Genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded

Question

Hi .,
I am getting the following error in my console rapidly.
I am using Sun Sparc server running with Solaris 10 ., We start getting this error
suddently after a restart of the server and the error is continously rolling on the console...
The Error:
Rebooting with command: boot
Boot device: disk0 File and args:
SunOS Release 5.10 Version Generic_118822-25 64-bit
Copyright 1983-2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
Hardware watchdog enabled
Failed to send email alert for recent event.
SC Alert: Failed to send email alert for recent event.
Hostname: nitwebsun01
NOTICE: VxVM vxdmp V-5-0-34 added disk array DISKS, datype = Disk
NOTICE: VxVM vxdmp V-5-3-1700 dmpnode 287/0x0 has migrated from enclosure FAKE_ENCLR_SNO to enclosure DISKS
checking ufs filesystems
/dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s4: is logging.
/dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s7: is logging.
nitwebsun01 console login: Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 439
Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 414
Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 413
Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 414
Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 413
Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 121
Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 414
Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 413
Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 121
Nov 20 14:56:41 nitwebsun01 last message repeated 1 time
Nov 20 14:56:43 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 470
Nov 20 14:56:43 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 467
Nov 20 14:56:44 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 470
Nov 20 14:56:44 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 121
Nov 20 14:56:44 nitwebsun01 last message repeated 1 time
Nov 20 14:56:49 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 503
Nov 20 14:56:50 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 510
Nov 20 14:56:50 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 121
Nov 20 14:56:50 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 519
Nov 20 14:56:50 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 516
Nov 20 14:56:50 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 519
Nov 20 14:56:53 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 540
Nov 20 14:56:53 nitwebsun01 last message repeated 2 times
Nov 20 14:56:53 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 549
Nov 20 14:56:53 nitwebsun01 last message repeated 4 times
Nov 20 14:56:56 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 665
Nov 20 14:56:56 nitwebsun01 last message repeated 6 times
Nov 20 14:56:56 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 667
Nov 20 14:56:56 nitwebsun01 last message repeated 2 times
Nov 20 14:56:56 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 121
Nov 20 14:56:57 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 868
Nov 20 14:56:57 nitwebsun01 /usr/lib/snmp/snmpdx: unable to get my IP address: gethostbyname(nitwebsun01) failed [h_errno: host not found(1)]
Nov 20 14:56:58 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 887
Nov 20 14:57:00 nitwebsun01 genunix: basic rctl process.max-file-descriptor (value 256) exceeded by process 976
nitwebsun01 console login: root
Nov 20 14:57:00 nitwebsun01 last message repeated 2 times
Here I attached my /etc/project file also..
[root@nitwebsun01 /]$ cat /etc/project
system:0::::
user.root:1::::
process.max-file-descriptor=(privileged,1024,deny);
process.max-sem-ops=(privileged,512,deny);
process.max-sem-nsems=(privileged,512,deny);
project.max-sem-ids=(privileged,1024,deny);
project.max-shm-ids=(privileged,1024,deny);
project.max-shm-memory=(privileged,4294967296,deny)
noproject:2::::
default:3::::
process.max-file-descriptor=(privileged,1024,deny);
process.max-sem-ops=(privileged,512,deny);
process.max-sem-nsems=(privileged,512,deny);
project.max-sem-ids=(privileged,1024,deny);
project.max-shm-ids=(privileged,1024,deny);
project.max-shm-memory=(privileged,4294967296,deny)
group.staff:10::::
[root@nitwebsun01 /]$
Help me to came out of this issue
Regards
Suseendran .A

Answer 1

This is an old post but I'm going to reply to it for future reference of others.
Please ignore the first reply to this thread... by default /etc/rctladm.conf doesn't exist, and you should never use it. Just put it out of your mind.
So, then... by default, a process can have no more than 256 file descriptors open at any given time. The likelyhood that you'll have a program using more than 256 files very low... but, each network socket counts as a file descriptor, therefore many network services will exceed this limit quickly. The 256 limit is stupid but it is a standard, and as such Solaris adheres to it. To look at the open file descriptors of a given process use "pfiles <pid>".
So, to change it you have several options:
1) You can tune the default threshold on the number of descriptors by specifying a new default threshold in /etc/system:
set rlim_fd_cur=1024
2) On the shell you can view your limit using 'ulimit -n' (use 'ulimit' to see all your limit thresholds). You can set it higher for this session by supplying a value, example: 'ulimit -n 1024', then start your program. You might also put this command in a startup script before starting your program.
3) The "right" way to do this is to use a Solaris RCTL (resource control) defined in /etc/project. Say you want to give the "oracle" user 8152 fd's... you can add the following to /etc/project:
user.oracle:101::::process.max-file-descriptor=(priv,8152,deny)
Now log out the Oracle user, then log back in and startup.
You can view the limit on a process like so:
prctl -n process.max-file-descriptor -i process <pid>
In that output, you may see 3 lines, one for "basic", one for "privileged" and one for "system". System is the max possible. Privileged is the limit by which you need to have special privs to raise. Basic is the limit that you as any user can increase yourself (such as using 'ulimit' as we did above). If you define a custom "priviliged" RCTL like we did above in /etc/projects it will dump the "basic" priv which is, by default, 256.
For reference, if you need to increase the threshold of a daemon that you can not restart, you can do this "hot" by using the 'prctl' program like so:
prctl -t basic -n process.max-file-descriptor -x -i process <PID>
The above just dumps the "basic" resource control (limit) from the running process. Do that, then check it a minute later with 'pfiles' to see that its now using more FD's.
Enjoy.
benr.