HPUX Error 23 file table overflow

[james gould]

Oracle reports the following error

ORA-27041:unable to open file
HP-UX Error:23 : File Table overflow

Called HP and they stated that the only value
that needs to be changed is max_users - double
this by the expected number of users.

Have also seen that nfile,maxfiles and
maxfiles_lim should be changed.

Need to know what exactly should be changed.

Thanks

[Kofi ARTHIABAH]

Actually, many of the other parameters are computed from maxusers. In particular, nproc derives directly from maxusers and nproc isused to compute many of the other parameters. Here are some of the parameters I have set on one of my boxes running 12 instances:

maxuprc ((NPROC*9)/10)
maxusers 251
msgmap (MSGTQL+2)
msgmni (NPROC)
msgseg (MSGTQL*4)
msgssz 256
msgtql (NPROC*10)
nfile (30*NPROC+2048)
nflocks (NPROC)
ninode (8*NPROC+2048)
nproc ((MAXUSERS*3)+64)
nstrtel (MAXUSERS)
semmni (NPROC*5)
semmns (SEMMNI*2)
semmnu (NPROC-4)
unlockable_mem (MAXUSERS*10)

[Rita C Workman]

Basically the error is saying that Oracle wants to open more files than your kernel is presently set to allow.
When you change certain parameters in the kernel like max_users the kernel will automatically figure and increase other parameters. So the question becomes what to increase and how much. Remember "what you givith to this one...you taketh from that one". In other words you only have so much processing/memory to work with. So to just double your max_users may over increase (depending on how many users you have).
My suggestion (and others will have more tech info I hope for you..)
Modestly increase things like max_users; nproc and nfile; see how things pick up; if you need to increase again; then increase alittle more. Don't give more than you need...unless you have tons of mem/proc to work with.

Here's a url to a doc that very briefly explains err 23 (it's for a 10. system, but the info is still pertinent):
http://us-support2.external.hp.com/cki/bin/doc.pl/sid=e7f60878087fa1b94e/screen=ckiDisplayDocument?docId=200000024603134
Regards,
rcw

[CHRIS_ANORUO]

You can use this my Kernel configuration for K580 9000 server running oracle for a guide.

[Darrel Louis]

James,

Check the following:
- grep 23 /usr/include/sys/errno.h
- man errno (Search for the outcome above)
[ENFILE] File table overflow. The system's table of open files is full, and temporarily no more open()s can be accepted.
The above, can maybe help you what you need to increase.

maxfiles and maxfiles_lim, respectively govern the soft and hard limits on the number of files a process can open simultaneously. nfile governs the maximum number of files that can be
open on the entire system at any given time.

You can use the "lsof" tool to check for open files.

Check url:
http://www.docs.hp.com//hpux/onlinedocs/os/KCparam.FilesysParmsOverview.html
Open or Locked Files
Number of files that can be open or locked simultaneously. Includes maxfiles, maxfiles_lim, nfile, nflocks, and ninode. For more information, see mass-storage parameters list .

The default formule for nfile:
((16*(Nproc+16+MaxUsers)/10)+32+2*(Npty+Nstrpty)
The value used for nfile must be sufficient to service the number of users and processes allowed by the combination of nproc, maxusers, npty , and nstrpty