Splunk® Enterprise

Troubleshooting Manual

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I get errors about ulimit in splunkd.log

Problem

Are you seeing messages about ulimits in splunkd.log while running Splunk software on *nix? Are those hosts experiencing a Splunk software crash?

03-03-2011 21:50:09.027 INFO  ulimit - Limit: virtual address space size: unlimited
03-03-2011 21:50:09.027 INFO  ulimit - Limit: data segment size: 1879048192 bytes [hard maximum: unlimited]
03-03-2011 21:50:09.027 INFO  ulimit - Limit: resident memory size: 2147482624 bytes [hard maximum: unlimited]
03-03-2011 21:50:09.027 INFO  ulimit - Limit: stack size: 33554432 bytes [hard maximum: 2147483646 bytes]
03-03-2011 21:50:09.027 INFO  ulimit - Limit: core file size: 1073741312 bytes [hard maximum: unlimited]
03-03-2011 21:50:09.027 INFO  ulimit - Limit: data file size: 2147483646 bytes
03-03-2011 21:50:09.027 ERROR ulimit - Splunk may not work due to low file size limit
03-03-2011 21:50:09.027 INFO  ulimit - Limit: open files: 1024
03-03-2011 21:50:09.027 INFO  ulimit - Limit: cpu time: unlimited
03-03-2011 21:50:09.029 INFO  loader - Splunkd starting (build 95063).

If so, you might need to adjust your server ulimit settings. The ulimits control the resources available to a *nix shell and any processes that shell starts. A *nix host running Splunk software often needs a higher ulimit setting than the defaults.

Causes

First, determine the ulimit settings on the host that has an issue. There are a few ways you can check your ulimit settings.

  • Each time the Splunk Enterprise service is started or restarted, it will report on the ulimits. You can search the internal logs for the report using:

    index=_internal source=*splunkd.log ulimit

    .
  • On the *nix command line, find the main Splunk Enterprise process (splunkd) and check the ulimits for that process by running prlimit --pid=$pid
  • The monitoring console includes a health check for ulimits. See Access and customize health check in Monitoring Splunk Enterprise.

Next, compare the ulimits reported to the guidance available for Splunk Enterprise.

  • For the minimum ulimit setting recommendations, see Considerations regarding system-wide resource limits on *nix systems in the Installation Manual.
  • Determine if your organization has internal guidance on ulimits settings for *nix hosts. And if there is, what ulimit values are set and how the settings maintained and distributed across the *nix hosts.

Finally, plan any necessary updates to the ulimit settings using the preferred change management option, and document the changes in a change control.

Solutions

You can set new ulimit values by updating the *nix host configuration files.

  • The methods of setting ulimit values will vary based on the *nix distribution and the distribution's service management tool. Review the distribution documentation before updating the ulimits.
  • You will need to work with your system administrator to set persistent ulimit values.

Set limits using /etc/security/limits.conf

These instructions are for *nix distributions that utilize the init service.

  1. Become the root user or an administrative equivalent with su:
    sudo su -
    
  2. Open /etc/security/limits.conf with a text editor.
  3. Add or change the values in the file. Example:
    *  hard  nofile   64000
    *  hard  nproc   16000
    *  hard  fsize     -1  
    
  4. Save the file and exit the text editor.
  5. Restart the machine to complete the changes.

Set limits using the /etc/systemd configuration files

The *nix distributions that utilize the systemd service can have ulimits set at the system level, user level, and service level.

  • The /etc/systemd/system.conf file sets system-wide limits.
  • The /etc/systemd/user.conf file sets limits for services that run under a specific user.
  • The /etc/systemd/system/Splunkd.service file is a service-level configuration that can be created during the Splunk Software installation process or manually. See Configure systemd using enable boot-start in the Admin Manual.
  1. Become the root user or an administrative equivalent with su:
    sudo su -
    
  2. Open the configuration file with a text editor. Example: /etc/systemd/system/Splunkd.service
  3. Add or change the values in the file. Example:
    LimitNOFILE=64000
    LimitNPROC=16000
    LimitDATA=8589934592
    LimitFSIZE=infinity
    TasksMax=8192
    
  4. Save the file and exit the text editor.
  5. Restart the services or the machine to complete the changes.

The latest releases of systemd no longer accept DefaultLimitFSIZE=-1 as a valid parameter. Use DefaultLimitFSIZE=infinity instead.

Last modified on 01 October, 2020
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This documentation applies to the following versions of Splunk® Enterprise: 8.0.0, 8.0.1, 8.0.2, 8.0.3, 8.0.4, 8.0.5, 8.0.6, 8.0.7, 8.0.8, 8.0.9, 8.0.10, 8.1.0, 8.1.1, 8.1.2, 8.1.3, 8.1.4, 8.1.5, 8.1.6, 8.1.7, 8.1.8, 8.1.9, 8.1.10, 8.1.11, 8.1.12, 8.1.13, 8.1.14, 8.2.0, 8.2.1, 8.2.2, 8.2.3, 8.2.4, 8.2.5, 8.2.6, 8.2.7, 8.2.8, 8.2.9, 8.2.10, 8.2.11, 8.2.12, 9.0.0, 9.0.1, 9.0.2, 9.0.3, 9.0.4, 9.0.5, 9.0.6, 9.0.7, 9.0.8, 9.1.0, 9.1.1, 9.1.2, 9.1.3, 9.2.0


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