How to Calculate Free Disk Space Available in an AIX Unix Server

Disk space is used for data storage.

AIX is a version of UNIX created by International Business Machines (IBM). AIX is used as the operating system for many different hardware platforms. Disk space is used both for storing of data and as virtual memory to supplement the physical memory available on the hardware. Running out of disk space will keep a user from saving additional data and also slow the machine down if it runs out of physical memory. Verifying the available disk space is a common task for a system administrator to perform.

Things You'll Need

• TELNET client software

Instructions

1. Open a TELNET (TErminaL NETwork) session with the AIX server. You must supply the server address, your user ID and password.

2. Type the command "df -k" and hit the "Enter" key at the command prompt.

3. The result will display on the screen with the first column showing the drive and the third column showing the available space free on that drive. The fourth column displays the percentage free for that specific drive.

4. Add all of the values in the third column to gather the total disk space free for the entire AIX operating system on this hardware.

5. Type "exit" and press the "Enter" key at the command prompt to log out of the AIX server and terminate the TELNET session.

References

• IBM: System Administration Toolkit -- Monitoring Disk Space and Usage

Resources

• PuTTY: A Free TELNET Client