An INODE is every file, email, image, and page you have hosted on your account(s). They can come in many sizes, but for the most part they’ll be the same throughout the system.
indodes can store many values such as the actual size of the file, when the file was created, the user ID of the file to protect it from other users accessing it, and a group ID so groups can access the file associated with the INODE. In general, an INODE stores all the meta data associated with actual files.
Due to the nature of INODEs, not every hard drive can utilize all available disk space. You can have the maximum amount of INODEs on a server and only approach 3-5% disk space, that’s why it’s important to choose the right file system. In some server environments such as when the server is shared among several users, it’s almost impossible to calculate how many INODEs a server needs. One individual account can utilize all the server’s INODEs simply by receiving a lot of spam, so it’s important to monitor your files and perform regular cleanups.
An inode is a record in a disk table which contains information about a file/folder such as its size and owner.
The number of inodes you use represents the number of files/folders you have on your web hosting account.
Enterprise VPS Solutions customers can see the number of inodes they are using from their cPanel > Inodes Usage.
When a file is opened, the file’s inode is read by the kernel. The more files/folders you have, the more inodes you use. And the more inodes you use, the more system resources your account consumes.
This is why the number of inodes on a file system is limited. If you run out of inodes, your account may be excluded from the backup system or may even be suspended.
