Frontend Server Disk Space Check

Owned by Joachim Hansen
Last updated: Oct 05, 2021 by Oliver Villumsen
3 min read

The PerformanceGuard frontend server automatically checks if there is enough disk space on the computer that runs the frontend server.

The frontend server will automatically stop accepting data from PerformanceGuard agents if there is less than 3 GB free disk space on the frontend server, and it will automatically resume accepting data from agents once there is more than 6 GB free disk space.

Technically, when the frontend server stops accepting data from agents, the PerformanceGuard Frontend Server service itself does not stop, but it stops listening on the agent/frontend server communication port (by default that is port 4001).

If the frontend server stops accepting data from agents because of limited disk space, it is important that you free up sufficient disk space on the computer that runs the frontend server. When you have freed up sufficient disk space, the frontend server will automatically resume accepting data from agents.

How Will I Know if a Frontend Server Stops to Accept Agent Data?

There are several indications:

You can only do this if you're a PerformanceGuard administrator.

Frontend Server Log

PerformanceGuard administrators can see it in the frontend server log file, available in the Status section of the PerformanceGuard web interface or directly under [PerformanceGuard installation folder]\collector\logs.

  • When the frontend server stops accepting data from agents, the following is logged:

    Not enough disk space. Stopped serving agents. [Disk space information]

    Stopping the collector server.

     What's ReportFileStore and spooler?

    They are frontend server folders under [PerformanceGuard installation folder]\collector\. Sufficient disk space is especially critical for those folders, and that's why the log message may mention them as part of its disk space information. Still, the main thing you need to do is to free up disk space on the computer than runs the frontend server.

  • When the frontend server resumes accepting data from agents, the following is logged:

    Enough disk space has become available to resume serving agents. [Disk space information]

    Creating a server socket.

    Server is running. [Agent/frontend server communication port information]

System Status Will Report FAILURE

PerformanceGuard administrators can see it in the PerformanceGuard web interface: When the frontend server stops accepting data from agents, the Agents Online status on the System Status tab (ADMINISTRATION > Status > System Status) will change to FAILURE.

If your organization uses multiple frontend servers, agents will automatically connect to another frontend server. When that's the case, the Agents Online status will remain OK. In that case, select the neighboring Frontend Servers tab. Because the PerformanceGuard Frontend Server service has technically not stopped on the affected frontend server, it will still appear with an Online status. However, you'll be able to recognize the affected frontend server, because it will have an Online Agents count of 0.

Use Server Surveillance Tool to Get Automatic Notifications

PerformanceGuard has a separate downloadable tool for monitoring the status of the PerformanceGuard system and alerting you by e-mail if something is wrong. The tool can thus automatically notify you if a frontend server stops accepting data from agents. This requires that you download, configure and run the tool. Read more in.

The tool can even write PerformanceGuard status messages in Windows' event log.

The tool won't notify you of this problem if your organization uses multiple frontend servers. In an environment with multiple frontend servers, agents will automatically connect to another frontend server if their preferred frontend server stops accepting data. When that's the case, the status of your PerformanceGuard system will remain OK, and that's why the tool won't notify you.