Re: [cobalt-users] PROBLEM WITH COBALT SERVER!!!

["Steven Werby" <steven-lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Harry Gibbens, Jr. <harryjr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I have a disk usage of up to 50MB.  This includes my webspaces, e-mails,
> and other reports (i.e. satistics).  Anything over 50 MB, my e-mail
senders
> recieve "fatal error message" from my ISP's server which happened once on
> last Monday (07/24).  From now on, I have to keep an eye on how MUCH disk
> usage I have on my server.  Otherwise, my customers would get the
> impression that my business has gone bankrupt!

It's not really that much trouble to keep an eye on your disk usage.  If you
have shell access (telnet or ssh) you can do the following:

1. "cd /home/sites/siteXY"  then "du -H" to see how much space you are using
everywhere except your users' mail spool inbox.
2. "quota -u username" to see how much each individual user is using of
their quota.
3. "quota -g siteXY" to see how much your site is using of its quota.

And of course you can see this info. from the GUI too.

> >because of the way the cobalt is set up (by the cobalt manufacturer, not
by
> >us), access to modify the log files requires a root login and
> >password.  We cannot alter the make of the server -- therefore we CANNOT
> >give you access to clean out the log files.  It is not by choice, but by
> >necessity that makes giving you access impossible.  That is the reason
that
> >you cannot have access to clean out the files yourself.   I am not trying
to
> >belittle your skills or intelligence by not giving you access.  I am
sure,
> >if it were possible, that you could go in and delete the files.  However,
it
> >is NOT possible.  If you want the files deleted, we need to do it for
you.
> >There is no way getting around that.
> <snip>

Either your system administrator is a liar, incompetent, lazy or is trying
to milk you for additional fees.  There are a number of things you could ask
your system administrator to do.  Here are some things your system
administrator could do for you:

1. Add an automated script to root's crontab to change the ownership of
/home/sites/siteXY/logs/access to be owned by your site admin username (for
example I'll call "siteadmin").  Then you will be able to delete and edit
that file whenever you choose.
2. Make the file group-writable.  Then you will be able to delete and edit
that file whenever you choose.
3. Modify the log rotation for your site so that when "access" grows to a
certain size it will be backed up in a compressed form (with .gz extension),
a new blank "access" will be created and only one compressed backup will be
kept (the next time "access" is rotated the old backup will be deleted).
This is very easy to accomplish.
4. Add an automated script to root's crontab to mail you the ouput of the 3
server commands I listed at the top of the email.  By itself, that won't
allow you to delete the "access" file, but it will allow you to easily see
what your disk usage is.  The script could be configured to mail you this
info at whatever frequency you need (daily would probably be sufficient).

All of the solutions I listed above would take a competent system
administrator no more than 2 minutes to implement with no further
intervention.  If your system administrator is unwilling or unable to do so
I would recommend taking your business elsewhere.

Steven Werby {steven-lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx}