When you decide to venture into the world of website creation and look for the perfect hosting service, it's natural to focus on features such as disk space, loading speed, and technical support. However, there is one critical factor that often goes unnoticed by most hosting users: inodes.

What are Inodes?

Inodes are crucial elements in file management on any server. Every file and directory on your web hosting is associated with an inode, which contains information about attributes such as the name, size, permissions, and location of the file. It is like an identification card for each item stored on your server.

In short, inodes are like labels assigned to each file or directory so that the operating system can track and manage them efficiently.

Considerations when contracting hosting services

1. Disk space vs inodes

Hosting providers often advertise plans with “unlimited disk space,” which can be misleading. Although they allow you to store a large amount of data, they often impose limits on the number of inodes you can use.

This means that even if you have plenty of space for your files, you could run out of inodes, which would affect your website's ability to function properly.

Tip: Ask your hosting provider about the inode limit of their “unlimited” plan before signing up.

2. Inode optimization

Even if your hosting provider promises unlimited space and does not mention inodes, it is important to manage inodes effectively. This ensures that your website remains fast and efficient. Here are some recommendations:

Regular cleaning: Delete files and directories you no longer need, such as old backups, obsolete documents, and temporary files.

Efficient use of resources: Avoid installing excessive plugins, themes, and unnecessary files that may generate additional inodes.

External storage: Consider using cloud storage services for non-essential files, such as images and documents. This reduces the inode load on your server. A good alternative is Amazon S3.

File compression: Compress files and directories whenever possible to reduce the number of inodes they occupy.

Amazon S3: Your best ally

It's a really cool cloud storage service offered by Amazon Web Services.

Basically, it's perfect for storing all your media files such as photos, videos, and documents, and frees up space on your web server. This has two major benefits: it reduces the load on your hosting and makes your site load faster, which means a better experience for your visitors. So, if you want to improve your website's performance, you should give it a try!

In addition, Amazon S3 offers a free tier of usage for the first year, allowing you to explore and experiment with the service without incurring immediate costs.

It is important to monitor your costs as your website grows and generates more traffic. Amazon S3 has a cost calculator that allows you to easily estimate your monthly expenses based on your expected usage.

Recommended plugins for integrating Amazon S3 with WordPress

These plugins are really popular and can make your life much easier. I invite you to try them out.

WP Offload Media Lite (Free)

This plugin is a complete solution for offloading and serving media directly from Amazon S3, Amazon CloudFront, or Spaces (from DigitalOcean). In addition to automatically uploading your media files to Amazon S3, WP Offload Media allows you to configure content delivery (CDN) for fast delivery of resources to your visitors.

WP Offload Media Lite for Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, and Google Cloud Storage

By WP Engine

Download

Leopard – WordPress Offload Media (Paid)

It is similar to the previous one, but in addition to that, it allows you to connect to other clouds and have control over which files you want to upload to the cloud and which ones you want to keep on your hosting. It is one of the most comprehensive options for performing this procedure. If you are able to purchase it, I recommend it without hesitation.

How to enable a cloud on Amazon S3 for WordPress

Here are the basic steps to enable Amazon S3 cloud storage for your WordPress site:

Step 1: Create an AWS account

If you don't have an Amazon Web Services account yet, sign up for AWS and create a free or paid account depending on your needs.

Step 2: Set up your S3 bucket

Note: You can skip this step and the next one if you follow the step-by-step instructions for the plugins mentioned above.

• Sign in to the AWS Console.
• Navigate to Amazon S3 and create a “bucket” (a container for your files).
• Configure access and permission policies according to your needs.

Step 3: Configure the plugin

• Install and activate the plugin of your choice (for example, WP Offload Media).
• Go to the plugin settings and provide your AWS credentials, including your access ID and secret key.
• Associate your S3 bucket with the plugin.

Step 4: Upload your files to the cloud

• From the WordPress media library, select the files you want to move to Amazon S3.
• Use the option provided by the plugin to offload the selected files.