Solaris™ Internals: Core Kernel Components

15.7. Inode Caches

Disk-based file systems attempt to keep a number of inodes in memory, even if the file for that inode is not open or referenced. This is done for two reasons: to minimize disk inode reads by caching the inode in memory and to keep the inode's vnode in memory so that file pages remain in the page cache. The number of inodes that the system will attempt to keep in memory is indirectly controlled by a system parameter: ufs_ninode.

15.7.1. UFS Inode Cache Size

The UFS uses the ufs_ninode parameter to size the file system tables for the expected number of inodes. To understand how the ufs_ninode parameter affects the number of inodes in memory, we need to look at how the UFS maintains inodes. Inodes are created when a file is first ...