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xfs_quota(8)                System Manager's Manual               xfs_quota(8)

NAME
       xfs_quota - manage use of quota on XFS filesystems

SYNOPSIS
       xfs_quota [ -x ] [ -f ] [ -p prog ] [ -c cmd ] ... [ -d project ] ... [
       -D projects_file ] [ -P projid_file ] [ path ... ]
       xfs_quota -V

DESCRIPTION
       xfs_quota is a utility for reporting and  editing  various  aspects  of
       filesystem quota.

       The options to xfs_quota are:

       -c cmd    xfs_quota  commands may be run interactively (the default) or
                 as arguments on the command line. Multiple -c  arguments  may
                 be  given.   The commands are run in the sequence given, then
                 the program exits.

       -p prog   Set the program name for prompts and some error messages, the
                 default value is xfs_quota.

       -x        Enable  expert mode.  All of the administrative commands (see
                 the ADMINISTRATOR COMMANDS section below) which allow modifi-
                 cations  to  the  quota  system  are available only in expert
                 mode.

       -f        Enable foreign filesystem mode.  A limited number of user and
                 administrative commands are available for use on some foreign
                 (non-XFS) filesystems.

       -d project
                 Project names or numeric identifiers may  be  specified  with
                 this  option,  which  restricts  the output of the individual
                 xfs_quota commands to the set of projects specified. Multiple
                 -d arguments may be given.

       -D projects_file
                 Specify  a  file  containing  the  mapping of numeric project
                 identifiers to directory trees.  /etc/projects as default, if
                 this option is none.

       -P projid_file
                 Specify  a  file  containing  the  mapping of numeric project
                 identifiers to project names.   /etc/projid  as  default,  if
                 this option is none.

       -V        Prints the version number and exits.

       The  optional  path  argument(s) can be used to specify mount points or
       device files which identify XFS filesystems. The output of the individ-
       ual  xfs_quota  commands will then be restricted to the set of filesys-
       tems specified.

       This manual page is divided into two sections  -  firstly,  information
       for users of filesystems with quota enabled, and the xfs_quota commands
       of interest to such users; and then information which is useful only to
       administrators  of  XFS  filesystems using quota and the quota commands
       which allow modifications to the quota system.

       Note that common to almost all of the individual commands described be-
       low  are the options for specifying which quota types are of interest -
       user quota (-u), group quota (-g), and/or project  quota  (-p).   Also,
       several commands provide options to operate on "blocks used" (-b), "in-
       odes used" (-i), and/or "realtime blocks used" (-r).

       Many commands also have extensive online help. Use the help command for
       more details on any command.

QUOTA OVERVIEW
       In  most computing environments, disk space is not infinite.  The quota
       subsystem provides a mechanism to control usage of disk space.   Quotas
       can  be  set  for each individual user on any/all of the local filesys-
       tems.  The quota subsystem warns users when they exceed their  allotted
       limit,  but  allows  some extra space for current work (hard limit/soft
       limit).  In addition, XFS filesystems with limit enforcement turned off
       can be used as an effective disk usage accounting system.

   Users' View of Disk Quotas
       To  most  users, disk quotas are either of no concern or a fact of life
       that cannot be avoided.  There are two possible quotas that can be  im-
       posed  -  a  limit can be set on the amount of space a user can occupy,
       and there may be a limit on the number of files (inodes) he can own.

       The quota command provides information on the quotas that have been set
       by the system administrators and current usage.

       There  are  four  numbers  for  each  limit:  current usage, soft limit
       (quota), hard limit, and time limit.  The soft limit is the  number  of
       1K-blocks  (or  files)  that the user is expected to remain below.  The
       hard limit cannot be exceeded.  If a  user's  usage  reaches  the  hard
       limit,  further  requests for space (or attempts to create a file) fail
       with the "Quota exceeded" (EDQUOT) error.

       When a user exceeds the soft limit, the timer is enabled.  Any time the
       quota drops below the soft limits, the timer is disabled.  If the timer
       pops, the particular limit that has been exceeded is treated as if  the
       hard limit has been reached, and no more resources are allocated to the
       user.  The only way to reset this condition, short of turning off limit
       enforcement  or  increasing  the limit, is to reduce usage below quota.
       Only the superuser (i.e. a sufficiently capable process)  can  set  the
       time limits and this is done on a per filesystem basis.

   Surviving When the Quota Limit Is Reached
       In  most cases, the only way for a user to recover from over-quota con-
       ditions is to abort whatever activity is in progress on the  filesystem
       that  has reached its limit, remove sufficient files to bring the limit
       back below quota, and retry the failed program.
       However, if a user is in the editor and a write  fails  because  of  an
       over  quota  situation, that is not a suitable course of action.  It is
       most likely that initially attempting to write the file  has  truncated
       its  previous  contents,  so if the editor is aborted without correctly
       writing the file, not only are the recent changes  lost,  but  possibly
       much, or even all, of the contents that previously existed.
       There  are several possible safe exits for a user caught in this situa-
       tion.  He can use the editor shell escape command to examine  his  file
       space  and  remove  surplus  files.  Alternatively, using sh(1), he can
       suspend the editor, remove some files, then resume it.  A third  possi-
       bility is to write the file to some other filesystem (perhaps to a file
       on /tmp) where the user's quota has not been exceeded.  Then after rec-
       tifying the quota situation, the file can be moved back to the filesys-
       tem it belongs on.

USER COMMANDS
       print  Lists all paths with devices/project identifiers.  The path list
              can  come  from several places - the command line, the mount ta-
              ble, and the /etc/projects file.

       df     See the free command.

       quota [ -g | -p | -u ] [ -bir ] [ -hnNv ] [ -f file ] [ ID | name ] ...
              Show individual usage and limits, for a single user name or  nu-
              meric user ID.  The -h option reports in a "human-readable" for-
              mat similar to the df(1) command. The -n option reports the  nu-
              meric  IDs rather than the name. The -N option omits the header.
              The -v option outputs verbose information. The -f  option  sends
              the output to file instead of stdout.

       free [ -bir ] [ -hN ] [ -f file ]
              Reports  filesystem  usage, much like the df(1) utility.  It can
              show usage for blocks, inode, and/or realtime block  space,  and
              shows  used, free, and total available.  If project quota are in
              use (see the DIRECTORY TREE QUOTA section below), it  will  also
              report  utilisation for those projects (directory trees). The -h
              option reports in a "human-readable" format. The -N option omits
              the  header. The -f option outputs the report to file instead of
              stdout.

       help [ command ]
              Online help for all commands, or one specific command.

       quit   Exit xfs_quota.

       q      See the quit command.

QUOTA ADMINISTRATION
       The XFS quota system differs to that of other filesystems in  a  number
       of ways.  Most importantly, XFS considers quota information as filesys-
       tem metadata and uses journaling to provide a higher level guarantee of
       consistency.  As such, it is administered differently, in particular:

       1.     The  quotacheck  command  has no effect on XFS filesystems.  The
              first time quota accounting is turned on (at  mount  time),  XFS
              does  an  automatic quotacheck internally; afterwards, the quota
              system will always be completely  consistent  until  quotas  are
              manually turned off.

       2.     There  is  no  need  for  quota  file(s)  in the root of the XFS
              filesystem.

       3.     XFS distinguishes between quota accounting  and  limit  enforce-
              ment.   Quota accounting must be turned on at the time of mount-
              ing the XFS filesystem.  However, it is possible to turn  on/off
              limit  enforcement  any time quota accounting is turned on.  The
              "quota" option to the mount command turns on both  (user)  quota
              accounting  and  enforcement.   The "uqnoenforce" option must be
              used to turn on user accounting with limit enforcement disabled.

       4.     Turning on quotas on the root filesystem is  slightly  different
              from  the  above.   For Linux XFS, the quota mount flags must be
              passed in with the "rootflags=" boot parameter.

       5.     It is useful to use the state to monitor the XFS quota subsystem
              at  various  stages - it can be used to see if quotas are turned
              on, and also to monitor the space occupied by the  quota  system
              itself..

       6.     There  is a mechanism built into xfsdump that allows quota limit
              information to be backed up for later  restoration,  should  the
              need arise.

       7.     Quota limits cannot be set before turning on quotas on.

       8.     XFS  filesystems keep quota accounting on the superuser (user ID
              zero), and the tool will display the superuser's usage  informa-
              tion.   However, limits are never enforced on the superuser (nor
              are they enforced for group and project ID zero).

       9.     XFS filesystems perform quota accounting whether  the  user  has
              quota limits or not.

       10.    XFS  supports  the notion of project quota, which can be used to
              implement a form of directory tree quota (i.e. to restrict a di-
              rectory  tree  to  only  being able to use up a component of the
              filesystems available space; or simply  to  keep  track  of  the
              amount of space used, or number of inodes, within the tree).

ADMINISTRATOR COMMANDS
       path [ N ]
              Lists all paths with devices/project identifiers or set the cur-
              rent path to the Nth list entry (the current  path  is  used  by
              many  of the commands described here, it identifies the filesys-
              tem toward which a command is directed).  The path list can come
              from several places - the command line, the mount table, and the
              /etc/projects file.

       report [ -gpu ] [ -bir ] [ -ahntlLNU ] [ -f file ]
              Report filesystem quota information.  This reports all quota us-
              age for a filesystem, for the specified quota type (u/g/p and/or
              blocks/inodes/realtime).  It reports blocks in 1KB units by  de-
              fault.  The -h option reports in a "human-readable" format simi-
              lar to the df(1) command. The -f option outputs  the  report  to
              file  instead  of  stdout. The -a option reports on all filesys-
              tems. By default, outputs the name of the user/group/project. If
              no  name  is  defined for a given ID, outputs the numeric ID in-
              stead. The -n option outputs the numeric ID instead of the name.
              The  -L  and -U options specify lower and upper ID bounds to re-
              port on.  If upper/lower bounds are specified, then  by  default
              only  the IDs will be displayed in output; with the -l option, a
              lookup will be performed to translate these IDs to names. The -N
              option  reports  information without the header line. The -t op-
              tion performs a terse report.

       state [ -gpu ] [ -av ] [ -f file ]
              Report overall quota state information.   This  reports  on  the
              state  of quota accounting, quota enforcement, and the number of
              extents being used by quota metadata within the filesystem.  The
              -f  option  outputs state information to file instead of stdout.
              The -a option reports state on all filesystems and not just  the
              current path.

       limit  [  -g  |  -p | -u ] bsoft=N | bhard=N | isoft=N | ihard=N | rtb-
              soft=N | rtbhard=N -d | id | name
              Set  quota  block  limits  (bhard/bsoft),  inode  count   limits
              (ihard/isoft)  and/or  realtime  block limits (rtbhard/rtbsoft).
              The -d option (defaults) can be used to set  the  default  value
              that  will be used, otherwise a specific user/group/project name
              or numeric identifier must be specified.

       timer [ -g | -p | -u ] [ -bir ] value
              Allows the quota enforcement timeout (i.e. the  amount  of  time
              allowed  to pass before the soft limits are enforced as the hard
              limits) to be modified. The current timeout setting can be  dis-
              played  using  the state command. The value argument is a number
              of seconds, but units of 'minutes', 'hours', 'days', and 'weeks'
              are  also  understood (as are their abbreviations 'm', 'h', 'd',
              and 'w').

       warn [ -g | -p | -u ] [ -bir ] value -d | id | name
              Allows the quota warnings limit (i.e.  the  number  of  times  a
              warning  will  be  send  to someone over quota) to be viewed and
              modified. The -d option (defaults) can be used to  set  the  de-
              fault   time   that   will   be   used,   otherwise  a  specific
              user/group/project name or numeric identifier must be specified.
              NOTE: this feature is not currently implemented.

       enable [ -gpu ] [ -v ]
              Switches  on  quota enforcement for the filesystem identified by
              the current path.  This requires the  filesystem  to  have  been
              mounted  with  quota enabled, and for accounting to be currently
              active. The -v option (verbose) displays the state after the op-
              eration has completed.

       disable [ -gpu ] [ -v ]
              Disables  quota  enforcement, while leaving quota accounting ac-
              tive. The -v option (verbose) displays the state after the oper-
              ation has completed.

       off [ -gpu ] [ -v ]
              Permanently  switches quota off for the filesystem identified by
              the current path.  Quota can only be  switched  back  on  subse-
              quently by unmounting and then mounting again.

       remove [ -gpu ] [ -v ]
              Remove any space allocated to quota metadata from the filesystem
              identified by the current path.  Quota must not  be  enabled  on
              the filesystem, else this operation will report an error.

       dump [ -g | -p | -u ] [ -f file ]
              Dump out quota limit information for backup utilities, either to
              standard output (default) or to a file.  This is only  the  lim-
              its, not the usage information, of course.

       restore [ -g | -p | -u ] [ -f file ]
              Restore  quota  limits  from a backup file.  The file must be in
              the format produced by the dump command.

       quot [ -g | -p | -u ] [ -bir ] [ -acnv ] [ -f file ]
              Summarize filesystem ownership, by user, group or project.  This
              command  uses a special XFS "bulkstat" interface to quickly scan
              an entire filesystem and report usage information.  This command
              can be used even when filesystem quota are not enabled, as it is
              a full-filesystem scan (it may also take a long time...). The -a
              option  displays  information  on all filesystems. The -c option
              displays a histogram instead of a report. The -n option displays
              numeric  IDs  rather  than names. The -v option displays verbose
              information. The -f option send the output to  file  instead  of
              stdout.

       project [ -cCs [ -d depth ] [ -p path ] id | name ]
              The -c, -C, and -s options allow the directory tree quota mecha-
              nism to be maintained.  -d allows one to limit  recursion  level
              when processing project directories and -p allows one to specify
              project paths at command line ( instead of /etc/projects ).  All
              options are discussed in detail below.

DIRECTORY TREE QUOTA
       The  project  quota mechanism in XFS can be used to implement a form of
       directory tree quota, where a specified directory and all of the  files
       and  subdirectories below it (i.e. a tree) can be restricted to using a
       subset of the available space in the filesystem.

       A managed tree must be setup initially  using  the  -s  option  to  the
       project command. The specified project name or identifier is matched to
       one or more trees defined in /etc/projects, and these  trees  are  then
       recursively descended to mark the affected inodes as being part of that
       tree.  This process sets an inode flag and the  project  identifier  on
       every  file  in  the affected tree.  Once this has been done, new files
       created in the tree will automatically be accounted to the  tree  based
       on  their  project  identifier.   An attempt to create a hard link to a
       file in the tree will only succeed if the  project  identifier  matches
       the project identifier for the tree.  The xfs_io utility can be used to
       set the project ID for an arbitrary file, but this can only be done  by
       a privileged user.

       A  previously  setup  tree  can  be  cleared from project quota control
       through use of the project -C option, which  will  recursively  descend
       the tree, clearing the affected inodes from project quota control.

       Finally,  the  project -c option can be used to check whether a tree is
       setup, it reports nothing if the tree is correct, otherwise it  reports
       the paths of inodes which do not have the project ID of the rest of the
       tree, or if the inode flag is not set.

       Option -d can be used to limit recursion level (-1 is  infinite,  0  is
       top  level only, 1 is first level ... ).  Option -p adds possibility to
       specify project paths in command line without a need for  /etc/projects
       to exist. Note that if projects file exists then it is also used.

EXAMPLES
       Enabling  quota  enforcement on an XFS filesystem (restrict a user to a
       set amount of space).

            # mount -o uquota /dev/xvm/home /home
            # xfs_quota -x -c 'limit bsoft=500m bhard=550m tanya' /home
            # xfs_quota -x -c report /home

       Enabling project quota on an XFS filesystem (restrict files in log file
       directories to only using 1 gigabyte of space).

            # mount -o prjquota /dev/xvm/var /var
            # echo 42:/var/log >> /etc/projects
            # echo logfiles:42 >> /etc/projid
            # xfs_quota -x -c 'project -s logfiles' /var
            # xfs_quota -x -c 'limit -p bhard=1g logfiles' /var

       Same as above without a need for configuration files.

            # rm -f /etc/projects /etc/projid
            # mount -o prjquota /dev/xvm/var /var
            # xfs_quota -x -c 'project -s -p /var/log 42' /var
            # xfs_quota -x -c 'limit -p bhard=1g 42' /var

CAVEATS
       XFS implements delayed allocation (aka. allocate-on-flush) and this has
       implications for the quota subsystem.  Since quota accounting can  only
       be  done  when  blocks  are actually allocated, it is possible to issue
       (buffered) writes into a file and not see  the  usage  immediately  up-
       dated.   Only  when the data is actually written out, either via one of
       the kernels flushing mechanisms, or via a manual sync(2), will the  us-
       age reported reflect what has actually been written.

       In addition, the XFS allocation mechanism will always reserve the maxi-
       mum amount of space required before proceeding with an allocation.   If
       insufficient  space for this reservation is available, due to the block
       quota limit being reached for example, this may result in  the  alloca-
       tion  failing even though there is sufficient space.  Quota enforcement
       can thus sometimes happen in situations where the user is  under  quota
       and the end result of some operation would still have left the user un-
       der quota had the operation been allowed to run its course.  This addi-
       tional overhead is typically in the range of tens of blocks.

       Both  of  these  properties are unavoidable side effects of the way XFS
       operates, so should be kept in mind when assigning block limits.

BUGS
       Quota support for filesystems with realtime subvolumes is not  yet  im-
       plemented,  nor  is the quota warning mechanism (the Linux warnquota(8)
       tool can be used to provide similar functionality on that platform).

FILES
       /etc/projects       Mapping of numeric project identifiers to  directo-
                           ries trees.
       /etc/projid         Mapping  of  numeric project identifiers to project
                           names.

SEE ALSO
       df(1),  mount(1),  sync(2),  projid(5),  projects(5).   xfs(5).   warn-
       quota(8),

                                                                  xfs_quota(8)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | QUOTA OVERVIEW | USER COMMANDS | QUOTA ADMINISTRATION | ADMINISTRATOR COMMANDS | DIRECTORY TREE QUOTA | EXAMPLES | CAVEATS | BUGS | FILES | SEE ALSO