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name: altinity-expert-clickhouse-storage description: Diagnose ClickHouse disk usage, compression efficiency, part sizes, and storage bottlenecks. Use for disk space issues and slow IO.

Storage and Disk Usage Analysis

Diagnose disk usage, compression efficiency, part sizes, and storage bottlenecks.

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Quick Diagnostics

1. Disk Space Audit

select
    name as disk_name,
    path,
    type,
    formatReadableSize(total_space) as total,
    formatReadableSize(free_space) as free,
    formatReadableSize(unreserved_space) as unreserved,
    round(100.0 * (total_space - free_space) / total_space, 1) as used_pct,
    multiIf(used_pct > 90, 'Critical', used_pct > 85, 'Major', used_pct > 80, 'Moderate', 'OK') as severity
from system.disks
order by used_pct desc

2. Storage by Database

select
    database,
    count() as tables,
    sum(total_rows) as total_rows,
    formatReadableSize(sum(total_bytes)) as total_size,
    formatReadableSize(sum(total_bytes) / nullIf(sum(total_rows), 0)) as avg_row_size
from system.tables
where engine like '%MergeTree%'
group by database
order by sum(total_bytes) desc

3. Top Tables by Size

select
    database,
    name,
    engine,
    formatReadableSize(total_bytes) as size,
    formatReadableSize(total_rows) as rows,
    formatReadableSize(total_bytes / nullIf(total_rows, 0)) as avg_row_size,
    (select count() from system.parts where database = t.database and table = t.name and active) as parts
from system.tables t
where engine like '%MergeTree%'
order by total_bytes desc
limit 30

4. Disk Usage by Path

select
    substr(path, 1, position(path, '/store/')) as disk_path,
    formatReadableSize(sum(bytes_on_disk)) as used,
    count() as parts,
    uniq(database, table) as tables
from system.parts
where active
group by disk_path
order by sum(bytes_on_disk) desc

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Compression Analysis

Overall Compression Ratio

select
    formatReadableSize(sum(data_compressed_bytes)) as compressed,
    formatReadableSize(sum(data_uncompressed_bytes)) as uncompressed,
    round(sum(data_uncompressed_bytes) / nullIf(sum(data_compressed_bytes), 0), 2) as ratio
from system.columns
where database not in ('system', 'INFORMATION_SCHEMA', 'information_schema')

Compression by Table

select
    database,
    table,
    formatReadableSize(sum(data_compressed_bytes)) as compressed,
    formatReadableSize(sum(data_uncompressed_bytes)) as uncompressed,
    round(sum(data_uncompressed_bytes) / nullIf(sum(data_compressed_bytes), 0), 2) as ratio,
    if(ratio < 2, 'Poor', if(ratio < 5, 'OK', 'Good')) as compression_quality
from system.columns
where database not in ('system', 'INFORMATION_SCHEMA', 'information_schema')
group by database, table
having sum(data_compressed_bytes) > 100000000  -- > 100MB
order by sum(data_compressed_bytes) desc
limit 30

Columns with Poor Compression

select
    database,
    table,
    name as column,
    type,
    compression_codec,
    formatReadableSize(data_compressed_bytes) as compressed,
    formatReadableSize(data_uncompressed_bytes) as uncompressed,
    round(data_uncompressed_bytes / nullIf(data_compressed_bytes, 0), 2) as ratio
from system.columns
where database not in ('system', 'INFORMATION_SCHEMA', 'information_schema')
  and data_compressed_bytes > 100000000  -- > 100MB
  and data_uncompressed_bytes / nullIf(data_compressed_bytes, 0) < 2
order by data_compressed_bytes desc
limit 30

Solutions for poor compression:

• Add explicit codec: CODEC(ZSTD(3))
• For sequential integers: CODEC(Delta, ZSTD)
• For timestamps: CODEC(DoubleDelta, ZSTD)
• For low-cardinality strings: LowCardinality(String)

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Part Size Analysis

Part Size Distribution

select
    database,
    table,
    count() as parts,
    formatReadableSize(min(bytes_on_disk)) as min_part,
    formatReadableSize(median(bytes_on_disk)) as median_part,
    formatReadableSize(max(bytes_on_disk)) as max_part,
    formatReadableSize(sum(bytes_on_disk)) as total_size
from system.parts
where active and database not in ('system', 'INFORMATION_SCHEMA', 'information_schema')
group by database, table
order by sum(bytes_on_disk) desc
limit 30

Small Parts Detection

select
    database,
    table,
    countIf(bytes_on_disk < 1000000) as tiny_parts_under_1mb,
    countIf(bytes_on_disk < 10000000) as small_parts_under_10mb,
    count() as total_parts,
    round(100.0 * countIf(bytes_on_disk < 10000000) / count(), 1) as small_pct
from system.parts
where active and database not in ('system', 'INFORMATION_SCHEMA', 'information_schema')
group by database, table
having small_pct > 50 and count() > 10
order by small_pct desc
limit 30

Wide vs Compact Parts

select
    database,
    table,
    countIf(part_type = 'Wide') as wide_parts,
    countIf(part_type = 'Compact') as compact_parts,
    countIf(part_type = 'InMemory') as memory_parts,
    formatReadableSize(sumIf(bytes_on_disk, part_type = 'Wide')) as wide_size,
    formatReadableSize(sumIf(bytes_on_disk, part_type = 'Compact')) as compact_size
from system.parts
where active
group by database, table
having wide_parts > 0 or compact_parts > 0
order by wide_parts + compact_parts desc
limit 30

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IO Analysis

Disk IO Metrics

select
    metric,
    value,
    description
from system.asynchronous_metrics
where metric like '%Disk%' or metric like '%IO%' or metric like '%Read%' or metric like '%Write%'
order by metric

Recent IO Activity from Query Log

select
    toStartOfFiveMinutes(event_time) as ts,
    count() as queries,
    formatReadableSize(sum(read_bytes)) as read_bytes,
    formatReadableSize(sum(written_bytes)) as written_bytes,
    sum(read_rows) as read_rows,
    sum(written_rows) as written_rows
from system.query_log
where type = 'QueryFinish'
  and event_time > now() - interval 1 hour
group by ts
order by ts desc

Queries with High IO

select
    query_id,
    user,
    formatReadableSize(read_bytes) as read_bytes,
    formatReadableSize(written_bytes) as written_bytes,
    round(query_duration_ms / 1000, 1) as duration_sec,
    substring(query, 1, 80) as query_preview
from system.query_log
where type = 'QueryFinish'
  and event_date = today()
order by read_bytes + written_bytes desc
limit 20

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System Logs Disk Usage

with
    sum(bytes_on_disk) as log_bytes,
    (select arrayMin([free_space, unreserved_space]) from system.disks where name = 'default' limit 1) as free_bytes,
    log_bytes / (log_bytes + free_bytes) as ratio
select
    table,
    formatReadableSize(sum(bytes_on_disk)) as size,
    count() as parts,
    round(100.0 * sum(bytes_on_disk) / log_bytes, 1) as pct_of_logs
from system.parts
where database = 'system' and table like '%_log' and active
group by table
order by sum(bytes_on_disk) desc

Check: If system logs > 5% of disk, add TTL or reduce retention.

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Detached Parts

select
    database,
    table,
    reason,
    count() as count,
    formatReadableSize(sum(bytes_on_disk)) as size
from system.detached_parts
group by database, table, reason
order by sum(bytes_on_disk) desc

Common reasons:

• broken - Data corruption
• noquorum - Replication quorum not reached
• unexpected - Orphaned after failed operation
• clone - Leftover from ATTACH

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Storage Policies

select
    policy_name,
    volume_name,
    volume_priority,
    disks,
    max_data_part_size,
    move_factor
from system.storage_policies
order by policy_name, volume_priority

Tables by Storage Policy

select
    storage_policy,
    count() as tables,
    formatReadableSize(sum(total_bytes)) as total_size
from system.tables
where engine like '%MergeTree%'
group by storage_policy
order by sum(total_bytes) desc

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Problem Investigation

Disk Filling Up

-- What's growing fastest?
select
    database,
    table,
    count() as new_parts,
    formatReadableSize(sum(bytes_on_disk)) as new_data
from system.parts
where modification_time > now() - interval 1 hour
  and active
group by database, table
order by sum(bytes_on_disk) desc
limit 20

Slow Disk Detection

-- Check merge speeds as proxy for disk performance
select
    database,
    table,
    count() as merges,
    round(avg(duration_ms)) as avg_ms,
    formatReadableSize(sum(size_in_bytes)) as merged_bytes,
    round(sum(size_in_bytes) / nullIf(sum(duration_ms), 0) * 1000) as bytes_per_sec,
    formatReadableSize(bytes_per_sec) as speed
from system.part_log
where event_type = 'MergeParts'
  and event_date = today()
group by database, table
having count() > 5
order by bytes_per_sec asc
limit 20

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Ad-Hoc Query Guidelines

Required Safeguards

-- Always limit results
limit 100

-- For part_log
where event_date >= today() - 1

Key Tables

• system.disks - Disk configuration
• system.parts - Part storage details
• system.columns - Column compression
• system.storage_policies - Tiered storage
• system.detached_parts - Orphaned parts

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Cross-Module Triggers

Finding	Load Module	Reason
Poor compression	altinity-expert-clickhouse-schema	Codec recommendations
Many small parts	altinity-expert-clickhouse-merges	Merge backlog
High write IO	altinity-expert-clickhouse-ingestion	Batch sizing
System logs large	altinity-expert-clickhouse-logs	TTL configuration
Slow disk + merges	altinity-expert-clickhouse-merges	Merge optimization

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Settings Reference

Setting	Notes
min_bytes_for_wide_part	Threshold for Wide vs Compact parts
min_rows_for_wide_part	Row threshold for Wide parts
max_bytes_to_merge_at_max_space_in_pool	Max merge size
prefer_not_to_merge	Disable merges (emergency)