What does Inode number in hosting mean?

You often see inode numbers like this in the cPanel of hosting providers. 

But do you know what it means?

In today’s article I will explain more about inode.

What is Inode Hosting?

Inode is a data structure inside Linux used to store information about file system objects (files or directories). This information includes size, owner, socket, pipe except data and filename. 

The number of inodes is equal to the number of files and directories you have. ​This includes everything in your account, emails, files, folders and anything you store on the server, for example each new file or folder is equivalent to adding 1 to the current inode count. 

​Every time a file is opened, the file’s inode is read by the server’s kernel. The more files and directories you have, the larger the number of inodes. The more inodes, the more resources the account uses. 

Therefore, most hosting providers limit the number of inodes to avoid one account taking all the resources of another account on the same shared server. ​

How to reduce the number of inodes in your account

If your inode count is close to the maximum allowed limit, you need to do the following to reduce the number of inodes:

1. Remove all files and folders you don’t need

You need to check if you have a backup file or folder on the host? Usually these files are very large in size.

So you should download it. The best way is that you back up to a cloud storage service instead of putting it on the host.

2. Check how many cache files you have

All WordPress websites today use a cache plugin. So you should check your website’s cache directory. Reduce the number of files you are keeping in there.

All cache plugins have a purge cache option. You can use this feature to reduce the number of cached files.

3. Check your email

If you use the host as your mail server, check the Trash or Sent folder in your email account. You can download them to your computer and delete them on the server.

​If you still have a large number of files or folders, and you can’t reduce them anymore, that’s when you need to upgrade to a more advanced plan with a larger number of inodes. Or switch host if your host does not have a package with higher inodes. 

If you still have any questions regarding the inode, leave a comment below. ​