Geneos - How to get around the open files limit on Solaris probes/gateways

The extended FILE facility allows 32-bit processes to use any valid file descriptor with the standard I/O C library functions. Historically, 32-bit applications have been limited to using the first 256 numerical file descriptors for use with standard I/O streams. By using the extended FILE facility this limitation is lifted. Any valid file descriptor can be used with standard I/O.

The extended FILE facility is enabled from the shell level before an application is launched. The file descriptor limit must also be raised. The syntax for raising the file descriptor limit (in bash/ksh/sh) is

$ ulimit -n max_file_descriptors
$ LD_PRELOAD_32=/usr/lib/extendedFILE.so.1 

where max_file_descriptors is the maximum number of file descriptors desired. 

* for C shell (csh), the syntax would be:

This increases the open file descriptors on Solaris to 1024, which is the default on Linux