When working with Linux backup servers, the quota command output follows this standardized format:

Disk quotas for user vps**** (uid 1234):
     Filesystem  blocks   quota   limit   grace   files   quota   limit   grace
/dev/mapper/backup3-backup3
                6094452  2147483648 2147483648          365672       0       0

Column	Description	Measurement Unit	Example Interpretation
blocks	Current disk usage	1KB blocks	6094452 blocks = ~6GB (6094452/1024/1024)
quota	Soft limit threshold	1KB blocks	2147483648 blocks = 2TB
limit	Hard limit maximum	1KB blocks	2147483648 blocks = 2TB
grace	Time remaining for soft limit exceedance	Days/Hours	Blank means no grace period active

For the given output:

/dev/mapper/backup3-backup3
                6094452  2147483648 2147483648          365672       0       0

We can extract these key points:

• Current usage: 6,094,452 blocks (~6GB) of storage
• Soft limit (quota): 2,147,483,648 blocks (2TB)
• Hard limit: Same as soft limit (2TB)
• No grace period active (blank field)
• 365,672 files currently stored
• No file count limits (0 in quota/limit columns)

The user mentions expecting a 10GB quota. Here's how to verify:

# Convert expected quota to blocks
10GB = 10 * 1024 * 1024 = 10,485,760 blocks

# Compare with output:
2,147,483,648 (current quota) >> 10,485,760 (expected)

This suggests either:

1. The quota hasn't been properly configured
2. You're interpreting the units incorrectly
3. The system administrator set different limits

Here's a Python script to parse and analyze quota output:

import re
import math

def parse_quota(output):
    pattern = r"(\d+)\s+(\d+)\s+(\d+)"
    match = re.search(pattern, output)
    
    if match:
        blocks = int(match.group(1))
        quota = int(match.group(2))
        limit = int(match.group(3))
        
        return {
            'blocks_used': blocks,
            'blocks_gb': blocks / (1024*1024),
            'quota_gb': quota / (1024*1024),
            'limit_gb': limit / (1024*1024),
            'percentage_used': (blocks/quota)*100 if quota > 0 else 0
        }
    return None

# Example usage:
output = """/dev/mapper/backup3-backup3
                6094452  2147483648 2147483648          365672       0       0"""

result = parse_quota(output)
print(f"Storage used: {result['blocks_gb']:.2f}GB of {result['quota_gb']:.2f}GB ({result['percentage_used']:.2f}%)")

For system administrators:

# Set user quota
sudo setquota -u username 10485760 11534336 0 0 /backup

# Check all quotas
sudo repquota -a

# Edit quota for user
sudo edquota -u username

Where the numbers represent (soft limit, hard limit) in blocks.

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When working with Linux backup servers, understanding quota output is crucial for storage management. Let's break down what each column means in this typical quota report:

Disk quotas for user vps**** (uid 1234):
     Filesystem  blocks   quota   limit   grace   files   quota   limit   grace
/dev/mapper/backup3-backup3
                6094452  2147483648 2147483648          365672       0       0

Filesystem: The storage device where quotas are applied (/dev/mapper/backup3-backup3)

blocks: Current disk usage in 1KB blocks (6094452 blocks = ~6GB)

quota: Soft limit (2147483648 blocks = 2TB) - warning threshold

limit: Hard limit (2147483648 blocks = 2TB) - absolute maximum

grace: Time remaining before soft limit becomes hard limit (empty in this case)

files: Number of files owned (365672 files)

You mentioned your quota should be 10GB. The output shows much higher limits (2TB), which suggests either:

1. Your host hasn't properly set your individual quota
2. You're looking at system-wide defaults rather than user-specific limits

To check your actual quota settings, try:

sudo edquota -u vps****

Here's a bash script to monitor your quota and convert blocks to human-readable format:

#!/bin/bash
USER="vps****"
QUOTA_OUTPUT=$(quota -u $USER | awk '/mapper/ {print $1,$2,$3,$4,$5}')
read -r fs blocks quota limit grace <<< "$QUOTA_OUTPUT"

# Convert 1KB blocks to GB
used_gb=$(echo "scale=2; $blocks/1024/1024" | bc)
quota_gb=$(echo "scale=2; $quota/1024/1024" | bc)

echo "Usage: $used_gb GB of $quota_gb GB"
echo "Filesystem: $fs"
[ -n "$grace" ] && echo "Grace period: $grace"

The grace period appears when you exceed your soft limit (quota). The format is typically:

• 6days (6 days remaining)
• 23hours (23 hours remaining)
• 59mins (59 minutes remaining)

If no grace period appears, it means you're either:

1. Under your soft limit
2. Have exceeded the hard limit (in which case you can't write more files)

If you believe your quota should be 10GB but see different values:

# Check if user-specific quotas are enabled
sudo repquota -a | grep vps****

# Verify quota files are properly set up
sudo quotacheck -avugm
sudo quotaon -avug

Remember that quota values are set in 1KB blocks, so 10GB would be 10485760 blocks (10*1024*1024).