Problem with /var

[Redman]

I've run into a problem with a remotely hosted server.
On it, there has been a /var partition configured of 510MB.

My plan is to create a /var directory on / (where there is enough space) and change the current /var partition into /var/log. But I have only root access through SSH.

Any good ideas how to make this happen without me needing to go there?

[anomie]

Here's a hypothetical (but untested) idea. Caveat emptor.

1. Create the new directory - /var-new.
2. Kill all daemons you can think of that'd be writing to /var. (This includes syslogd, sendmail, and anything that relies on a lock file, which is just about everything. You'll need to leave sshd running obviously.)
3. Carefully copy /var/* to /var-new, preserving timestamps and permissions.
4. Take a backup of your /etc/fstab, and then remove the entry that mounts /var to a separate filesystem. Since you're creating /var-new under /, you should not need any /var entry going forward.
5. Here's where things get tricky; rename /var to /var-old (may have to force it, which may get ugly).
6. Rename /var-new to /var.
7. Reboot.

If the box will not allow the /var renaming to occur on a multiuser runlevel, you may need to do this in single-user mode.

[Redman]

Thanks for the thoughts. I will give it a try (although I doubt renaming /var will work because ssh also has a process running).