UNIX: Too many open files

ulimit and sysctl

The ulimit and sysctl programs allow to limit system-wide resource use. This can help a lot in system administration, e.g. when a user starts too many processes and therefore makes the system unresponsive for other users.

Code Listing 1: ulimit example

ulimit -n 2048

# ulimit -a 
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0 
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited 
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited 
pending signals                 (-i) 8191 
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) 32 
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited 
open files                      (-n) 1024 
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8 
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200 
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192 
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited 
max user processes              (-u) 8191 
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited 
file locks                      (-x) unlimited 

All these settings can be manipulated. A good example is this bash forkbomb that forks as many processes as possible and can crash systems where no user limits are set:

Warning: Do not run this in a shell! If no limits are set your system will either become unresponsive or might even crash.