Proxmox LXC increasingly occupies more storage space

[elbobo]

I am running a Proxmox v. 6.4-15 server hosted on a VM to host two LXC containers. Back when this machine was first deployed, it was as a means to urgently move the first of these LCXs to a new server as its original host was to be retired. What I did back then, knowing little to nothing about Proxmox, was to copy the ".raw" disk of the LXC and rebuild it on the new virtual server.

Since then the LXC works fine but I see a steady increase on the storage space it occupies, which -I am afraid- will lead to Proxmox running out of space.

I would greatly appreciate any help to troubleshoot this issue.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

[leesteken]

Can you try running a pct fstrim of the (shutdown) container? Maybe that will release the blocks of the deleted files inside the container.

 

[elbobo]

@leesteken

First of all, thank you for your reply. What you suggest is to first shutdown the LXC (vmid: 440) and then run the command "pct fstrim 440" on the host cli (not on the LXC), am I right?

 

[leesteken]

First of all, thank you for your reply. What you suggest is to first shutdown the LXC (vmid: 440)

Yes but I don't know if that's really necessary. Make a back-up first, since you cannot trust the advice of a random stranger on the internet.
EDIT: A quick test shows it works fine when the container is running, but those were not in RAW-file format. Shutdown does make your backup more reliable (no open files).

and then run the command "pct fstrim 440" on the host cli (not on the LXC), am I right?

Yes, run pct fstrim 440 (as root or sudo) on the console of the Proxmox host (or Shell inside the Proxmox GUI or via SSH or other terminal interface).

 

[elbobo]

Thanks again. I am planning some maintenance later this evening where I will take a backup of the LXC and then try your suggestion. I will keep the thread up to date when I have any results.