The right-hand panel of the cPanel home page shows what you are using against what your plan allows. It is worth learning to read.
THE FIGURES THAT MATTER
- Disk Usage: files, databases and email combined.
- File Usage (inodes): the number of files, regardless of size. Many accounts hit this before they run out of space.
- Monthly Bandwidth: data served to visitors, resetting each billing month.
Email accounts, databases, subdomains, addon domains and FTP accounts: counted against plan allowances. CPU, memory and entry processes: shown in more detail under Resource Usage.
WHAT HAPPENS AT EACH LIMIT
- Disk or inodes full: uploads fail, email stops being delivered, applications cannot write cache or backups, databases may become read-only. This causes a surprising number of "suddenly broken" reports.
- Bandwidth exhausted: the site stops serving until the month rolls over or the plan is upgraded.
- CPU or entry processes: visitors see slowness or 508 errors at peak times.
WHAT TO DO
Clean up first: old backups, cache folders, mailbox trash and unused installations. If you remain close to a limit after cleaning, the account has genuinely grown and it is time to talk about an upgrade.
