A systems administrator receives multiple alerts for a production database server. Automated database backups have been failing for the last 12 hours. The database application service is also failing to restart after unexpected crashes. When the administrator attempts to open the application's primary log file to investigate, the operation fails with an error indicating the action cannot be completed. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of these combined issues?
The server's data volume has insufficient disk space.
The RAID controller's cache battery has failed.
A recent OS patch has created a driver incompatibility.
The correct answer is that the server's data volume has insufficient disk space. A full disk volume explains all the reported symptoms. Database backups will fail if there is no space to write the backup file. A database service may crash if it cannot write to its logs or temporary files, and it will fail to restart for the same reason. An attempt to open a log file could also fail if the operating system or text editor needs to create a temporary file to display the content but cannot due to lack of space. The combination of failing backups, a crashing service, and the inability to perform a simple file operation strongly points to a lack of storage space on the critical volume.
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Why does insufficient disk space cause database backups to fail?
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How does a lack of disk space cause a database service to crash?
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Why might a log file fail to open if the disk is full?