Technical Briefs

ROHAN help Files

Over quota problems

Your own, personal, named, student account has 20MB of storage on the main account and 6MB of storage for your Email. If you go over your quota you will be unable to save files or Email messages until you remove some of the data. If, when you log onto ROHAN, the system notifies you that you are over quota, use the du (disk usage) and quota -v (current quota and disk usage) commands to find out what files have put you over quota.

X sessions create a file in your account with a "code" unique to your login that authenticates any attempts to do I/O on the X Terminal. If you're over quota, the "code" is lost and the X Terminal rejects any sessions from ROHAN. Since Telnet relies upon a different method that does not require creating a file, Telnet logins are not affected by being over quota. This allows you to login via Telnet (TERMINAL option on the X Terminals ) even if over quota.

There are several reasons why you might go over your quota. The most common one is if you use Netscape with the Disk Cache enabled. The cached files (in .netscape/cache) will often put you over quota. Usage of the Netscape disk cache is discouraged, and disabled by default on ROHAN.

If you have been using Netscape, your best bet is to enter the following:

rohan% rm  -r  .netscape-cache

This will remove all the files that Netscape stores for quick loading. The next time you start Netscape, select Options, then select Network Preferences, then Cache. Under Cache, set the Disk Cache size to 0 Kilobytes. A Netscape disk cache file can fill all available disk quota in one session.

Another common problem is with the Email storage capacity on ROHAN. Every student account has 1MB of storage space for incoming mail. If you go over your quota, the system will return the Email to the sender with a "user mailbox full" error.

You must delete enough Email to go below your quota to receive new Email. Using elm or pine, mark Email for deletion and then exit the package to delete the Email messages.

Finally, if you have any files named "core" that you didn't create, get rid of them. A "core" file is created when an application is terminated abnormally, the system stores a file that contains information about why the program failed. These files are often quite large and, though rare, can cause your account to go over it's quota.

If you have cleaned out your account as much as possible and you still need more disk space you have two options:

1. Try using /tmp for your downloads. Type:

   rohan% cd  /tmp

   When you run Netscape from the /tmp directory, you have unlimited disk space for downloads and storage. Files in /tmp remain for at least a day, except when the system reboots. Notice: You should remove these files as soon as possible! You will have no warning before the files are wiped off the system.

2. If more is still needed, there is a form in BA-134 to request that your quota be increased. The form can also be printed from the web at URL -- http://rohan.sdsu.edu/acct.shtml