Code Room
On-callHardoc-g429
Subject Database incidentsLevel Senior–Staff~35 minCommon in Databases & SQL · Storage & CDN · Reliability & on-call · Distributed systems interviewsIndustries Technology

Question

Your primary Postgres just went read-only / started rejecting writes with `ERROR: could not extend file ... No space left on device`. The data volume is 100% full. It filled fast over the last few hours. The `pg_wal` directory is enormous — far bigger than usual. You recently spun up a new read replica that's been having trouble staying connected, and there's a logical replication slot feeding a downstream analytics pipeline that's been broken for two days. Triage and mitigate without losing data.

What a strong answer looks like

Stop the bleeding first (mitigate), then form hypotheses from real signals. Separate root cause from symptom, communicate status as you go, and close with what prevents a repeat.

Diagram & narrate the incident
Loading whiteboard…
Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.