Increasing inode count on ext4

A Symfony codebase deployment usually requires a quite significant amount of files, and thus it’s quite common to run out of inodes on your filesystem.

I deploy my apps on DigitalOcean. To increase the inode count on your ext4 block storage in DigitalOcean, you’ll need to recreate the filesystem with a higher inode ratio. The inode count is determined when the filesystem is created, and it is based on the -i parameter, which specifies the bytes-per-inode ratio. To increase the inode count, you need to reduce the bytes-per-inode ratio.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Backup Data (Optional but Recommended)

If you have important data on the block storage, it’s crucial to back it up. You can use rsync or another backup tool.

sudo rsync -av /mnt/your_mount_point/ /path/to/backup/

2. Unmount the Block Storage

Before making any changes, you must unmount the block storage.

sudo umount /mnt/your_mount_point

3. Reformat the Block Storage with Increased Inodes

Now, you can reformat the block storage with a higher inode count by adjusting the -i parameter.

To achieve at least 2 million inodes on a 10GB volume, you can set the -i parameter to around 5,000 bytes per inode (10GB * 1,000,000,000 bytes / 5,000 = 2,000,000 inodes).

sudo mkfs.ext4 -i 5000 /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-0DO_Volume_your_volume_name

• Replace /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-0DO_Volume_your_volume_name with your actual block storage device name.

4. Remount the Block Storage

After formatting, remount the block storage.

sudo mount /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-0DO_Volume_your_volume_name /mnt/your_mount_point

5. Restore Data (If Backed Up)

If you backed up your data earlier, restore it to the block storage.

sudo rsync -av /path/to/backup/ /mnt/your_mount_point/

6. Verify the Inode Count

Finally, check the inode count to confirm it meets your expectations.

df -i /mnt/your_mount_point

This should give you at least 2 million inodes on your 10GB ext4 block storage.