Managing disk quotas with fsdisk

What is fsdisk?

Fsdisk is a command-line utility that allows users to manage disk quotas on Unix-like operating systems. Disk quotas are a way to limit the amount of disk space a user or group can use on a filesystem. This can help prevent users from consuming too much disk space, which can lead to performance issues and potential data loss.

With fsdisk, system administrators can set quotas for individual users or groups, monitor disk usage, and generate reports on disk space usage. This tool is especially useful in multi-user environments where resources need to be shared among multiple users.

Setting up disk quotas

To set up disk quotas using fsdisk, the filesystem must first be mounted with the «usrquota» and «grpquota» options in the /etc/fstab file. Once the filesystem is mounted with these options, the next step is to initialize the quota database using the «quotacheck» command. This command scans the filesystem and creates the necessary quota files.

After the quota database is initialized, quotas can be set for individual users or groups using the «edquota» command. This command opens a text editor where quotas can be defined for each user or group. Quotas can be set based on disk space usage (blocks) or the number of inodes (files).

Monitoring disk usage

Once quotas are set up, administrators can use the «quota» command to monitor disk usage for individual users or groups. This command displays information such as the amount of disk space used, the quota limit, and the percentage of the quota that has been used. Administrators can use this information to identify users who are close to exceeding their quotas and take action to prevent this from happening.

In addition to the «quota» command, administrators can also use the «repquota» command to generate reports on disk usage. This command provides a summary of disk usage for all users and groups on the filesystem, making it easy to identify users who are consuming a large amount of disk space.

Enforcing disk quotas

Enforcing disk quotas is an important part of managing disk space in a multi-user environment. If a user exceeds their quota, they may be prevented from writing new files to the filesystem until their usage falls below the quota limit. Administrators can use the «edquota» command to adjust quotas for individual users or groups as needed.

In addition to enforcing quotas, administrators can also generate alerts when users are close to exceeding their quotas. This can help prevent users from running out of disk space and ensure that resources are allocated fairly among all users on the system.