/core taking over 3GB of space

[hedgehog]

Guys,

Just noticed the Disk /hdc3 (/) 83 % flashing yellow in WHM so I went to \"/\" and did an

#ls -l

only to find the /core file taking 3 GB + of space...

What is this file for?
Should I remove it?
How to fix this issue?

Thanks,
Hedgy

 

[feanor]

It\'s a single file \"core\" within your root partition? A core dump file is basically a dump of memory when perl fails on executing a particular script... it\'s the output. At least on redhat systems that is always the case, as far as I know.

I have never seen a core file 3 Gigs.... or anywhere even close. I would first say it would be \"safe to remove\"...... but then again I have never seen a 3 GB core file spawned.

:D Perhaps someone else has better experience/knowledge on this particular topic, I would definitely research further if I were you.

 

[feanor]

Actually come to think of it I think that can be caused by \"any\" program on a linux-type system. Did any of your vital services crash hard in the past day or so? Anything strange going on?

Perhaps runnings \"strings\" on the core file would be of use but then again you probably would take the machine down if you tried that on a file 3 GB (if it is actually a single file?).....

be careful.

 

[hedgehog]

Thank you for taking the time to reply;

I actually did have quite a system crash trying to re-install the JSP plugin...

Causing the file to be generated....

(That happened immediately before the \"growth\' (wouldn\'t know how else to call it)...

I assume it is safe to delete the file then, any last warnings before I do?

I am actually a bit reluctant to make a backup (understandably)...

Thanks,
Hedgy

 

[bdraco]

You can find out what created it by running file on ie. Here is a sample, I did killall -4 cpaneld to force cpaneld to crash and did file on the core file

# file /usr/local/cpanel/base/core
/usr/local/cpanel/base/core: ELF 32-bit LSB core file of \'cpaneld\' (signal 4), Intel 80386, version 1

core files are quite safe to delete. If you don\'t want your system to create core file you could put ulimit -c 0 in your rc.sysinit

 

[hedgehog]

thanks for all the help.

I deleted the core file... strange enough, the usage is still 83% and blinking yellow. for \'/\'

I have been unable to locate any file that might be causing this...

pretty strange huh?

hedgy

 

[M@tt]

WHM will take a while to update, and recognise space usage is not at 83%...

 

[hedgehog]

True,

It has still not updated though and I even checked it in SSH and the usage is still 83%...

 

[hedgehog]

the funny part is that I am not able to locate any particularly large file that may be taking all the space....

maybe the \"/\" refers to something other than the ssh \"/\" am I talking nonsense here?