# How to monitor disk space on another filesystem **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [September 29, 2020, 8:46am UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85 "2020-09-29T08:46:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![giomasce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@giomasce](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/giomasce)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 8:46am UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/1 "2020-09-29T08:46:49Z")
Hi! I am liking Netdata very much for monitoring my systems, so thank you for it. One particular great thing of Netdata is that it really detects a lot of things about my system and in fact I am learning from it a lot of new things to watch out for. The flip side of this is that if something is missing, it is more difficult to understand what is the problem and how to fix it. I tried to read the documentation, but I am still quite confused. Case in point, my system has two “main” mounted filesystems: `/` and `/media/something`. I would like to monitor the available space on both of them. Instead Netdata by default monitors the available space and inodes in `/tmp`, `/var` and `/var/tmp` (all of which are on the same filesystem, so have the same stats; but this is not a big problem), but nothing in `/media/something`. How can I add `/media/something` to the monitored filesystems for available space and inodes? (on the other hand, all physical disks are detected for monitoring IO performance, so that’s ok) Thanks for the help and the explanation! ---
**Author:** ![Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/thiago_marques_0/32/281_2.png) [@Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Thiago_Marques_0)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 10:35am UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/2 "2020-10-05T10:35:39Z")
Hello @giomasce , You do not need to say sorry, any problem that you have , please, let us you know. It was a pleasure to help you. Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![giomasce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@giomasce](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/giomasce)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2020, 12:14pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/3 "2020-10-03T12:14:30Z")
Hi Thiago, I can confirm that installing the last version of Netdata from your repository fixes the problem, meaning that I can now see the disk space graph. So apparently the only problem is that I was running an older version of Netdata. Thanks again for your patience, and sorry for not noting immediately that I was using an older version. All the best to you and to Netdata! ---
**Author:** ![Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/thiago_marques_0/32/281_2.png) [@Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Thiago_Marques_0)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/4 "2020-10-01T12:18:09Z")
With your answers, it is more clear what is happening. 🙂 Netdata `1.12` was released more than one year ago, if you prefer to use `deb` packages to install Netdata, you can use our repository([netdata/netdata - Packages · packagecloud](https://packagecloud.io/netdata/netdata)) and you can find more details here([Install Netdata with kickstart.sh | Learn Netdata](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/agent/packaging/installer/methods/packages), ). The `memory mode` that I cited could be part of the problem after Netdata `1.16`, considering that you are running an older, I suppose that `proc.plugin` was in a different stage that time. Your last paragraph let clear what was the problem for you. Today I fixed the problems that I was having to mount USB devices inside my VM and I could use an USB device and mount it on `/media/USB`. I had all charts for both local device (sda) and the USB device(sdb), so it looks like that the latest version does not have the problems that you are reporting. I do not know your company policies, but if you are allowed to add a new repository, could you try to use the latest stable Netdata? A last information, I did not install graphic mode on my VM, so everything that I did was with the user `root` and my USB device was not encrypted. If after the update the problem persists, please, let me know. Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![giomasce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@giomasce](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/giomasce)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 6:34am UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/5 "2020-10-01T06:34:02Z")
@Thiago-Marques-0 said in [How to monitor disk space on another filesystem](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/6): > I did everything using the newest Netdata compiled from the source. Considering everything I executed, I have few doubts for you: > > 1 - How did you install your Netdata? > 2 - What is your Netdata version? > 3 - Are you using the default configuration? Or did you change the parameter `memory mode`? Hi again, thanks for going that deep with me! 🙂 As for your doubts, I am using version of Netdata packaged in Debian stable, which is `1.12.0-1+deb10u1` (the Debian suffix referring to some Debian-specific change in the packaging). I never changed the parameter `memory mode`. I see this is older than the current Netdata release, so sorry for not having said this immediately. BTW, my original question was maybe not completely clear, but the manually mounted disk `/media/GioBackup` is actually detected and visible in Netdata’s sidebar, but it only shows IO performance related metrics. What I would like to see is also disk space metrics (and corresponding alarms when available space becomes too little). I see IO performance metrics for all disks, but space metrics only for `/tmp`, `/var`, and `/var/tmp`. ---
**Author:** ![Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/thiago_marques_0/32/281_2.png) [@Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Thiago_Marques_0)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/6 "2020-10-01T01:40:01Z")
@giomasce I tried to recreate the problem that you are having now, and I did not have success. I did the following steps: 1 - I created a VM with Debian 10 and kernel `4.19.132-1`. 2 - I make a new disk (dd if=/dev/zero of=/testing) 3 - cfdisk /testing 4 - mkfs.ext4 /testing After to have a disk that I could mount and umount whenever I needed. 5 - I started Netdata When I access the dashboard all the disks were there. I closed the dashboard 6 - After few minutes I ran : `mount /testing /mnt` 7 - I access the dashboard again. The disk was there, it was identified to /mnt 8 - I closed dashboard and I ran `umount /mnt` 9 - I opened the dashboard and the disk was not more there. I did everything using the newest Netdata compiled from the source. Considering everything I executed, I have few doubts for you: 1 - How did you install your Netdata? 2 - What is your Netdata version? 3 - Are you using the default configuration? Or did you change the parameter `memory mode`? Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/thiago_marques_0/32/281_2.png) [@Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Thiago_Marques_0)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 1:03pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/7 "2020-09-30T13:03:00Z")
@giomasce firstly sorry for the delay, but I was very busy yesterday. I will try to replicate the problem that you are having on Debian to understand the motive we have different behaviors on Slackware and Debian. It could be something related to kernels, but I cannot discard something on our packages. Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![giomasce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@giomasce](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/giomasce)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/8 "2020-09-29T12:18:36Z")
@Thiago-Marques-0 Hi, thanks for helping! I am using Debian stable. More precisely: ```auto root@panopticon:~# uname -a; grep -Hv “^#” /etc/*release Linux panopticon 4.19.0-9-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.118-2+deb10u1 (2020-06-07) x86_64 GNU/Linux /etc/os-release:PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)" /etc/os-release:NAME="Debian GNU/Linux" /etc/os-release:VERSION_ID="10" /etc/os-release:VERSION="10 (buster)" /etc/os-release:VERSION_CODENAME=buster /etc/os-release:ID=debian /etc/os-release:HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/" /etc/os-release:SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support" /etc/os-release:BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/" ``` However, note that the filesystem under `/media/something` (which is actually `/media/GioBackup` as you can see in my previous post) is not automatically mounted. It is mounted after startup, because it is an encrypted disk, but the mounting process is done manually be me over an SSH connection. Also, user `netdata` seems to be able to access `/proc/diskstats` (although filesystem usage information does not appear there): ```auto root@panopticon:~# sudo -u netdata cat /proc/diskstats 8 0 sda 1006501 326197 103241874 6857762 233421 433763 6580216 1553013 0 5311432 5311460 0 0 0 0 8 1 sda1 137 0 7936 2506 0 0 0 0 0 2344 2344 0 0 0 0 8 2 sda2 1006308 326197 103230802 6854558 233231 433763 6580216 1548300 0 5326536 5326540 0 0 0 0 11 0 sr0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 16 sdb 25486653 40942716 587813069 221164091 4201773 26191575 354981112 27812978 0 147216988 147217108 0 0 0 0 8 17 sdb1 25486616 40942716 587811861 221163967 4201773 26191575 354981112 27812978 1 150196940 150196940 0 0 0 0 7 0 loop0 41 0 244 3353 0 0 0 0 0 3264 3352 0 0 0 0 7 1 loop1 39 0 234 3759 0 0 0 0 0 3756 3756 0 0 0 0 7 2 loop2 58 0 2128 10503 0 0 0 0 0 5096 10488 0 0 0 0 7 3 loop3 49333 0 100674 495474 0 0 0 0 0 22856 494552 0 0 0 0 7 4 loop4 2 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 5 loop5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 6 loop6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 7 loop7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 254 0 dm-0 66429308 0 587810496 2379219676 30393348 0 354981112 1757241508 13 152444640 4230200324 0 0 0 0 ``` Thanks again for helping! ---
**Author:** ![giomasce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@giomasce](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/giomasce)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 11:33am UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/9 "2020-09-29T11:33:15Z")
@OdysLam I think Netdata should be able to see everything: ``` root@panopticon# ps aux | grep netdata netdata 19146 1.0 1.6 179808 33408 ? Ssl 10:36 1:34 /usr/sbin/netdata -D netdata 19166 0.8 0.7 65184 15916 ? Sl 10:36 1:17 /usr/bin/python3 /usr/lib/netdata/plugins.d/python.d.plugin 1 netdata 19167 1.3 0.1 4244 2860 ? S 10:36 2:07 /usr/lib/netdata/plugins.d/apps.plugin 1 netdata 20912 0.1 0.1 3784 2872 ? S 12:36 0:02 bash /usr/lib/netdata/plugins.d/tc-qos-helper.sh 1 root 21440 0.0 0.0 6228 884 pts/2 S+ 13:13 0:00 grep netdata ``` So clearly Netdata is running as user `netdata`. Then we can see that user `netdata` is able to navigate the relevant filesystem and query filesystem usage: ```auto root@panopticon:~# sudo -u netdata bash netdata@panopticon:/root$ cd / netdata@panopticon:/$ ls bin boot borg dev etc home initrd.img initrd.img.old lib lib64 lost+found media mnt opt proc root run sbin snap srv swap.img sys tmp usr var vmlinuz vmlinuz.old netdata@panopticon:/$ cd /media/GioBackup/ netdata@panopticon:/media/GioBackup$ ls backup_congelati borg cellulare duplicity du.txt giovanni lost+found nextcloud rsnapshot vecchio_irene netdata@panopticon:/media/GioBackup$ df File system 1K-blocchi Usati Disponib. Uso% Montato su udev 990108 0 990108 0% /dev tmpfs 200996 11056 189940 6% /run /dev/sda2 113815716 103270108 4694372 96% / tmpfs 1004976 0 1004976 0% /dev/shm tmpfs 5120 0 5120 0% /run/lock tmpfs 1004976 0 1004976 0% /sys/fs/cgroup /dev/loop0 4096 4096 0 100% /snap/hw-probe/828 /dev/loop2 98944 98944 0 100% /snap/core/9804 /dev/loop3 99456 99456 0 100% /snap/core/9993 /dev/loop1 4096 4096 0 100% /snap/hw-probe/755 /dev/mapper/GioBackup 3844638516 3539119952 110151408 97% /media/GioBackup tmpfs 200992 0 200992 0% /run/user/1000 tmpfs 200992 0 200992 0% /run/user/0 ``` ---
**Author:** ![Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/thiago_marques_0/32/281_2.png) [@Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Thiago_Marques_0)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 11:16am UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/10 "2020-09-29T11:16:24Z")
Hello @giomasce , The plugin that monitors the disk information is `proc.plugin` that is an internal plugin. I started my computer and I did not have any USB device connected, after a while I connected the device and I observed that it was recognized by Netdata. I have to say that between the first access to Netdata and the connection of the USB, I closed Netdata dashboard and I reopen again. Another thing that it is necessary to say, it is the fact that on my distribution(Slackware), the system is using `/run/media`, instead /media. For I understand better what is happening on your computer, please, can you run the following command on it and give us the output? uname -a; grep -Hv “^#” /etc/\*release The plugin expects to read data from `/proc/diskstats`, and I have to understand what your distribution is doing. Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![OdysLam](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/odyslam/32/98_2.png) [@OdysLam](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/OdysLam)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 9:18am UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-monitor-disk-space-on-another-filesystem/85/11 "2020-09-29T09:18:50Z")
Hey, Welcome to the community @giomasce, it really means a lot to us that you are enjoying the product. We can’t stress enough how important this is for us. According to our [documentation](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/agent/collectors/diskspace.plugin), this particular plugin requires that it has access to all the drives that it should be monitoring. By default is `all`, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Please ensure that `netdata` has the appropriate rights. We will get to the bottom of this! 💪