Root/non-user not able to delete files, Read only permission issue

sukhdip · 03-14-2013, 09:10 AM

Hi!! one strange problem occurred with my RHEL 5 box.
i'm having logs folder with ownership of non-root user. Created some files with root user under logs folder.
here is the scene:

Code:

-rw-r----- 1 root root  1048227 Feb 28 12:34 SystemOut_13.02.28_12.34.10.log
-rw-r----- 1 root root   415920 Mar 14 16:41 SystemOut.log
-rw-r----- 1 root root 20902127 Mar  2 22:15 trace_13.03.02_22.25.53.log
-rw-r----- 1 root root  2579956 Mar 14 16:41 trace.log

I'm not able to delete the files with both users.
Below error is coming up

Quote:

rm: cannot remove `SystemOut_13.02.28_12.34.10.log': Read-only file system

I tried lsattr and chattr, below the output of both:

Code:

------------- /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/xyz/logs/server1/

Code:

chattr: Read-only file system while setting flags on /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/xyz/logs/server1/

Chown and chmod not able to work. Again Read-only file system error is coming up.
Help needed also want to understand the reasons why its happening.

Thanks.

lleb · 03-14-2013, 12:40 PM

those files are owned by root, you must be root to do anything to them. the system is telling you exactly what is wrong.

sukhdip · 03-14-2013, 12:49 PM

I tried to delete those files using root only. Same read only file system error.
nothing is working.

neither root nor non-root is able to delete. #help

shivaa · 03-14-2013, 01:02 PM

If even root ain't able to delete, then it seems some pb with the drive or mount issue. You can once reboot your box and then try to remove files.
Also once check where these files are mounted and what are permissions on drive.

rknichols · 03-14-2013, 01:56 PM

As the messages keep telling you over and over, the filesystem is mounted read-only. No changes are possible. What to do next depends on whether the filesystem was intentionally mounted read-only, or became read-only due to an error. If intentional (seems unlikely for a log directory), it's just a matter of running "mount -o remount,rw /path/to/mount/point" to make it read-write. If an error caused the filesystem to become read-only, then an fsck will be necessary to clean up the problem.

Because of the wide variety of ways filesystems could be laid out and mounted, it's hard to give precise instructions. The output from "mount" and "df /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/xyz/logs/server1/" would be helpful.

chrism01 · 03-14-2013, 07:51 PM

Quote:

rm: cannot remove `SystemOut_13.02.28_12.34.10.log': Read-only file system

What rknichols said++; forget the other advice.

sukhdip · 03-15-2013, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rknichols

As the messages keep telling you over and over, the filesystem is mounted read-only. No changes are possible. What to do next depends on whether the filesystem was intentionally mounted read-only, or became read-only due to an error. If intentional (seems unlikely for a log directory), it's just a matter of running "mount -o remount,rw /path/to/mount/point" to make it read-write. If an error caused the filesystem to become read-only, then an fsck will be necessary to clean up the problem.

Because of the wide variety of ways filesystems could be laid out and mounted, it's hard to give precise instructions. The output from "mount" and "df /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/xyz/logs/server1/" would be helpful.

Thanks! I understand the issue atleast. I tried mounting, but failed. below is the output from df and mount.

Code:

df /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/xyz/logs/server1/
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VG01-LogVol04
                      19838052  14518428   4295624  78% /opt

Code:

mount -o remount,rw /opt/
mount: block device /dev/VG01/LogVol04 is write-protected, mounting read-only

Code:

mount -o remount,rw /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/xyz/logs/server1/
mount: can't find /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/xyz/logs/server1 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

Can you please help with fsck in detail. I never used it. and my server is production server

so scared to use it without following precautions.

rknichols · 03-15-2013, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sukhdip

Code:

mount -o remount,rw /opt/
mount: block device /dev/VG01/LogVol04 is write-protected, mounting read-only

The problem is not with the filesystem, but is due to an LVM logical volume that has been made write-protected. The question now is, "Why?" Again, since this volume contains a log directory, I doubt that it was done deliberately. Look for any LVM-related error messages near the top of /var/log/boot.log or perhaps in /var/log/messages* (which could be quite a way back if this server has not been rebooted in a while). Frankly, I don't know whether there are errors that would cause a logical volume to be made read-only as opposed to being simply deactivated, but it's something to look for.

You can change the volume to read/write by running "lvchange -prw VG01/LogVol04". You can then remount the filesystem read/write, but before doing that it would be a good idea to check it. You can safely run "fsck -n -f /dev/VG01/LogVol04" while the filesystem is still mounted read-only. The "-n" flag will prevent fsck from actually changing anything, but it will still report any problems it finds. A read-only filesystem should not have any problems noted.