nfiles limit keeps being reached.

[Alan Casey]

We have a new rp7400 server with Oracle 8i, and FileNET software on it.
This went into production this weekend.

nfile was first set to 2000
This was reached after 30 minutes of production.
I increased to 4000, and was reached after 1.5 hours.

I now have it at 6000, and it's climbing steadily.

I am worried that tere may be processes unnecessarily opening files.

Does anyone know how I might find such processes?

PS: I do not have Glance Plus

[Vincent Farrugia · Accepted solution]

Hello,

You may use fuser -u or lsof to list open files. Go to the following link for details:

http://dsportal.eservices.hp.com/dspp/tech/tech_TechDocumentDetailPage_IDX/1,1701,1193,00.html

HTH,
Vince

[Phil Daws_2]

Get a copy of 'lsof' from http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Sysadmin/lsof-4.55/

This really helps in solving this type of problem as you can see all the files opened by a particular process.

[Santosh Nair_1]

You can use a combination of lsof (ftp.vic.purdue.edu) and glance to get this information. If you have a particular process in mind, glance can show you all the files that it has open.

For something like filenet, I would think you'd need to set nfiles fairly high since it since it deals with lots of documents.
Also, sar -v can give you the current usage of nfile (good for writing a monitor script).

Hope this helps.

-Santosh

[John Bolene]

Filenet can generate lots of files, since it is a file document system.

I would put nfiles to at least 10,000 for this system.

[Eugen Cocalea]

Hi,

get 'lsof' or 'fuser'. It will help you see who opens and / or uses which file.

If it is a fileserver, 2000 files is a way too low limit. Put it at least 20000.

(I have a fileserver (on Linux actually) that has more than 100000 files)

E.

[Rita C Workman]

FileNet !!
OK..first get on that mail list that you can find at www.filenet.com. You will get alot of mail you don't want..but put it in a Filenet folder and archive everything..you will need it one day - believe me !!
Next,
What are you running and the versions? This is important, because if your TC is not UNIX savy...you have not been told the whole story !!
FileNet is strictly raw devices...so be careful assigning anything. Do you run visual workflow on HPUX? If you do..it has it's own special headaches you need to watch out for.

=== FileNet will 'breath' across a system if it is tuned right and closely monitored. But tuned wrong and your system will be down so fast you won't know what hit ya !! And don't monitor it all the time...and watch how quick it will choke !

Let us know what you have and what versions - and what your running it on !

Rgrds (another FileNet user)
Rita

[Alan Casey]

Hi Rita,

We have the following FileNET software:
IDMIS 3.5.0 + SP2
VW 3.03
HP-UX 11.0

The FileNET install manuals suggest rather low valuse for nfiles: 1000

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Alan

[Rita C Workman]

You need to increase...the 20000 mentioned above is now out of line.
First..double check your semm parms, make sure you gave the calculated value, then add a little more.
Next if you need to look at your msg parms...I at 3.4.2 on a Kbox..Mine are set at:
msgmap 8002
msgmax 8192
msgmnb 16384
msgmni 5000
msgseg 20000
msgssz 8
msgtql 8000

This might help give you an idea of what you need to set up on yours..

Do you run that daemon dldd???

Rita

[Rita C Workman]

oops-mistype should be 'not out of line for 20000'

/rcw

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Alan,

While Rita deservers points for her detailed explanation, the magical answer to your question "Does anyone know how I might find such processes" is as posted by Vincent, Phil, Santosh, Eugen and a good suggestion from his experience on Filenet by John.

I would appreciate if you do not make the people feel that they might have wasted time being helpful in this forum.

Thanks for understanding the value of their time and help.

-Sri

[Rita C Workman]

Sridhar,

On Filenet all processes are owned by one user..it runs on a FIFO principal. lsof won't give you the detail info you need. In FileNet you have to rely on their tools - example: cormon. This will tell you all the processes running/and how long. If one process hangs, all the others are still running but can't process until the one at the top of the line clears out...the only to diagnose which process is by using cormon or PPMOI (another FileNet).
And VW (Visual Workflow) creates an even harder issue, because it basically does a second control of the virtual/physical memory addresses using the vtable. It is a nightmare. And where you could use ipcs in normal Oracle to determine exactly which processes you want to release - you can't with FileNet, because of that second address control layer you can't get resolved.
I don't think there was any intention of neglect...it's just the 'problem' with FileNet. It is so picky and you virtually get forced to using their tools for diagnostic issues. It can be a real pain. Unlike the nice clean software instances like Oracle where you have control and definition...
In plain words...if I ever leave here, I won't be in any rush to find another FileNet shop.

Rgrds,
Rita