The temporary files are created as 'sparse' files: that is, the
space isn't actually allocated until it is used. In order to avoid
this, you should create the file first (using mkfile, for example),
and then use REUSE when creating the tempfile.

There are notes about this at Steve Adams's website
http://www.ixora.com.au/tips/creation/temp_disks.htm - but you
will also get a lecture about isolated disks, striping, and raw vs.
filesystem files. I'm sure these are important in many environments,
but I haven't found them to be the most important aspects of
my tuning efforts.

HTH,
-Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: Hitchman, Peter [mailto:peter.[Email Address Removed] Wednesday, October 31, 2001 7:09 AM
To: LazyDBA.com Discussion
Subject: Creating tempfiles does not reduce available disk space reported by
"df "


Hi,
We are running a veritas filesystem, on Solaris 8.
I have created a tempfile temporary tablespace, but when looking
at the filesystem where it is created with "df", the used/free space
stays the same, it does not change until the tablespace is used.
But I can confirm the file size using "ls -l". I have since managed to
create tempfiles that do not fit in the filesystem, that then causes the
dbw to get "out of space" messages from the OS and the file goes offline.
Does anyone know why this is?
Regards
Pete

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