Issue Server 500 Error and Plesk inaccessibility due to Full Disk - Prevention tips needed

[Gary W.]

Server operating system version

Ubuntu

Plesk version and microupdate number

18.0.59

Hi everyone,

I recently encountered a critical issue where my server returned a 500 error, and Plesk was completely inaccessible. After some troubleshooting, I discovered that the problem was due to my disk being 100% full. Has anyone experienced this before? Are there any best practices or automated solutions to prevent the disk from filling up and causing such issues in the future?

My disk is currently at 70% capacity, but I'm concerned about managing space in the future due to increasing logs, swap usage, and other factors.

 

[Kaspar@Plesk]

What caused the disk to get filled in the first place?

 

[Gary W.]

A new website was added to Plesk and was taking up a lot of space. I've tried other tests, but I don't understand why Plesk stops working when the disk space is full. Shouldn't it instead prevent me from filling up the memory too much to avoid affecting its functioning?

 

[Kaspar@Plesk]

I've tried other tests, but I don't understand why Plesk stops working when the disk space is full.

Your OS needs ample disk space to be able to run, because most (if not all) applications (like MariaDB, Apache, Ngnix, ect, ect) need disk space in order to function. They can't operate if there is no space left to write data to.

Shouldn't it instead prevent me from filling up the memory too much to avoid affecting its functioning?

There are options available in Plesk that can be enabled to limit how much storage space usage for email accounts and website files per domain. You'd have to enable and configure those options manually. The Plesk monitoring tools can help keep an eye on resources usage (including disk space) and alert you when a threshold gets reached. But again, you have to enable and configure the threshold yourself.