How to Deal with “Too Many Open Files” Error?

Is an error stating “Too many open files” appearing in your script, program, or command? Then, you have used up all of Linux’s permitted open file limits. You must raise the open file limit as indicated below in order to fix this problem:

Open the file below:

/etc/security/limits.conf

Paste the below text towards the end:

*         hard       nofile      500000
*         soft       nofile      500000
root      hard       nofile      500000
root      soft       nofile      500000

After you save the file, logout, and login again.

With this simple change, the limit on open files will get increased.