What is Inode?
An Inode is a data structure used to store the metadata of a file. Inode number represents the collective number of files and folders present in your web hosting account.
What is the Inode Limit?
We have the following Inode limits on our web hosting plans:
Starter Plan
Number of inodes (soft|hard) 100,000 | 200,000
Personal Plan
Number of inodes (soft|hard) 200,000 | 300,000
Business Plan
Number of inodes (soft|hard) 300,000 | 400,000
Ultimate Plan
Number of inodes (soft|hard) 400,000 | 500,000
Cloud Hosting [All Plans]
Number of inodes (soft|hard) Unlimited
Reseller Hosting [All Plans]
Number of inodes (soft|hard) Unlimited
Dedicated Hosting [All Plans]
Number of inodes (soft|hard) Unlimited
You will still be able to upload files even if you reach the soft limit, but once the hard limit threshold is reached file upload will stop working. So you cannot receive new emails or create files on the server.
How do I view Inode usage via cPanel?
Just log in to your cPanel home page. In the left panel, you can see the ‘File Usage’ stat which is the Inode usage of your account.
Decreasing Inode usage with cPanel hosting
Most people will not need to be familiar with Inodes if they are using their hosting in normal circumstances such as for a basic or intermediate website and normal email use. However, to ensure that all our customers get a consistently high level of service we have implemented inode limits per account for reducing resource abusers in our Shared Hosting and Reseller hosting.
Not all inode overages are caused by abuse though. It could just be that you need to do a bit of a clean-up of your hosting files. If you experience issues caused by high Inode usage then this tutorial is to help you decrease the number of inodes on your account.
Here are some steps to reduce the inode number limit.
1) Delete unnecessary files and folders
Examine the files and folders manually and decide if the file is necessary or not. In case the file is an old backup archive or if the folder is created for testing or staging purposes, you may remove it or download it locally via FTP or cPanel >> File Manager and delete it from the server.
2) Clear old and Spam Emails
Deleting the old emails helps a lot in decreasing the inode usage. There might be spam mail in your mailbox that is of no use and deleting those emails will help you to reduce the inode number. You can remove spam emails from email clients or webmail. You can seek help from our support department which operates 24*7 to delete the mails easily via shell.
3) Clear the cache files
Most CMSs uses cache to reduce the response time and application like Joomla can create a lot of cache files which can increase the inode usage tremendously. So it is advised to keep an eye on the cache folders and make sure the number of cache files is the least.
Most CMSs now provide the facility to purge the cache and you can make use of it to control the number of cache files. Or you can set up a cronjob to automatically clear the cache files periodically.
If you have the inode limit getting hit regularly or you still have issues after you have cleared up your files, we suggest you upgrade your package to a higher one with a higher inode limit or consider a Virtual Private Server. You can contact our 24/7 support for this.
