ext3 Directory size or number files limit?

[Ralph Crongeyer <ralph@crongeyer.com>]

Hi all,

I have a Debian (Unstable "SID") web server with an ext3 partition that 
is the repository for the web site. One directory has gotten very big 
having 44 sub dirs and over 6000 large pdf files. My problem is when the 
user that updates the site logins in via ftp she cant see any of the sub 
directorys in the directory? If I move about half the files (3000 or so) 
to another directory all the sub directorys are visible again? This is 
the same on the console using the "ls" command. So it seems that there 
is a size or number of files limit on the file system. Is there any way 
to increase this limit without repartitioning? The reason this is a 
problem is that all of the files are made available vie the path and 
filename stored in a database, so I would have to change the paths on 
allot of db entrys. I would like to avoid this if possible.

Thanks
Ralph