"File table full" Error on L-1000

[vselvaraj]

We are using HP-9000 L-1000 Server for
Mail Relay Purpose.(SMTP)

O/S : HPUX 11.00
Sendmail version : 8.8.6

Sometimes the server stops sending mails,
tat time when we see # dmesg , it gives
"file table is full" , When I see # top,
So many Sendmail processes were running.
If I stop and start the sendmail also it is
not going through.

After I restart the system it is comming back
to normal.This happened 3 times in the span
of 3 months.
Can you suggest me, what to do, I am not able
to identify the problem
Thanks in advance
V.Selvaraj.

[Stefan Farrelly]

you need to increase the kernel value nfile to stop your file table full errors. To see how close nfile is to being full now use sar -v. Sendmail uses a lot of temporary files to store emails in so you will need to increse nfile to a large value, I think we run around 12000 or more on HP's openmail servers using sendmail as a relay.

[CHRIS_ANORUO]

Stefan is right, if you increase maxusers parameters, that will take care of a lot of things. Install the latest sendmail patch (eg ver. 8.9.3 for 10.20)

Cheers!

[Rick Garland]

Increase the nfile parameter.

[Antoanetta Naghiu]

Increase the "max number of open files"=nfile (eventually nproc as well)

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

You can use glance (choose 't' for system tables). Glance will give you a view of your current file table (nfile) level.

...JRF...