Detail Explanation Of Inode - Netapp Cluster Mode

Detail Explanation Of Inode - Netapp Cluster Mode

This video explains all possible things that you should know about inode in Netapp Cluster Mode.

Detail Explanation Of Inode Netapp Cluster Mode

What is Inode In Netapp Cluster Mode ?

An inode is a data structure or object which contain information about files in Netapp Cluster Mode. An inode is a data structure that defines a file, with an exception of filename which is stored in the directory entry. The inode number is an integer unique to the volume. Whenever a user create a new file an inode is assigned to contain all the information about the file.

What is the Size of One Inode In Netapp Cluster Mode ?

The size of a inode depends upon model to model. Based on the model and the block size of the volume we can say what would be the size of one inode in NetApp cluster mode. If a netapp volume has block size of 4 KB then the one inode will consume 4 KB of space and if the block size of volume is 32 KB then it will consume 32 KB of space.

Command to check block size of volume in netapp cluster mode.

In order to get the block size of netapp volume we need to run node level command. Below command output will give you the block size of all volume which belongs to node 01.

run -node Cluster-01 -command vol status -b

How To Calculate Maximum Inode Of Volume In Netapp Cluster Mode ?

The simple formula is total capacity of volume in KB divided by block size of the netapp. Below is an example where the total volume size is 20 MB or 20480 KB and the block size is 4 KB.

Formula For Calculating Maximum Inode Of Volume  In Netapp Cluster Mode

Total Approx Inode = Total Size Of the Volume in KB/Block Size of the Volume


Total Approx Inode = 20480/4 = 5120


5120 is approximate value for maximum inode. If you want to know the exact value then select a value which is much higher than 5120 and try to increase the Inode. The Ontap will give you error and it will also have the exact value of inode that a volume can have.

How to Check Total Number Of Inode of Volume In Netapp Cluster Mode ?

We can check the total number of  inode of volume in NetApp cluster mode by using two commands.

Command To Check Number Of Inode Of Volume In Netapp Cluster Mode

 df -h vol1


Output of above command will show the total number of free inode and the used inode of a volume and the sum of those will give you the total number currently allocated inode for the volume. You can also use the below SVM level command to get total number currently allocated inode.

Command To Check Number Of Inode Of Volume In SVM Netapp Cluster Mode

vol show -vserver vs1 -volume vol1 -fields files


Output of above command will give the total number files that can be created in a volume which is also is the inode of the volume.

How To Increase Inode Of Volume In Netapp Cluster Mode ?

We need to increase the number of file of volume to increase the inode. As per Netapp best practice recommendation inode should be increased by 2%.

Command to Increase Inode Of Volume In Netapp Cluster Mode.

vol modify -volume vol1 -files 2000


If the value is larger than the maximum inode capacity the ontap will throw an error. This concludes the blog on Inode. Below is an YouTube Video to see the demo on how to perform all steps to increase the inode in Netapp Cluster Mode.