Unix administration - File Descriptors

Author

File Descriptors

Jim Bo

2004-08-17, 5:54 pm

Greetings, all.

Can anyone tell me if there are any risks associated with increasing
the number of file descriptors for an application/user process beyond
the default 1024?

I am running on Solaris 5.8.

Doug Freyburger

2004-08-18, 5:57 pm

Jim Bo wrote:
>
> Can anyone tell me if there are any risks associated with increasing
> the number of file descriptors for an application/user process beyond
> the default 1024?

Enjoy debugging some application that opens that many files at once!

I suspect the risks are organizational more than technical except
for programs using expect() system calls. More resources for a
rootkit to use if you get cracked, more interaction of two programs
opening the same file without checking optional locks, etc.

Many of the original limits come from a time when memory was much
more expensive.