i-nodes disappearing in SysVr3 filesystem

[Calvin Hayden]

> About a year ago, a problem was mentioned in this group where a bug in
> the System V filesystem was causing either i-nodes or blocks to disappear.
> 
> Well, I believe I am now experiencing this very problem.  When running
> inews, the filesystem becomes corrupted and the number of free i-nodes
> suddenly drops from ~2300 to ~1.  Only performing a fsck on the filesystem
> restores the i-node count.
> 
> I remember a discussion in this group about a year ago where someone
> described a similar problem with the filesystem.  My question is
> what can we do to avoid this bug ?  I know that the filesystem should
> probably be remade with more i-nodes, but will this eliminate the problem
> or merely delay it ?
> 	Paul Burry

I too am experiencing problems of this sort.  We are running AT&T Sys V
r2 v2 on a Vax 8600.  Ocassionally the /usr/spool/news file system 
shows as having 1 inode.  This is usually overnight that this occurs.
A script executes a df around 10pm, and then we get our newsfeed from
11pm to 7am.  The df show ok, but when I check it in the morning, the
free inodes has often gone from 2000 or so to 1.  FSCK reveals that I
have a bad free inode count in sblock, and fixes it, giving back several
thousand free inodes.  I have physically moved the file system, so I know
that the sblock isn't located on a bad disk.  

Example:  Last night 10:30pm:
   df reveals  /usr/spool/news (/dev/dsk/0s3):  47662 blocks  4065 inodes

          this morning 8am:
   df reveals  /usr/spool/news (/dev/dsk/0s3):  43121 blocks     1 inodes

	  after unmounting and fsck'ing it, and remounting:
   df reveals  /usr/spool/news (/dev/dsk/0s3):  43121 blocks   4022 inodes
 
I could increase the # of inodes for the file system, but will this
solve it.  It has happened several times in the past 2-3 months.  More 
of an aggravation than a real problem (as far as fixing it goes).

Same questions as Paul... Any suggestions?  Thanks in advance!!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+Calvin
+uucp:  ...mcnc!rti!tijc02!cgh018
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"What is the airspeed of a laden swallow?"  Old man from scene 20something
                                            in MP's HOLY GRAIL