UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

first off, i am new to unix so please bear with me. i was reading somewhere that if your i-nodes get critical that it can slow your network down. what are i-nodes and when do they become a critical number? this is what mine states:

/ (/dev/root ): 777058 blocks 569290 i-nodes
/stand (/dev/boot ): 103032 blocks 15984 i-nodes
/USR2 (/dev/USR2 ): 890848 blocks 511359 i-nodes
/USR4 (/dev/USR4 ): 2115138 blocks 275448 i-nodes
/USR3 (/dev/usr3 ): 1675780 blocks 508950 i-nodes
/USR5 (/dev/USR5 ): 737674 blocks 517652 i-nodes

thanks
DJAtWork

In UNIX, an inode represents the information
stored by the OS for an individual file for the
UNIX file system (remember, a file can represent
a device as well). Typically, the maximum
number of inodes is fixed at file system
creation time. If you find you are running
out of inodes often, you may have to adjust
the system tunable parameter and rebuild your
kernel. Normally, this value is set to 3 or
4 times the maximum number of files allowed
for a file system (since stdin, stdout, stderr
and sockets require inodes as well). Under normal
circumstances, you should not run out of inodes
before you run out of file space (or max_files).
This can happen if you are creating a LARGE
number of very small files.

I hope this helps

so by looking at my i-nodes above can you tell if they are critical or not?

Well... assuming that your "report" is reporting
blocks used, I would say that your "/" and your
"/USR5" file systems seem to have an unusually
high number of inodes as compared to blocks used.

Are you having some specific problem?

no, im not having a specific problem, but I am just trying to get the feel for stuff to watch out for. what I am trying to ask is there a certain percentage (USR5 = 517652 / 737674 = 70%) or a certain overall number used (USR5 = 517652 I-nodes) because anything over, 300000 are bad? maybe im just confusing myself...