Disk space management
Overview
IT teams and support agents often receive simple tickets around issues that can easily be traced back to a lack of disk space. In addition, certain updates, installations, or patches need a certain amount of space to function. Users with low disk space are then likely to submit IT ticket, taking up IT support’s valuable time.
This library pack offers a dashboard to quickly detect which devices are starting to run out of space and which ones urgently need cleaning, as well as self-help remote action campaigns to automate disk space reduction.
Virtual devices
This dashboard shows all devices by default, including virtual devices. Considering that the problem resolution for disk space issues on virtual devices can be different from physical devices, they can be selected, or de-selected, from the dashboard using the "Device type" filter provided.
Dependencies
This pack contains three remote actions and four campaigns:
Invoke Recycle Bin cleanup: Using an optional built-in campaign to obtain the user’s permission, this remote action clears the trash/recycle bin on Windows and macOS devices.
Campaign: Recycle bin cleanup invoke: Ask the user for permission to clear disk space.
Campaign: Recycle bin completed: Inform the user that the operation has finished.
Disk cleanup: Using an optional built-in campaign to obtain the user’s permission and the choice of action, this remote action clears the trash/recycle bin and, optionally, temporary files on Windows and macOS devices.
Campaign: Disk cleanup invoke: Ask the user for permission to clean the disk and provide them with a choice of light or deep clean
Campaign: Disk cleanup completed: Inform the user that the operation has finished.
Get disk health: This remote action retrieves disk health information from Windows devices, such as the SMART status of the disk, disk temperature, and write errors.
Changelog
v1.0.1.0 - 22 Nov 2023 - Removed exclusion for virtual devices from widgets now that they can be de-selected using the 'Device type' filter
v1.0.0.0 - 11 Aug 2023 - Initial Release
Pack Structure
The pack comprises a single dashboard with two tabs and three remote actions, two of which have associated campaigns as dependencies.
These remote actions and dashboard tabs are described below.
Remote Actions
Invoke Recycle Bin cleanup
This remote action should be executed on devices reporting less than 25GB of free disk space. When this remote action is run against a device, the “Clear recycle bin invoke” campaign will be launched, and the user will be asked permission to clear the Recycle Bin.
Once the remote action has successfully cleared the recycle bin, the campaign “Clear recycle bin completed” will be launched to confirm this to the user.
This remote action has two outputs:
Recycle bin size - The amount of data cleared from the recycle bin
Deletion done - If the recycle bin on the device was cleaned, the output is 'true'. Otherwise, this output shows as 'false'.
There are three parameters included with this remote action. Two parameters allow the operator to specify custom ‘invoke’ and ‘completed’ campaigns. The third parameter is:
Bin size in MB - The size in MB to be reached to initiate the action. This should be a number in MB between 100 and 10240 (10 GB)
Disk cleanup
This remote action should be executed on devices reporting less than 10GB of free disk space. Two campaigns are included with this remote action: “Disk cleanup invoke”, and “Disk cleanup completed”.
The “Disk cleanup invoke” campaign included with this remote action allows the user to choose a light or deep clean. A light clean only cleans the recycle bin. A deep clean on macOS cleans the bin and the user’s cache folder (/Users/$USER/Library/Caches/). A deep clean on Windows cleans the recycle bin and the user's temporary files.
This remote action has one output:
Cleanup space - The amount of disk space (in MB) freed.
There are five parameters for this remote action, mostly concerned with customized launching of the remote action with different or no campaigns. For more information, please refer to the remote action configuration page.
Get disk health (Windows only)
This remote action shows the following information about disk health on Windows devices.
PredictiveFailureSupport - Whether the disk supports the predictive failure feature or not
SMARTStatus - The current SMART status of the disk
DiskTemperature - Current disk temperature (in Celsius degrees)
DiskHot - Whether the disk is heating (current temperature higher than 'DiskMinimumTemperature' input parameter value)
WriteErrorsCorrected - The number of disk errors that have been corrected
WriteErrorsUncorrected - Number of uncorrected disk errors
WriteErrorsTotal - Total number of disk errors
We recommend configuring this remote action to run weekly on all active Windows client devices. Two optional parameters can be used when scheduling this remote action:
DriveLetter - Drive letter to retrieve disk information from. It must be a single letter from A to Z
DiskMinimumTemperature - The temperature (in Celsius degrees) from which the disk will be considered to be heating ("DiskHot" output)
Disk space management dashboard
This dashboard contains two tabs; disk space reduction and disk inventory and health,
This dashboard provides information on the general distribution of disk capacity, and free disk space, across all devices in the landscape. Devices with low disk space are identified so that the remote actions included with this pack can help resolve these issues.
Disk space reduction
Use this tab to identify devices needing urgent attention in terms of low disk space, track the results of the remote actions run on these devices, and then identify devices that may still require manual intervention to resolve the issue.
Devices with low disk space
The widgets in this section are based on two low disk space thresholds, marking the point at which action should be taken to resolve the issue. For devices with less than 25GB, clearing the recycle/trash bin may be sufficient. For devices with less than 10GB of free disk space, temporary files should also be deleted.
Use the KPIs in this section to produce a list of devices to be targeted by one of the two remote actions included in this pack:
Invoke Recycle Bin cleanup
Disk cleanup
The line charts in this section can be used to track the results of these remote actions. Ideally, the number of devices with low disk space should decrease over time, and these line charts can be used to check that trend.
Devices requiring urgent manual intervention
The KPIs in this section show devices with critically low disk space but crucially after the successful execution of the disk cleanup remote action. It is recommended that these devices are investigated further to determine what is taking up the free space and whether or not this can be resolved.
Remote action insights
Invoke Recycle Bin cleanup
This remote action should be executed on devices reporting less than 25GB of free disk space. The widgets in this section show the amount of disk space cleared, the proportion of successful executions and, more importantly, those devices where users declined to clear their recycle bin.
Disk cleanup
This remote action should be executed on devices reporting less than 10% free disk space. The widgets in this section show the amount of disk space cleared, the proportion of successful executions and, more importantly, those devices where the user declined to clear the disk. The optional campaign included with this remote action allows the user to choose a light or deep clean. A light clean only cleans the recycle bin. A deep clean on macOS cleans the bin and user cache folder (/Users/$USER/Library/Caches/). A deep clean on Windows cleans the recycle bin and the user's temporary files. The gauge widget in this section shows the proportion of executions in terms of light or deep, according to the choice made by the user or set by the administrator.
Disk inventory and health
Use this tab to easily assess the status of your landscape in terms of free disk space and overall disk capacity. Use dashboard filters to narrow down the results if required.
Disk inventory
A gauge widget shows the distribution of hard disk types (HDD and SSD) for all devices. Please be aware that some devices may contain one of each disk type and that this widget does not measure events, so the total number of devices may be slightly different from those listed in the tables below.
The tables in this section show the distribution of devices arranged by free disk space and disk capacity ranges, respectively. A high proportion of devices with low disk capacity and/or free disk space may point to a device provisioning issue or disk-hungry resources on those devices. The dashboard filters can further break down this distribution of devices.
Disk health (Windows only)
The widgets in this section are all based on the output of the remote action "Get Disk Health".
The key KPI to monitor is "Devices with disk predicted to fail". This reports any devices with disks that have reported a SMART status of "Predicted Failure". Any devices reported by this KPI should be investigated urgently for a disk replacement to avoid a loss of productivity or data.
Predicted failure definition: As many things can impact a hard disk’s life expectancy, manufacturers keep track of multiple metrics, including the number and duration of spin-up cycles, read/write errors, and even the helium pressure within the disk. If any of these metrics exceed a threshold, the disk is assumed to be wearing out and may be prone to failure.
Other factors affecting the reliability and longevity of disks are high temperatures and write errors, which can be monitored here. Any devices with uncorrected write errors should be monitored, as this could indicate impending disk failure.