An inode is a data structure used to keep information about a file on your hosting account. The number of inodes indicates the number of files and folders you have. This includes everything on your account, emails, files, folders, anything you store on the server.
To try and keep this in English, briefly summarised, each file and folder stored within your webspace will utilise 1 inode. Weexpect you to maintain sensible inode usage at all times. An example of bad inode usage that would result in an account being suspended or terminated would be creating tens of thousands of folders with 1 file in each. There are much more sensible methods of structuring files and folders, please use them.
There is currently 50k/75k inodes limit on our shared accounts.
Cpanel accounts are permitted a maximum of 75,000 iodes per cpanel account. However, once the account passes the 50,000 file threshold it will no longer be included in our weekly backups. Additionally, if the account happens to exceed 75,000 files then it will be in violation of our Terms of Service and may result in possible suspension.
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.
How can I see how many inodes I am using?
Customers can see the inode count in cPanel on the left-hand menu. You must be using the X3 style for this feature.
If in doubt please contact suport@ukcheaphosts.com and we will be happy to report your inode usage.
TOS Inode violations can consist of the following (however not limited to):
- Continuously publishing and deleting large numbers of files (i.e. 10,000+)
- If the cPanel account exceeds 75,000 inodes, Please refer to section 7b) of our Terms of Service
