 1 580
QUSRSYS QTOVDBJRN 1 572
************End of Data********************
Clean up settings and status:
System clean up jobs are scheduled to run at a particular time every day to keep messages, logs and system journals pruned so they do not fill up the system over time. Note: Cleanup does not do anything with application and user journals. The settings shown here are the same that are seen when running the CHGCLNUP command, and are provided for easy reference. The unique part of the scan here is that it checks the status of the QSYSSCD (System Scheduler) job. If the QSYSSCD job is not ACTIVE, then clean up will not run, meaning messages, logs and system journal receivers will not automatically be deleted and may fill up the system over time. To make certain that system clean up is helping keep storage under control:
- QSYSSCD job should be ACTIVE
- "Allow automatic cleanup" should be set to *YES
- "Time cleanup starts each day" should be set to a time when the system is up and running, not in restricted state or powered off
Note: There is no detail report for clean up.
Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
20 April 2026
UID
ibm17270014