topic Re: Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS in General Topics

Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS

jennyado — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:24:35 GMT

Hi everyone,

I’m currently managing a CloudGuard SMS running on Gaia OS in Azure.

While reviewing the disk layout through lvm_manager, I noticed that the /var/log (lv_log) partition has been allocated 2 TB.

We recently realized that Gaia Snapshots are failing because there’s no unallocated space left in the Volume Group (VG), and as I understand, Gaia snapshots use temporary LVM snapshots that require free space in the VG.

I tried reducing the size of /var/log using lvm_manager, but it doesn’t seem to provide an option to shrink existing logical volumes.

Is there any supported or practical method to reduce the size of /var/log on Gaia OS without reinstalling the system?
Or any alternative way to free up VG space to allow snapshots?

Version: R81.20
Environment: CloudGuard Azure

Appreciate any advice, workarounds or experiences you can share. Thanks in advance!

Re: Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS

emmap — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 01:20:43 GMT

Per documentation, XFS partitions cannot be reduced in size.

https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk95566

Re: Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS

the_rock — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 04:04:30 GMT

Not sure if it can be done using lvm_manager when in maintennce mode, but can confirm in the lab.

Andy

Re: Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS

G_W_Albrecht — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 06:03:57 GMT

That was part of the post already: I tried reducing the size of /var/log using lvm_manager, but it doesn’t seem to provide an option to shrink existing logical volumes.

Looks like you answer without reading the details, only just the title...

Re: Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS

the_rock — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 11:13:39 GMT

I know the sk says its unsupported, but I tested in my lab and worked fine, no issues, using lvm_manager from maintenance mode. Can you send output of current disk usage from lvm manager?

Andy

Re: Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS

jennyado — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 15:38:57 GMT

This output shows that the lv_log volume only increases in size and does not decrease.

Re: Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS

the_rock — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 16:13:21 GMT

Ah, got it, thats unfortunate then : - (

Andy

Re: Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS

jennyado — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:02:24 GMT

Thanks for the information.

I'll be doing a lab to follow the steps in sk156552, which mentions how to increase the space on an existing disk deployed in an Azure VM. This way, I can see if the additional space I add appears as unallocated space, allowing me to perform Gaia Snapshots.

Re: Reducing /var/log partition size on Gaia OS

the_rock — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:08:25 GMT

Sounds like a good plan.

Andy