System Administration Guide
Chapter 2, Administering filesystems
Out of inodes on filesystem

Out of inodes on filesystem

An inode is an internal structure that the operating system uses to track and control information about a file, such as size and last access date. Each file uses one inode. When a filesystem runs out of inodes, the system displays the following error message: 

   NOTICE: type: Out of inodes on type dev hd (major/minor)
where type is the filesystem type and major/minor is the major and minor device numbers (for example hd (1/42) for the root filesystem).

To fix this problem:

  1. Remove unnecessary (old, temporary, core, or log) files from the filesystem. See ``Maintaining free space in filesystems''.

  2. Use find(C) to determine whether the filesystem contains a large number of small files.

    The initial allocation of inodes assumes a ratio of about four data blocks per inode. If the filesystem contains mostly files that are smaller than four blocks, it runs out of inodes.

The number of inodes available on a filesystem is determined when you create the filesystem using mkfs(ADM). If the filesystem consistently runs out of free inodes, you can reconfigure the filesystem and increase the number of inodes.

WARNING: This procedure destroys the information on your hard disk. Do not use mkfs without first creating a complete and verified backup.

To increase the number of available inodes: 

  1. Back up the filesystem and verify the integrity of the backup using the Backup Manager. See ``Running unscheduled filesystem backups''.

  2. Unmount the filesystem. See ``Mounting and unmounting filesystems''.

  3. From the command line, run mkfs(ADM) and specify more inodes for the filesystem. For example, to reconfigure the number of inodes on the /dev/u filesystem to 6400, enter:

    mkfs /dev/u fssize:6400

    Replace fssize with the size of the filesystem (in 512-byte blocks). See the mkfs(ADM) manual page for more information.

  4. Mount the filesystem. See ``Mounting and unmounting filesystems''.

  5. Restore the filesystem from the backup using the Backup Manager. See ``Restoring files or directories from backup media''.