In VxFS, an inode is put on a freelist if it is not being used. The memory space for this unused inode can be freed if it stays on the freelist for a specified amount of time. The vx_ifree_timelag tunable specifies the minimum amount of time an unused inode spends on a freelist before its memory space is freed.

The vx_ifree_timelag tunable is dynamic. Any changes to vx_ifree_timelag take effect immediately.

The default value of vx_ifree_timelag is 0. By setting vx_ifree_timelag to 0, the inode free time lag is autotuned to 600 seconds. Specifying negative one (-1) stops the freeing of inode space; no further inode allocations are freed until the value is changed back to a value other than negative one.

You can change the value of vx_ifree_timelag using the sam or kctune commands.

See the sam(1M) and kctune(1M) manual pages.

You can also add an entry to the system configuration file. The following example changes the value of vx_ifree_timelag to 2400 seconds:

  # kctune -s vxfs_ifree_timelag=2400