Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 4 - INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION Administration Manual page 95

Chapter 5. Managing Storage
Provide temporary space
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Make archival backups
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Give up
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You might find that the user can reduce their usage if they have some amount of temporary space that
they can use without restriction. People that often take advantage of this situation find that it allows
them to work without worrying about space until they get to a logical stopping point, at which time
they can perform some housekeeping, and determine what files in temporary storage are really needed
or not.
Warning
If you offer this situation to a user, do not fall into the trap of allowing this temporary space to be-
come permanent space. Make it very clear that the space being offered is temporary, and that no
guarantees can be made as to data retention; no backups of any data in temporary space are ever
made.
In fact, many administrators often underscore this fact by automatically deleting any files in temporary
storage that are older than a certain age (a week, for example).
Other times, the user may have many files that are so obviously old that it is unlikely continuous
access to them is needed. Make sure you determine that this is, in fact, the case. Sometimes individual
users are responsible for maintaining an archive of old data; in these instances, you should make a
point of assisting them in that task by providing multiple backups that are treated no differently from
your data center's archival backups.
However, there are times when the data is of dubious value. In these instances you might find it best to
offer to make a special backup for them. You then back up the old data, and give the user the backup
media, explaining that they are responsible for its safekeeping, and if they ever need access to any
of the data, to ask you (or your organization's operations staff — whatever is appropriate for your
organization) to restore it.
There are a few things to keep in mind so that this does not backfire on you. First and foremost is to
not include files that are likely to need restoring; do not select files that are too new. Next, make sure
that you are able to perform a restoration if one ever is requested. This means that the backup media
should be of a type that you are reasonably sure will be used in your data center for the foreseeable
future.
Tip
Your choice of backup media should also take into consideration those technologies that can enable
the user to handle data restoration themselves. For example, even though backing up several giga-
bytes onto CD-R media is more work than issuing a single command and spinning it off to a 20GB
tape cartridge, consider that the user can then be able to access the data on CD-R whenever they
want — without ever involving you.
5.7.1.2. Excessive Usage by an Application
Sometimes an application is responsible for excessive usage. The reasons for this can vary, but can
include:
Enhancements in the application's functionality require more storage
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