Web Server Rescue
Read-only, can be slowInspect Release Disk Usage
A host is low on disk and release directories may be taking too much space.
Command
du -sh releases/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -10
Before you run this
System impact: Read-only. Can create load on large logs, directories, filesystems, or process tables.
When not to use it: Do not run recursive disk scans on extremely busy hosts if the extra I/O is unacceptable.
Expected output
The largest release directories, sorted by human-readable size.
System impact
Read-only, can be slow. Nothing changes. Disk usage is calculated and printed.
Scope this to the smallest useful path or service on busy systems.
Recovery / rollback: no state is changed.
When to use it
Use when deploys fail due to disk space or cleanup policies need review.
When not to use it
Do not run recursive disk scans on extremely busy hosts if the extra I/O is unacceptable.
Watch this command run
Command transcript
This sanitized transcript shows the commands and output shape without exposing host details.
$ find releases -maxdepth 2 -type f -print
releases/2026-06-25-1215/app.tar.gz
releases/2026-06-25-1215/app.txt
releases/2026-06-25-1200/app.txt
$ du -sh releases/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -10
0 releases/current
8.0K releases/2026-06-25-1200
12K releases/2026-06-25-1215
View commands shown
These are the commands shown in the sanitized transcript.
Commands shown
find releases -maxdepth 2 -type f -printdu -sh releases/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -10
next steps
Related commands
Find Large Directories with du
Once you know a filesystem is full, the next question is where.
du -xh --max-depth=1 /var 2>/dev/null | sort -h
Find Which Folder Is Eating Disk Space
When your Mac is full, start with the biggest folders in the current directory.
du -sh ./* 2>/dev/null | sort -h
Find Which Folder Is Filling the Disk
The disk was full. The fastest clue was the folder, not the file.
du -sh /var/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h
Show TLS Certificate Dates
The outage was not the web server. The edge certificate had expired.
openssl s_client -connect edge.test:443 -servername edge.test </dev/null 2>/dev/null | openssl x509 -noout -dates
Show TLS Certificate Names
The cert was valid, but not for this hostname.
openssl s_client -connect edge.test:443 -servername edge.test </dev/null 2>/dev/null | openssl x509 -noout -subject -ext subjectAltName
Study mapping
Use this as independent command practice: read the notes, predict the output, then compare it with the example before using a real shell.
Useful for
- LPIC-1 style command-line practice
- LFCS style performance tasks
- Linux+ style troubleshooting review
Independent study support only. No affiliation, endorsement, exam dumps, or real exam questions.