Samba max open files

[David Nixon]

With a 6,010 slot file table the default
10,000 setting of the Samba global param
'max open files' occasionally allows table
overflow..
According to the man. page "you should
never need touch this parameter" ; which
might put a cap on errant Samba server processes...
Has anyone experimented ?
N.b. the O'Reilly book
gets it wrong by stating that this limit applies to
open files belonging to
*all* Samba processes.

David.

[Rita C Workman]

Samba causes alot of open files. Memory fails me this morning...but wasn't it something like 10 files every time a user just logs in. [Wish that coffee would get done !!]...
..We have SAMBA running, and what I did was watch the amount of open files using sar -v. Then I just increased the parm enough to cover (plus a smidge more) the need.

Just a thought.....before coffee,
Rita

[RAC_1]

Consider system kernel setting nfile.
Why samba setting should be higher than that??

Anil

[David Nixon]

Yes the Samba default limit of 10,000 is
not very appropriate with my file table
being only of modest length.
However, if I follow Rita's approach
of using Sar as a guide, the figures show
1-2,000 files opened by the Samba service.
But on a per Samba server basis, my average open files is 30 - with a recorded max. of 100.
Oh well, I guess I have to consider
what is the most number of files any of our WINDOWS applications would require open at one time.

[Rita C Workman]

One step at a time...look at increasing that nfile parm (as RAC also mentions), after you've watched it for awhile.
You may be trying to calculate for the 'never gonna happen' and that can get you burned. Tune a little..watch...tune a little more.

And since your going to take the downtime, here's a one pet 'watch for' parms I like to suggest folks check..

ninode......Most folks leave it with the calc_value...and that is usually way too high. Again, use that sar -v and you'll see under inode exactly what you are really using...Maybe start with 2048.

Just a thought, I've had enough coffee now..
Rita

[David Nixon]

I'm more inclined to decrease 'max open files'. You are right, Rita, small steps are best when making this sort of change.

About 'ninode' - I have lowered it to
800, without problems.

Thankyou, both, for you opinions.

[David Nixon]

Samba resource usage is an open ended question..