Posted by Jerry in I bet most web hosting shoppers have not heard about inodes. It is, after all, almost an abandon topic in web hosting industry as the technical term reveals the secrets behind unlimited hosting offers.
What’s an inode, actually?
Detail definition quoted from Wikipedia:
In computing, an inode is a data structure on a traditional Unix-style file system such as UFS. An inode stores basic information about a regular file, directory, or other file system object.
When a file system is created, data structures that contain information about files are created. Each file has an inode and is identified by an inode number (often referred to as an “i-number” or “inode”) in the file system where it resides.
Inodes store information on files such as user and group ownership, access mode (read, write, execute permissions) and type of file. On many file system types the number of inodes available is fixed when the filesystem is created, giving a maximum number of files the file system can hold. Typically when a file system is created about 1% of it is devoted to inodes.
The term inode usually refers to inodes on block devices that manage regular files, directories, and possibly symbolic links. The concept is particularly important to the recovery of damaged file systems.
In layman’s term:
Every time a file is created or uploaded on a server, an inode is created. Simply say, inode is the count of the files on your web hosting account.
Inodes and web hosting offer
You might see unlimited hosting services offered everywhere but what you didn’t notice is that all these offers comes with protective clauses that stand against the hosting users.
Limitation on inodes for instance is a good example of these clauses.
In order to control server usage, inodes are often limited by web hosting providers. Generally a good web host will offer up to hundreds of thousand inodes limits (which is more than enough) but there are terrible hosting companies that suspend their customer account at 40,000 inodes. These lousy web host must be avoided at all cost as their ‘unlimited offer’ is nothing more than marketing lies to trap shoppers.
Inodes limitation at reputable web host
As said, inodes limitation is an abandon topic that you can hardly get hosting company talked about it. Hostgator is so far the only web host I knew that revealed their inodes limitation.
Bluehost mentioned about account suspension/CPU throttle for overused CPU quota (but not inodes); Lunarpages talked about inodes count on their wikipage but nothing specific are mentioned; while for others, I can’t really find anything mentioned.
How many inodes you can get with Hostgator hosting?
For Baby Croc hosting plan, I get 250,000 inodes at Hostgator. The hosting company also reveals further that if inodes in your account exceed 50,000, then only your databases will be backed up on our weekly backup schedule. Static files will not get backed up.
In case you wonder, the inodes limitation is stated at the front page of your Hostgator cPanel. Scroll down a little and you’ll see a bar (as shown the small image above). Clicking on the ‘View Inode Distribution’ shows further on your account inodes usage (categorized based on directory, refer image below).
Further readings on Hostgator’s file storage limitation, check out this blogpost at Review Hostgator.
What does this means to web hosting shoppers?
Basically 250,000 inodes is a pretty more than enough to normal usage. FYI my Hostgator account (which I host 5 sites on it) consumes 15,476 inodes at this time of writing and the rest of 90%+ capacity remained unused for years.
To be frank, unless you plan to run a buggy scripts or a spammy programs you shouldn’t worry too much about inodes at Hostgator. The notification about inodes, in fact, is a good sign showing that Hostgator is the very few who’re willing do hosting business in honest way. With such transparency, I’m convinced that the company will honor their commitments and will ensure their customer gets exactly what they paid for.
thanks . I am in love with hostgator. They are so good.
Just to clear things up a little (maybe the policies have changed in time):
The Inode limit for cPanel is 250,000
Host Gator limits 100,000
Host Gator does offer Reseller accounts with unlimited Inode
btw: I love Host Gator!
@Casey: Yes, indeed the policy is changed. As written earlier – For Baby Croc hosting plan, I get 250,000 inodes at Hostgator.
I’m a fan of Hostgator as well!
Does this inode number reflect the number of files in our server ? i have used Powweb for 3 months and i not yet found inode limitations.
Thanks.
@Adrian: Not all web host will reveal their inode limitations. So far I have only noticed Hostgator who’s showing inodes usage/limitation via cPanel.
You might want to update your website as Bluehost now has a 50K inode limit. And they are asking people to leave that are over that limit.
Looks like hostgator has reduced even more. It’s now 50k for shared and reseller accounts.
@Bob: Thanks a lot for the info, I just get in touch with a Hostgator crew and verified your claims. (Updating my post now)
Transcript of the chat:
Perhaps my mistake. Their pre-seller FAQ (http://support.hostgator.com/articles/pre-sales-questions/inode-usage-limits) may have some misinformation. Querying the forums indicate what you had said – >50k just means no more automated backups…
They should update their faq.
Sorry for so many posts… I was just about to pull the trigger on moving to hostgator when I saw the FAQ entry on their site, googled, found your site, etc.
Going to hostgator’s terms of service (http://www.hostgator.com/tos.shtml) reveals something completely different from what your chat said:
@Bob: This is definitely the old TOS that I referred to when I wrote this post. The info from chat is the latest – and it’s 250,000 no more now
I just had my own ‘Live Chat’ and asked about the conflicting TOS and pre-seller FAQ entry. The response I received:
Bob, thanks a lot for your input!
Wow this seems pretty confusing and I am now not sure if Hostgator is a good choice anymore… Jerry, is the inodes an important factor to a web host?
Yes, indeed the responses Bob and I got are contradicting. I am seeking clarification from the related personnel and will response once I’m clear about the issue. Stay tuned!
Anyway, the inodes limitation shouldn’t be a major issue for you to decide on a web host. Personally, I think Hostgator is a great web host and highly recommend their service.
Hi there,
I’m the Customer Service Manager at HostGator and wanted to reach out here and provide some additional clarification.
Here is a quote from our Terms of Service:
“The use of more than 250,000 inodes on any shared account may potentially result in a warning first, and if no action is taken future suspension. Accounts found to be exceeding the 50,000 inode limit will automatically be removed from our backup system to avoid over-usage.”
I think that makes it clear, but what Bob told you (as a result of talking to Benjamin) is correct. 250,000 is the maximum we allow. 50,000 is the maximum we will backup. The 250,000 limit is more of a soft limit than it is a hard limit (we don’t do much if problems aren’t being caused).
That FAQ article is a little misleading and I’ll get that clarified so we can avoid confusion in the future.
Hopefully this clears up some of the questions / concerns. If you have any other questions or comments, feel free to let us know.
Best,
Douglas
HostGator.com LLC
Ok, as someone new to shared web hosting, I am confused by the inodes issue. So here is a stupid question from a newcomer: If I do see my inode usage going up too high, is lowering your inodes as simple as deleting files or do you create an inode when you delete a file as well? In short, how do you lower your inode count if if is getting too high?
@RB: Deleting some files will reduce your inodes. A few easy ways to keep your inode count slim includes:
- Remove all files and folders you don’t need;
- Delete unused cache files (some web apps will create loads of duplicated caches);
- E-mails – don’t keep the messages in your web inbox (use a mail agent instead!)
I hope these help. But seriously, inodes shouldn’t be your major concern you won’t be reaching the limit for most web hosts.
Good luck with your venture in the exciting webmaster world.
Thanks so much for the info!
thanks for information, really first time i read about inodes. i will study more on net.
So as far as I understood this inode concept,
google apps should be another use tip to lower the inode usage as using default mail of web host will increase the inode consumption. Am I right. Also jerry, I’m looking forward to buy web host, Does hostgator still remains your favorite or are there any other services that should/coulde be considered. I’m looking for about 3 years plan with offcourse lesser money to invest and better serive. (two ot more domain hosting will be great)
Thanks
@Yogi: Yes, Hostgator is still my top favourite. Their price is a little higher than the others (some goes up to $2-4/mo extra) but I think they worth every cent of it.
7b.) INODES
The use of more than 250,000 inodes on any shared account may potentially result in a warning first, and if no action is taken future suspension. Accounts found to be exceeding the 100,000 inode limit will automatically be removed from our backup system to avoid over-usage. Every file (a webpage, image file, email, etc) on your account uses up 1 inode.
Sites that slightly exceed our inode limits are unlikely to be suspended; however, accounts that constantly create and delete large numbers of files on a regular basis, have hundreds of thousands of files, or cause file system damage may be flagged for review and/or suspension. The primary cause of excessive inodes seems to be due to users leaving their catchall address enabled, but never checking their primary account mailbox. Over time, tens of thousands of messages (or more) build up, eventually pushing the account past our inode limit. To disable your default mailbox, login to cPanel and choose “Mail”, then “Default Address”, “Set Default Address”, and then type in: :fail: No such user here.
Hi thanks for the post about inode, really it was interesting to read about inode. Not many webmasters know about it but we should know.
yep, I am also hating this inode policy of web hosting companies.
I dont understand why l have to get a vps or dedicated for just to store little image files.
I dont need extra ram, cpu or bw, l just need storage for litle images like 5 M or 10 M.
Where can l get a good hosting with 5 M inode limit in cpanel?
Thanks…
FYI: The link to the Bluehost helpdesk about halfway through this article is outdated. It now points to something completely different.
@Scott: Thanks – just patched with a new link.