This article will:

• Show you where to see how many inodes your account is using.
• Explain what inodes are.
• Explain when inode use can be a problem.
• Talk about inode quotas or limits.
• Show you how to reduce your usage if you’re approaching (or exceeding) your account limit.

Where to See Your Inode Usage

At GreenGeeks, you’ll notice the inode term is replaced with “File Usage.” That’s because they are essentially one of the same thing. We’ve just simplified the terms to make it easier for some of our customers.

If you need to know your current usage, you can:

Easy Method: Check cPanel

You can see how many inodes your GreenGeeks account is using in cPanel.

• Log in to cPanel.

In the “Statistics” section in the right column, look for “Inodes.”

The first number is the total number of inodes currently used. The second is your account’s overall inode quota.

Note that the number of currently used inodes is cached, and may not reflect the correct value if you’ve recently added, or removed, a large number of files.

In the above example, 130,720/600,000 means we are using 130,720 inodes right now, and our overall limit is 600,000 total.

Inode Calculation Tool

cPanel Statistics will only show an overall value, for a more in-depth, folder-by-folder summary as available using the Inode Usage tool under the Files section of cPanel.

The Inode Calculation Tool generates a folder-by-folder listing for all folders with more than 1000 inodes; some system folders are excluded by default.

Scroll down to the end of the Inode Calculation Tool to see your output; this may take a few moments to generate for large accounts.

If your account is above the assigned inode quota, you’ll need to use the CLI inode tool over SSH/cPanel Terminal as the cPanel-based Inode Calculation Tool will be unable to create the necessary temporary files.

Advanced Method: Shell Commands on the Server

If you want more details about inode usage, you can log in to the server and run commands that display inode counts.

First, make an SSH connection, or open the Terminal directly in cPanel.

To see the total number of inodes used, run this command:

By default, the inodes command will show the results for all sub-directories within the current working folder.   This output is never cached and will always reflect the correct value based on your usage.

Optional Config Flags

The inodes command has two optional configuration flags that allow you to further refine the results based on the directory or the number of inodes.

Exclude: -e VALUE
The -e flag allows you to exclude directories below the value specified

Directory: -d path/to/directory
The -d flag runs the scan on a specific directory, instead of the current working directory.

Any enabled config flags will be listed at the top of the output.

Optional Flags Example

As an example, if I only wanted to review folders within the ~/public_html/ directory, and only those with more than 1000 inodes, I would use the following command:

inodes -e 1000 -d ~/public_html

What Is an Inode?

Inodes represent objects in the file system. Think of them as tiny index files.

When you upload a file to your website (or to any disk or solid-state drive), the data that makes up the file is stored in multiple blocks. Those blocks aren’t always arranged in neat groups. They can be scattered across different areas of the disk.

The inode contains instructions that let the file system know where to locate the data on the disk. It also includes some other information, or metadata, about the file.

When Can Inode Use Become a Problem?

The quick answer is that there are a limited number of inodes available in any file system. Every file on the system has a corresponding inode. A huge file uses a single inode in the file system, but a tiny file also uses one inode.

A website that’s designed to generate or use many small files may not seem like a problem. After all, hundreds of thousands of tiny files take up very little storage space, right? They take up very little physical space, yes, but they consume a large number of inodes.

Inode Limitations Are in Place to Prevent Server Problems

Since the total number of inodes for the file system is limited, individual file system users (or web server users) have to be limited in how many they can create. If there were no limitations, a single user on the server could use all the available inodes while using relatively little storage space.

For the same reason, a hosting account may reach an inode limit before it reaches a storage space limit. To prevent a single user on a server from consuming all the available inodes, quotas are in place.

Inode quotas aren’t specific to GreenGeeks. Every shared hosting provider imposes per-user inode use limits.

How to Reduce Inode Usage

The only way to reduce inode use is to reduce file use. When you delete a file, its inode is deleted as well. So here are a few ways to reduce your inode use.

1. Delete Unused Files

The first way to reduce inode/file use is the simplest – delete unused files from your account. Some of the major culprits here are unused CMS installations. Many of us will install WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or another CMS to give them a try. If we decide not to use them, we don’t always delete the installations.

Most CMS packages contain hundreds—if not thousands—of files, so deleting them can reduce file use. As a bonus, older versions of CMS can be targets for hackers, so removing unused installations improves your website security.

2. Use Cloud File Storage

The second most effective method is to consider external file storage. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft all have cloud file storage systems, as do hundreds of other companies. If your site uses a lot of small files that can be stored on another server, such as images or documents, remote file storage can help lower your website file count.

The difficulty in setting up a site to use remote file storage varies depending on how your website is configured, and whether you use a CMS. But the benefits can outweigh the setup costs.

3. Check Your Email

Finally, something that’s often overlooked when it comes to inode use is email. Your account’s inode quota includes all the files related to your account. That means not only website files but email as well.

If you can purge older emails or large spam folders, etc., you can free up a lot of inode space.

If you have any questions that we haven’t answered, please feel free to contact our support team.

The post Inodes Explained appeared first on GreenGeeks Support.

Here’s how you can fly the eco-friendly flag.

Choosing a Seal

After logging into GreenGeeks, click the arrow from the top right and click, “My Profile.”

Click the “GreenGeeks Seal” icon from the ride side of the screen.

Choose any one of our badges from the selections screen and click the “Get Code” button.

There are plenty to choose from, so you should be able to find one that piques your interest or fits your design scheme.

Upon clicking the Get Code button, a new window will appear with the HTML coding. Copy this code to add it to your website.

After the code is added added to your site, you’ll see the Green Seal image that you selected.

Click on the Green Seal image to open a new tab to the Verified Green page, confirming that your web hosting account is using Green Hosting provided by GreenGeeks.

How to Add a GreenGeeks Green Website Seal to a WordPress Page

There are a few ways to add a GreenGeeks green website seal to WordPress: you can add it to a page, to a post, or in a sidebar or footer widget.

Edit the page where you’d like the seal to appear.

Add an HTML block.

Paste the seal HTML into the HTML block and click the “Update” button.

How to Add a Green Website Seal to a WordPress Post

To add a Seal to a post, use the same method as adding it to a page.

Edit the post where you’d like the seal to appear.

Add an HTML block.

Paste the seal HTML into the HTML block and click the “Update” button.

How to Add a Green Website Seal to a WordPress Widget

In the left column navigation of your WordPress admin panel, mouse over the “Appearance” link and click the “Widgets” link.

Open the “Custom HTML” section and click the “Add Widget” button.

In the section you added the widget to (likely the sidebar or footer, depending on your theme), open the “Custom HTML” section. Paste the seal HTML into the widget field and click the “Save” button.

* To copy selected text, right-click and select “Copy,” or use the Ctrl + C keys. On a Mac, use the Command + C keys.
† To paste the copied text, right-click and select “Paste,” or use the Ctrl + V keys. On a Mac, use the Command + V keys.

The post How to Add a GreenGeeks Seal to Your Website appeared first on GreenGeeks Support.

When a website is slow or unresponsive, our first thought is to assume there is a problem with the webserver. While a problem on the webserver is certainly possible, it’s also just as likely that there is a problem somewhere on the path between your computer server itself. The traceroute can show you where the problem is.

First, we’ll explain how to do a traceroute (from Windows, Mac, or Linux), and then talk about what the results mean.

Windows

To do a traceroute on a Windows computer we’ll use the TRACERT utility.

• Click the Windows icon and type “cmd.”
• Click the “Command Prompt” link or icon.

• Type “tracert” followed by the domain name that you want to trace to. Hit the “Enter” key on your keyboard.
• The traceroute will run and the results will be displayed.

Mac

Using Terminal

1. Launch Terminal (/Applications/Utilities). You can also use the Spotlight Search function.
2. Enter the word traceroute, followed by a space, then the domain name for which you want to run a traceroute and then hit enter.

Using Network Utility

1. Launch Network Utility. You can access Network Utility
   • by searching with Spotlight. To do that, simply press Command and Space then type “Network Utility.”
   • by going to the CoreServices folder (/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/). You may access this folder by going to Finder > Go > “Go to Folder…”.
2. Select Traceroute
3. Enter a domain name.
4. Click Trace.

Linux

How you get to the traceroute utility on a Linux computer varies depending on which distribution you run. Generally speaking, you access it the same way you would access it on a Windows computer, by opening a command prompt.

You’ll usually type the full name, traceroute, rather than the Windows name, tracert. So for example:

Some Linux distributions require you to specify the protocol after -I:

Making Sense of the Results

If GreenGeeks technical support has asked you to run a traceroute and send them the results, their diagnosis and conclusions may differ slightly from what we cover in this section. That’s because we are taking a high-level overview here and not going too deeply into the technical weeds. If you’re curious about the technical details of traceroute you can learn more about them here.

When your computer connects to a website, it travels a path that goes through several points, starting with your home router, then moving on to your ISP, then out onto the Internet. Your request will bounce through several computers (a.k.a. routers or gateways) along the way until it gets to the website’s local network (the web host’s data center) then finally to the server itself.

Each stop along the way is known as a “hop.”

Here’s how our example breaks down:

So as you can see, the traceroute shows the path and the response times for each stop along the route. If there’s a connection problem anywhere along the way, you’ll see it in the response times.

Our demonstration traceroute doesn’t show any problems. Any response time of 150 ms or less is pretty standard for a traceroute where your computer and the webserver are in the same country.

A traceroute that has to travel to another country will often reflect the distance in increased response times.

Like this traceroute from my computer in California to a server in China:

You can see that as soon as the connection hits the Internet, the response times are much slower. 100 ms is added to most hops. That is common when accessing servers on other continents. Response times up into the 300s are not unusual.

What You’re Seeing in Each Line of the Traceroute

Let’s break down one of the lines in our test trace to show you what kind of information is in there.

• First is the hop number which is just the number of the hop on the route to the target server.
• Next are the round trip times (in miliseconds) for your packets to reach the router and return to your computer. There are three round trip times because the traceroute sends three separate packets in order to show the consistency of the route.
• Finally, the domain name and IP address of the router.

Time Out! This Must Be the Problem!

Sometimes you’ll see a time out in the traceroute.

As I mentioned earlier, there are some deep technical weeds you can get lost in when interpreting traceroute results. Things are not always what they seem. “Request timed out” is one of those things that is not always what it appears.

The GreenGeeks support staff can usually determine whether the time out is a problem or not.

How to Copy and Paste Traceroute Results

If you’ve been asked to share your results with a support representative, you’ll need to paste them into your ticket.

Windows
Right-click inside the command prompt window and select “Mark.”

Click and drag your mouse over the area you wish to copy.

Hit the “Enter” key on your keyboard (or right-click in the title bar of the command prompt window and select Edit > Copy).

Now you can paste into a text file or support ticket.

You can also use this cool trick to write traceroute results to a text file. From the command prompt run:

You can change C:\ to any folder or path where you want to save the file.

You won’t get a confirmation that the command has completed, just a blank prompt.

Mac or Linux
Similar to the Windows instructions above, you can run a command that outputs the results to a text file:

Is There an Online traceroute Tool I Can Use?

Yes and no.

Generally speaking, you want to run a traceroute from your home computer. An online test can’t do that.

However – there are some online traceroute tests that can be useful. If users from other parts of the world are saying they are experiencing slowness or time outs on your site, running a traceroute from multiple locations can help you discover where the problem may be.

There are also some mobile apps that will run a traceroute from your phone. For example, Network Analyzer on an Android phone, or Nice Trace on an iPhone.

The rule of thumb is you want to run the traceroute from the computer you are using when you see a problem with a site.

The post How to Run a traceroute on Windows, Mac, or Linux appeared first on GreenGeeks Support.

Reseller Hosting Accounts are meant for one owner who wishes to resell hosting and essentially act as their own hosting company. Depending on which reseller plan you choose, you can have anywhere from 10 to 250 separate cPanel accounts. So with a reseller account, you can set up each domain name with its own cPanel.

Additional advantages to having a reseller account include:

• The ability to have multiple IP addresses or multiple SSL certificates (SSL certificates and additional IP addresses incur an additional fee).
• The ability to control DNS zones.
• The ability to use Private name servers.
• The ability to use Anonymous name servers.
• Brandable Control Panel.
• FREE Hosting billing system.
• FREE eNom domain account.
• FREE site builder for your Clients.

The post What is the difference between Shared and Reseller Hosting? appeared first on GreenGeeks Support.

1. Shopping Cart software to organize and categorize the products you are selling and to upload product images. Your visitors will be able to add products to their shopping cart, and the cart will organize check out and payment. You can use services like PayPal which have their shopping cart tied into their merchant services, or you can use a shopping cart which ties into your web site’s look and feel. GreenGeeks offers several free shopping carts like Zen Cart, OS Commerce, and CubeCart via Fantastico. You can also purchase a shopping cart if there is one that you prefer.

GreenGeeks cannot provide direct support for third-party programs. Please consult the shopping cart website or user manuals for details on configuration and use. 

2. An SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate is the primary method for making online transactions secure so that neither your customer’s information nor your company’s information can be accessed through the transaction. Using an SSL certificate also allows you to change your site from HTTP to HTTPS, so your customers know they are purchasing through a secure connection.

3. A Dedicated IP address may also be necessary for your e-commerce store. Depending on the merchant account (see below) that you choose, a dedicated IP address may be required. The dedicated IP address is another way your visitors are protected, as no other web sites can use that IP address. GreenGeeks is a shared environment, so by default, your account is assigned a shared IP. You can purchase a dedicated IP address for your e-commerce store through GreenGeeks for as little as $48 per year. Many people also purchase a dedicated IP address to help with their SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

4. A Payment Gateway facilitates communication between your shopping cart and a payment processing system, allowing you to take credit cards and other payment options online. A popular option is Paypal which allows shoppers to pay with their credit cards or Paypal funds. Paypal also provides a merchant account (see below) to process transactions and collect payments. Read more about payment gateways.

5. A Merchant Account, also known as payment processing or credit card processing, is the last piece of your store set up. It’s also the most important, as it is where you receive your payments. In most cases, you will work with a bank to establish a merchant account. Check with a bank you already use to find out what they require to open a merchant account. Read more about merchant accounts.

Perhaps the easiest way to get started with an all-in-one solution is to set up your online store through your PayPal account. PayPal provides a payment gateway, shopping cart buttons, merchant account, and a secure connection.

If you have a very large or popular online store you may find yourself in need of a larger hosting plan. GreenGeeks offers VPS hosting for larger, busier websites.

Please let us know if you have any questions and good luck with your online store.

The post How Do I Set up an E-commerce Store? appeared first on GreenGeeks Support.

If you prefer to tinker and DIY rather than using a WYSIWYG website creator, we suggest that you look into a couple of other free website platforms that allow you to build more sophisticated websites: Joomla and Drupal. Both of the platforms have extensive knowledge bases and community forums.

To install either Joomla or Drupal, you can reference our tutorials:
How to Install Joomla Using Softaculous
How to Install Drupal on GreenGeeks

Another option which is more sophisticated than a WYSIWYG site builder but less so than Joomla and Drupal is WordPress. You know WordPress as easy to use blog software, but you can also use it to build a web site. Learn more about WordPress and their community.

If you already have a WordPress blog or website, we’ll transfer it to GreenGeeks, free of charge.

If you already have a GreenGeeks account, check out How to Install WordPress Using Softaculous.

The post Alternatives to RV Site Builder appeared first on GreenGeeks Support.