# Too many open files error logged **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [February 9, 2016, 8:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/too-many-open-files-error-logged/41249 "2016-02-09T08:07:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Simina\_Dorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5e9695/32.png) [@Simina\_Dorin](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Simina_Dorin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/too-many-open-files-error-logged/41249/1 "2016-02-09T08:07:20Z")
Hi, Does anyone know how can I fix the following error that I get? A service stop and restart does not solve it. [2016-02-09 09:00:45,994][INFO][node] [Thunderbolt] version[1.7.3], pid[6450], build[05d4530/2015-10-15T09:14:17Z] [2016-02-09 09:00:45,994][INFO][node] [Thunderbolt] initializing ... [2016-02-09 09:00:46,073][INFO][plugins] [Thunderbolt] loaded [], sites [] [2016-02-09 09:00:46,107][INFO][env] [Thunderbolt] using [1] data paths, mounts [[/opt (/dev/mapper/opt--directory--vg-opt--lv)]], net usable\_space [51.1gb], ne$ [2016-02-09 09:00:48,434][INFO][node] [Thunderbolt] initialized [2016-02-09 09:00:48,434][INFO][node] [Thunderbolt] starting ... [2016-02-09 09:00:48,508][INFO][transport] [Thunderbolt] bound\_address {inet[/127.0.0.1:9300]}, publish\_address {inet[localhost/127.0.0.1:9300]} [2016-02-09 09:00:48,523][INFO][discovery] [Thunderbolt] elasticsearch/CCuICQ1KQgKipMcO7l056w [2016-02-09 09:00:52,289][INFO][cluster.service] [Thunderbolt] new\_master [Thunderbolt][CCuICQ1KQgKipMcO7l056w][lu01pu-app-hsc.lu.euroscript.local][inet[localhost/127.0.0.1$ [2016-02-09 09:00:52,371][INFO][http] [Thunderbolt] bound\_address {inet[/127.0.0.1:9200]}, publish\_address {inet[localhost/127.0.0.1:9200]} [2016-02-09 09:00:52,371][INFO][node] [Thunderbolt] started [2016-02-09 09:00:52,572][INFO][gateway] [Thunderbolt] recovered [98] indices into cluster\_state [2016-02-09 09:01:00,862][WARN][indices.cluster] [Thunderbolt] [[logstash-2015.10.28][4]] marking and sending shard failed due to [failed recovery] org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException: [logstash-2015.10.28][4] failed recovery at org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.IndexShardGatewayService$1.run(IndexShardGatewayService.java:162) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745) Caused by: org.elasticsearch.index.engine.EngineCreationFailureException: [logstash-2015.10.28][4] failed to create engine at org.elasticsearch.index.engine.InternalEngine.(InternalEngine.java:143) at org.elasticsearch.index.engine.InternalEngineFactory.newReadWriteEngine(InternalEngineFactory.java:32) at org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShard.newEngine(IndexShard.java:1355) at org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShard.createNewEngine(IndexShard.java:1350) at org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShard.prepareForTranslogRecovery(IndexShard.java:870) at org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.local.LocalIndexShardGateway.recover(LocalIndexShardGateway.java:233) at org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.IndexShardGatewayService$1.run(IndexShardGatewayService.java:112) ... 3 more Caused by: java.nio.file.FileSystemException: /opt/elasticsearch-1.7.3/data/elasticsearch/nodes/0/indices/logstash-2015.10.28/4/index/\_b.cfe: Too many open files at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.translateToIOException(UnixException.java:91) at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(UnixException.java:102) at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(UnixException.java:107) at sun.nio.fs.UnixFileSystemProvider.newFileChannel(UnixFileSystemProvider.java:177) at java.nio.channels.FileChannel.open(FileChannel.java:287) at java.nio.channels.FileChannel.open(FileChannel.java:334) at org.apache.lucene.store.NIOFSDirectory.openInput(NIOFSDirectory.java:81) at org.apache.lucene.store.FileSwitchDirectory.openInput(FileSwitchDirectory.java:172) at org.apache.lucene.store.FilterDirectory.openInput(FilterDirectory.java:80) at org.apache.lucene.store.FilterDirectory.openInput(FilterDirectory.java:80) at org.apache.lucene.store.FilterDirectory.openInput(FilterDirectory.java:80) at org.elasticsearch.index.store.Store$StoreDirectory.openInput(Store.java:733) at org.apache.lucene.store.Directory.openChecksumInput(Directory.java:113) at org.apache.lucene.store.CompoundFileDirectory.readEntries(CompoundFileDirectory.java:166) at org.apache.lucene.store.CompoundFileDirectory.(CompoundFileDirectory.java:106) at org.apache.lucene.index.SegmentReader.readFieldInfos(SegmentReader.java:274) at org.apache.lucene.index.IndexWriter.getFieldNumberMap(IndexWriter.java:867) at org.apache.lucene.index.IndexWriter.(IndexWriter.java:819) at org.elasticsearch.index.engine.InternalEngine.createWriter(InternalEngine.java:1119) at org.elasticsearch.index.engine.InternalEngine.(InternalEngine.java:141) ... 9 more Thanks for your time, Dorin ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/too-many-open-files-error-logged/41249/2 "2016-02-09T08:30:00Z")
Have a look at [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.2/setup-configuration.html#file-descriptors](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.2/setup-configuration.html#file-descriptors) Also, try to reduce the number of shards on a single machine. I guess you have too many shards, right? ---
**Author:** ![Simina\_Dorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5e9695/32.png) [@Simina\_Dorin](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Simina_Dorin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:38am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/too-many-open-files-error-logged/41249/3 "2016-02-09T08:38:42Z")
@dadoonet I've tried to run the following command: sysctl -w vm.max\_map\_count=262144 And then restarted the service and the error is still there. Is something else that I need to do? Many thanks for your help, Dorin ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/too-many-open-files-error-logged/41249/4 "2016-02-09T08:58:53Z")
Did you check that this setting has really been applied? IIRC you can see it in Node Info API or Node Stats API. If it was correctly set, then you are running out of resources. You need to launch more nodes. How many shards / nodes do you have? ---
**Author:** ![Simina\_Dorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5e9695/32.png) [@Simina\_Dorin](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Simina_Dorin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/too-many-open-files-error-logged/41249/5 "2016-02-09T11:58:11Z")
@dadoonet I think I managed to fix it. By adding the command ulimit -n 64000, now the max\_file\_descriptors field it's setup to 64000 and the error is gone. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/too-many-open-files-error-logged/41249/6 "2017-07-05T23:17:59Z")