How to increase the maximum number of files for a flexible volume
Applies to
- ONTAP 9
- Flexible Volume (FlexVol)
- Maximum inode count (maxfiles)
Description
This article describes how to increase the maximum number of files (inodes) for a Flexible volume.
- When a volume is out of inodes, ONTAP will emit one or more of the error messages similar to the following:
Error message: no space left on the device
Error message: file system is out of inodes
wafl.vol.outOfInodes: file system on Volume vol_test1@vserver:vserver_1 is out of inodes because it has reached the maximum number of files
wafl.vol.runningOutOfInodes: The file system on Volume vol1@vserver:20884ed5-68e5-11ea-a757-00a098c4fca2 is using 80 percent or more of the files that can be contained on the volume.
INODE: System/Cluster Notification from filer (OUT OF INODES) ALERT
Procedure
Decide whether to increase the volume or increase the maximum inode capacity
- Increasing the size of the volume can potentially increase the number of available inodes.
- Review this chart to confirm. (Enhancement starting in ONTAP 9.13.1)
- If increasing the volume is not an option, use the
volume modifycommand to increase the inode capacity.
Manually increase the inode capacity
- Increase the curent inode capacity by 2% . You can increase it more depending on the workload.
- (current inode capacity x 2%) + current inode capacity = new inode capacity
Example (35501358 x 2%)+ 35501358 =36211385
- Modify the volume to increase the inode capacity (
-files):
volume modify –vserver <vserver name> -volume <volume name> -files <number of files>
- Example
-
::> volume modify -vserver svm1 -volume vol1 -files 36211385 Volume modify successful on volume vol1 of Vserver svm1. ::> volume show -vserver svm1 -volume vol1 -fields files vserver volume files ------- ------ -------- svm1 vol1 36211385
Notes:
- If the inode capacity is set to the maximum value per the volume size, files must be selected for deletion, or the volume size must be increased.
- If the new size specified is larger than what the volume can accommodate, ONTAP will report the maximum value possible.
::*> vol modify -vserver svm1 -volume vol1 -files 125000000
Error: command failed: Unable to set volume attribute "files" for volume "vol1" on Vserver
"svm1". Reason: The value you entered (125000000) is invalid; maximum inode count cannot
exceed 124518391.
Cannot support more than one inode per 4 KB of disk space.
