Why didn't the available space on my FSx for ONTAP volume update after I deleted large files, folders, or a large amount of data?

Short description

When you delete a large amount of data, large files, or directories, the available space that's created takes time to propagate. This is because the block ownership calculation scanner must complete before the blocks return to available space. The delay is expected behavior and doesn't affect volume performance.

To accelerate propagation of available space, use the async-delete feature. The async-delete feature asynchronously deletes directories from Linux and Windows client shares in the background. By default, when you use async-delete to delete files, the files move to a hidden directory that's named ontaptrashbin.

Resolution

To turn on async-delete, complete the following steps:

1.    Connect to your FSx for ONTAP cluster as fsxadmin.

2.    Set the privilege to advanced mode:

FsxIdxxxxxxxxxxxxxx::*> set -priv adv

3.    To turn on async-delete for the volume that contains the data that you want to delete, run the following command:

FsxIdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx::*> volume file async-delete client enable -vserver fsx -volume vol50_async

Info: Async directory delete from the client has been enabled on volume "vol50_async" in Vserver "fsx".

(Optional) You can also add the trashbin parameter to the command to specify a Trashbin Directory Name:

FsxIdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx::*> volume file async-delete client enable -vserver fsx -volume vol50_async -trashbin trashbin_directry_name

4.    To verify that async-delete is turned on for the volume, run the following command:

FsxIdxxxxxxxxxxxx::*> volume file async-delete client show -vserver fsx -volume vol50_async

Vserver Name: fsx
Volume Name: vol50_async
Is Client Async Delete Enabled: false
Trashbin Directory Name: -
Trashbin Directory Inode Number: 0

If the Trashbin Directory Name is specified, then run the following command:

Vserver Name: fsx

Volume Name: vol50_async
Is Client Async Delete Enabled: false
Trashbin Directory Name: trashbin_directry_name
Trashbin Directory Inode Number: 0

When a client then deletes data, the deletion is asynchronous and the space is reclaimed.