This Article written by Magesh Maruthamuthua at 2daygeek.com
As you know, everything is a file in Linux.
Each and every files (It includes all kind of files) and folders/directory called inode.
Each file or directory adds 1 to the inode count.
In this article, we will show you, how to check inode and its count.
Also, we will tell you, how to count for specific user.
What Is Inode?
The inode stands for index node or index number is a data structure in a Linux file system that stores information about a file and directory.
File systems in general have two parts, those are metadata and actual data.
Each file has an inode containing metadata about the file. Each file in a filesystem has a unique inode number. Inode numbers are guaranteed to be unique only within a filesystem.
You may get the following error when inode is full on the file system. No space left on device or running out of Inodes.
Inode stores the following information about a file.
- Size of the file.
- Device ID
- User ID (UID)
- Group ID (GID)
- Information about permissions (read, write, execute, etc)
- File access privileges (owner, group and others)
- Time stamps information such as file access, file modification, file deletion and inode number change.
- Information about soft links and hard links
- Location of the file on the file system
How To Check Inode Number Of The File In Linux?
Use the ls command with -i option to view the file inode number. The inode number of the file will be shown in the first field of the output.
# ls -li 2daygeek.txt 1740436 -rw-r--r-- 1 daygeek daygeek 211 Feb 10 08:03 2daygeek.txt
How To Search A File Using Inode Number In Linux?
You can able to find the files using inode number in Linux. To do so, use the following format.
# find /home/daygeek/ -inum 1740436 /home/daygeek/2daygeek.txt
How To Check Inode Utilization On The File System In Linux?
If you would like to check inode utilization on the file system then run the following command.
# df -i Filesystem Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on /dev/vda1 13640832 1487624 12153208 11% / devtmpfs 232604 326 232278 1% /dev tmpfs 235277 1 235276 1% /dev/shm tmpfs 235277 555 234722 1% /run tmpfs 235277 16 235261 1% /sys/fs/cgroup /dev/loop0 146592 139 146453 1% /tmp tmpfs 235277 1 235276 1% /run/user/0
How To Count Inode Usage In Linux?
If you would like to count inode utilization in the current directory, use the following command. This will print the output without grand total.
# pwd
/home/daygeek
# find . -printf "%h\n" | cut -d/ -f-2 | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn
43113 ./.cache
16491 ./.rustup
4057 ./.mozilla
3257 ./Documents
3054 ./.local
1869 ./.config
1567 ./.npm
1551 ./Videos
964 ./.cargo
249 ./Pictures
185 ./Downloads
177 ./.bundle
158 ./yay
155 ./Desktop
145 ./snap
139 ./batstat
How To Count Inode Usage In Linux With Grand Total?
If you would like to count inode utilization in the current directory, use the following command. This will print the output with grand total.
# echo "Detailed Inode usage for: $(pwd)" ; for d in `find -maxdepth 1 -type d |cut -d\/ -f2 |grep -xv . |sort`; do c=$(find $d |wc -l) ; printf "$c\t\t- $d\n" ; done ; printf "Total: \t\t$(find $(pwd) | wc -l)\n" Detailed Inode usage for: /home/daygeek 11 - 2g 46 - bash-insulter 140 - batstat 96 - betty 178 - .bundle 43114 - .cache 965 - .cargo 1870 - .config 156 - Desktop 3258 - Documents 186 - Downloads 60 - drivesync 3055 - .local 4058 - .mozilla 1568 - .npm 250 - Pictures 16492 - .rustup 146 - snap 64 - ssh-audit 1552 - Videos 159 - yay Total: 77682
How To Check Inode Changes With Copy And Move?
Inode values doesn’t get change/modify when you perform the file move with in the file system. See the results below.
# ls -li /home/daygeek/2daygeek.txt 1740436 -rw-r--r-- 1 daygeek daygeek 211 Feb 10 08:03 /home/daygeek/2daygeek.txt # mv /home/daygeek/2daygeek.txt /home/daygeek/Downloads/ # ls -li /home/daygeek/Downloads/2daygeek.txt 1740436 -rw-r--r-- 1 daygeek daygeek 211 Feb 10 08:03 /home/daygeek/Downloads/2daygeek.txt
Inode values get changed/modified when you perform the file copy in Linux. See the results below.
# ls -li /home/daygeek/Downloads/2daygeek.txt 1740436 -rw-r--r-- 1 daygeek daygeek 211 Feb 10 08:03 /home/daygeek/Downloads/2daygeek.txt # cp /home/daygeek/Downloads/2daygeek.txt /home/daygeek/Downloads/2daygeek-new.txt # ls -li /home/daygeek/Downloads/2daygeek-new.txt 1743316 -rw-r--r-- 1 daygeek daygeek 211 Apr 5 09:51 /home/daygeek/Downloads/2daygeek-new.txt
How To Reduce The Inode Usage In Linux?
The only option is to delete the unused files to reduce the inode usage in Linux.
Bonus Tips For Website Owners
Most of the hosting providers were offering the Shared UNLIMITED hosting.
Is it true? No it’s not true because there is no UNLIMITED hard disk then how can its possible?
Every web hosters were provide some Terms & condition for INODE limits so, have a look on it before you buy the hosting.
If the shared hosting is not suitable for you then try Virtual Private Server (VPS) or Dedicated Server (DS) because there is no limit for inode usage.