/boot maintenance

[Tom H]

On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 9:44 AM, Dean Henrichsmeyer <dean at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>
> I realize this has been covered in the past but I've been observing more of
> it lately so thought I'd revisit it. Here's the problem I've been observing.
> Service providers that offer dedicated servers running Ubuntu default to
> 100MB /boot partitions. This is true of providers like Peer1, Softlayer,
> etc. Granted, you can fix that by re-provisioning the machine with your own
> partition preferences prior to putting your data/configuration on the host
> but most won't note the potential problem until it's too late.
>
> So what happens is if you use something that keeps the machine up to date
> like Landscape or something of your own, /boot is going to fill up fast. As
> far as I can tell, Ubuntu Server doesn't tell you that you need a reboot
> when a new kernel is installed like Desktop does and it's no time at all
> before /boot is filled up. If you're not monitoring your partitions and/or
> manually house cleaning /boot consistently, you're going to run into
> problems.
>
> I realize the ideal thing would be to get providers to change their defaults
> to something more modern that is in line with the size of today's disks and
> kernels. That being said, I also think it would be really nice to set a
> policy or something on the number of kernels you keep around. I'd like users
> getting dedicated servers running Ubuntu to have a positive experience. I
> don't know if anything is planned in this area but I thought I'd provide
> some feedback in case it factors in.

There was a ubuntu-server thread earlier this year about cleaning up
old kernels via a package. One or two scripts were proposed but I've
forgotten how the discussion ended, if it ended at all.